It was deep autumn in the town of Solitude, on the material plane world of Aerth. An adventuring party made up of the Human Rogue Otherwise, the Construct Artificer Nifty, the Eladrin Monk Kelina Melody, and the Tiefling Warlock Nowhere, were travelling through the town after completing their last adventure. A psychic message in the head of Kelina and Nowhere told them to go into the Black Mushroom Inn, and then upstairs to room 3. It had been sent by Torveir Kilnstoch, a very injured planar traveller, who was recovering in bed. He offered you a delivery job, to give a potion recipe scroll to a Wizard named Oriam Trascalia who lived on the Infinite Staircase. He paid you all 100gp each, and sent you on your way. He also gave you a small stone statue which could turn into a proper sized on of yourself. He wasn’t too normal. You stopped to stock up on some adventuring gear and cheese before heading off.

At Torveir’s direction, you went upriver and out of town to the nearby pine forest, where you found two trees which bent inwards to suggest a circle. Breaking a comb from a bag of them that he had given you, you opened a portal to The Gates of The Moon, and stepped through – now in the outer planes. The Gates of The Moon was a grand and eerie temple to Selune. You stated your name and intentions to a golem made out of silver, and were shown in by an insubstantial and curt celestial known as a Shard. She took you to the heart of the heart of the temple, where there was a huge set of doors with an infinity symbol on them. The infinity symbol was really a being known as a Lillend, hiding herself magically in the door. She was friendlier than the Shard, and gave you a proper introduction to herself and to the staircase that was beyond the door. The Lillendi were angelic serpentine women who had been looking after the infinite staircase for time immemorial. The staircase was an ever-stretching climb that had doors to all the planes, especially ones where creativity found itself. She also introduced you to the three planar maxims: The Rule of Three, The Unity of Rings, and the Center of All. You also learned that the staircase, when someone was climbing it alone, could show them the way to their heart’s desire – from which they could never return. She urged you to climb the staircase, which you did.

The staircase seemed to go on forever, as the name suggested. After a few hours of climbing, you passed your first door. It was made from brass and was burning hot. You thought that it was probably unwise to open it. You kept climbing, and passed some more things, including an Arcanoloth heading in a different direction on another branch of the stairs. You were too friendly to it and it hurled an expletive in Abyssal at you. Eventually, you made it to a large landing where a town surrounded the Planewalker’s Guild. Oriam, who you were to deliver the scroll to, was from here. He had gone missing some time ago in an area known as the Blue Mushroom Zone, according to a small Tiefling named Caert. Some planewalkers warned you that the area had become dangerous recently. You geared up to climb there, and found that there were some things there. You fended off some giant spiders who had strung some webs across a gap in the stairs, then fought some Manes demons. The Manes had been summoned by the Glabrezu demon Gerrzog, who was somewhere about. You slew some Manes, and scared some more off. Then Shavanistra, an older and slightly crazy sorceress, started following you while invisible. You found her out, but she wasn’t really a threat, it seemed. You came to a tough looking soldier who was working for Gerrzog under the promise of power, but he was foolish enough to let you all through. Shavanistra wandered off somewhere…

You spotted the demon Gerrzog pretty quickly after. He was sleeping in a banged up part of the staircase, bound together with spiderweb goo. Otherwise snuck up on him and sliced some of the spiderweb, plunging him down off the staircase as he woke up angry. Then you saw Oriam, who was calling for help on an unconnected bit of the staircase. Nifty got to work on a Homunculus, which carried a rope up to the platform. Otherwise shimmied up the rope, and carried the starving and weak old man Oriam back to the town. He was so thankful to you that he offered you all a recommendation to join the Planewalkers’ Guild. You met Hav’run Thain, a Minotaur who was in charge of the guild. He was a prime like you – from the world of Krynn. You paid him guild dues (at a discount), and became members! He even gave you a book – The Planewalker’s Handbook! Lastly, when you were starting to get tired, a Lillend came up to you. She thanked you for taking care of the staircase. She warned you of a dark spreading force that meant the death of creativity. On behalf of the Lillendi, she asked you to travel to seven different doors and report on the situation within….