Argentarius and his party continued their ascent of the infinite staircase after the nights rest, searching for the elusive Nowhere Inn. The forum entry said it was located on a particularly wide landing, where several flights of stairs connected.
Up until now they had not yet encountered any other travellers. So the moment they ascended a particularly nasty set of stairs, they were made of air and thus very hard to spot, they were dumbfounded to see four bird like humanoids siting around a campfire. The landing was made of clouds and did nothing to alleviate the tension. His knights promptly took up battle formation and shielded him. He gestured for them to stand down and wasted no time to cast Tongues.
"Please my fellow wanderers, we mean no harm." To emphasize his point he laid down his fake quarterstaff. The bird people, who had also taken up stances off their own, relaxed a bit and one came forward to perform a small bow. "We are relived to hear that. You are a wizard I presume?" His gaze wondered over the hat, robes and staff. "Yes my friend, we are an envoy of Azuth, the God of spells and wizards. May I ask if you are also headed for the Nowhere Inn?" They looked at each other and nodded. "We know the way from here, let us guide you." Moved by their cooperative nature, Argentarius pulled a sizeable gem out of his bag and handed it to the creature. The eyes of all the bird people were transfixed on the object. "Take it as a sign of gratitude." They just nodded still staring at the gem.
A few rests later, Argentarius first started to notice changes. The Aarakocra, what they called themselves, grew restless; always looking nervously behind them. He glanced at his knight commander and asked him about it. Arthur just pointed at the bird people and shook his head. Not a good sign.
"We should be very close by now. Be wary, from our side it is always dangerous crossing this section." By now they were almost shaking, the surroundings had changed into something different, something darker. Landings they had passed before had also been foreboding but not really malevolent. Footsteps could not be heard any more, light was confined to their own magical means and there was darkness around the entire landing. No door was visible, no further stairs.
Argentarius concentrated on one side and moved a bit forward. The next moment he saw it. Something lurked there in the absence of light. Something was watching him. Something started to move.
Arminius was the one to hurl him backwards, the thing missed him. Coming to his senses he looked around to see two Aarakocra lying lifeless and without some limbs on the floor. Olympic Bronze echoed in the dark as the thing struck Arthur repeatedly. Argentarius did not want to risk a fight with this entity, he called for his constructs, Ichi, Ni and San. Yet, they did not answer. He wanted to cast a quick Sending spell to find them but the magic could not manifest.
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"Anti-magic field! Knights come to me, we shall retreat towards the stairs downwards!" Moving backwards he thought of the poor Aarakocra, probably devoured by some demon or aberration. He shook his head, his main concern was moving down the stairs, the Staircase was Infinite, so why turn back? Therefore they had not yet attempted it before but there had been no mention of it being dangerous. As they moved closer, Hou Yi was behind him, securing the way with swings of his heavy bow. Arthur was still a bit further, directly engaging the enemy and already covered in black liquids. Arminius was right next to him and struck anything down, that came to close for comfort. His knights had blindsight so they could make out everything going on.
Argentarius himself was not so lucky as his Transmuter Stone was turned to give him increased speed, therefore he could not spot his yakuza or the remaining Aarakocra. As they slowly descended a set of stone stairs, they heard a terrible screeching behind them. Then silence. Only the faint sounds of construction could be heard; what meaning that entailed he did not even bother contemplating.
Soon after they found different flights of stairs leading upwards again they were on there they way once more. Even after several attempts, he did not manage to contact his yakuza.
As they approached a particular large landing, they could smell the unmistakable aroma of cooking and hear the crackling of campfires. The sounds of laughter and conversation drifted towards them from the makeshift structures that dotted the landing. They drew closer and saw that the Nowhere Inn was not a grand structure, as they had imagined, but rather a small agglomeration of tents and other temporary structures. He thought this is what a market in Sigil, the City of Doors, would look like.
All manner of different creatures milled about, he saw celestials, beasts, devils, demons, constructs, fey and even a giant, gods knew how he got here. Most did not give his party a second glance, he padded himself on the back for making sure all the blood was scrubbed off beforehand.
Some notable oddities included a presumably human, vendor selling meat. He was dressed in the same colour as his tent, bright pink. Another was an elf who sold Starclear, a watered-down version of Evermead. Argentarius bought a round for all who stood around her stand, contemplating if the price of ten gold coins per serving was worth it. Met by cheers all around, he soon found himself talking to a very friendly night hag, who complained bitterly about the prank from lillendi she had been subject to.
They stayed for a few days, gathered information and found themselves a guide willing to take them towards Toril. It had been surprisingly hard, as most here came from a single plane and new only of a view specific routs to others. The one way everyone seemed to know was towards Sigil. Argentarius was not yet ready to enter this beehive. It was not named the Cage for nothing and the Lady of Pain was right on top of his list of people not to fuck with.