D&D 5E [D&D 5e] Planescape - In Through the Out Door

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Rusty rattles and clanks a bit as it walks. What might be called a shudder passes through it as the chaos of this place touches some primal part of it, as if someone had walked across its grave...if it knew what that meant.

It wandered off a bit to watch the abandoned yet moving shell game, something about animate objects catching its attention.

 

[goatunit]

OOC: Eurid hasn't given his name yet, I don't think. He's not secretive about it, though. Just an oversight on my part.

Eurid leans against an oil-lamp post on the street corner with his arms crossed over his chest, deformed hand twitching absently as he watches Shard chastise the Defier. When Lili flutters up to ask his name and how long he'd been in Sigil, the paladin answers:

"Eurid Turnstone," he says, jutting out the pinky of his good hand for her to shake. "Been here all my life, so to speak--save for a few trips out of town."

That last bit sounds a bit heavier than it would coming from a Prime.

"And what about you two? Was this little jaunt by accident or appointment?"

 

[Unsung]

"I would very much like to know the truth," she said to him. "Tell me, are you a priest? You stand here, your head above the crowd...telling us what to believe, what to think, what to do. You must be a priest then, because that is what priests do. A priest of what though? Of Nogod? Tell me, will Nogod shelter you from your enemies, provide for you when you are in need, and bring you home to sup at his table when you at last fall to your many, many enemies? Tell me the truth."

She ignores the papers in his hand, staring directly into his eyes.

The tiefling does not drop his gaze, merely nodding gently. "Will the gods? Do the powers above share of their bounty with those who do not pay in the supplicant's coin? That is not charity." He smiles again. He shuffles the leaflets back into the pile, and gets down off the box. He is not a tall man, nearly a head shorter than Eurid for a start.

"To be sure, the 'gods' ask only that you kneel, that you pledge yourselves to their service and the service of a higher ideal-- the service of the people, one would hope, as any good king might. Be not fooled, it is sinister, and by these easy promises you may yet give up your soul eternal."

The man seems poised to embark upon a speech. He seems a fine speaker, and either his words are not rehearsed or they are so thoroughly rehearsed as to seem quite genuine.

 

[Unsung]

The cups, as if sensing Rusty's presence, spring into motion. A pebble to one side of the barrels skitters in between them, and the middle cup hops onto it, and all three cups perform an elaborate dance. Surely without any tricky hands to cover them, this will be easy?

The cups are painted with thick brushstrokes, dark blue ink that has tinted the white ceramic a pale cerulean. The pictograms, perhaps familiar, perhaps not, are painted at even spaces all around the rim of the cup.

The cups make a half-dozen-odd passes, the pebble not so much as tinkling with their deft movements, then suddenly come to a stop.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Rusty, not comprehending the point of the game, waits patiently for the cups to move again.

 

[Unsung]

The cups do not move.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Rusty waits for several minutes before finally picking up all three cups and setting them back down, hoping that this will inspire them to move again.

 

[Shayuri]

"No," said Shard. "You've got it all wrong. It's not kneeling, it's not pledging. Those things happen, and they're important, but it's not ABOUT that. It's about sacrifice. Giving something that is yours up, so that the world can work. It's all..."

She paused, trying to sort through the whirlwind in her head. On some level she understood what she was trying to say, but making it make sense was really hard. And there was a persistant feeling that maybe it shouldn't make sense. Maybe it was best if people didn't understand, even if it led to this sort of grotesquerie.

"It's all part of a circle," she finally elected to say. "Gods. Mortals. Worlds. Everything. Giving and taking. You only see the tiny part of the circle you live in, so you can't see... Ugh! It doesn't matter!"

Her patience snapped, and something else rose to the fore. Something smoldering and proud. She stood straighter, and the gem in her head gleamed more brightly.

"Any fool can wave meat in front of a caged tiger and smugly claim to be its master. But here it isn't the tiger who's caged, it's you. The world beyond this place is wide and beautiful and fierce...and owned by those you carelessly mock. So stay in your cage, thing of dust and tears. Rattle the bars if you wish. The tiger waits outside, and it can wait forever."

Shard shook her head and turned away from the Athar, intending to rejoin the others. "Show me to this 'bar'," she said to Eurid. "I am thirsty."

 

[Unsung]

The cups edge back as Rusty reaches for them.

 

[Unsung]

The Athar pamphleteer calls something to Shard as she turns away, but the meaning of it is lost above the noise of the crowd.