Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Journal of the Souls of Legend (completed)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Nthal" data-source="post: 8077437" data-attributes="member: 6971069"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Cellar Dwellers - 8/29/2020</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>The problem with hiding, is that; you are only hiding. It isn’t safety, because a mistake will expose you. It isn’t security, because otherwise why did you need to hide to begin with? What it is though, is comforting. That somehow you outwitted or outsmarted someone on where you are. A lie you tell yourself that you are safe.</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Sometimes it even works.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I blinked as the setting sun hit my eyes, as we emerged from the fog. The sound of an angry and confused crowd was a fair distance behind us, as we picked up our pace and ran. Beepu was limping, while Daneath fell to the rear, watching for pursuers. Iesa in the meantime, ran us between alleys of the shanty town, looking around for something. We didn’t stop, until Iesa ran us to a cluster of former shacks, now just piles of wood on the earth. He held up his hand, in a motion to stop us. He then started looking around in the debris.</p><p></p><p>Finally, he lifted up a flattened section of a former wall, revealing a rough hole, with a ladder descending into the earth. Without a word we all scrambled down. I flexed and gave Daneath’s shield a dim red light as he climbed. After a moment, and the sound of wood being moved, Mo bounded down the ladder, followed by Iesa, who was panting.</p><p></p><p>“I covered us a bit more,” he whispered. “If we keep quiet, we should be safe.”</p><p></p><p>“How did you know about this place?” Daneath whispered, as he set his shield down against the wall. The shield illuminated a simple cellar, with the remains of shelves, bottles, and a couple of barrels missing their tops. The floor was covered in flat stones, with some open sections of dirt in between the stones here and there. The walls seemed incomplete; rough earth, bordered, with some wooden beams, or panels. Some had hooks, and others supported empty or broken shelves.</p><p></p><p>“I saw Mo poking around here when we came into the port,” Iesa said. “He probably smelled something, or something caught his eye. So, I guessed. Otherwise, I was going to run back to the cave.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, it is adequate,” Beepu breathing was slowing. “My things Iesa.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh sure,” said Iesa. Out of a satchel he fished out a pouch and handed it to the gnome. Beepu opened it, and I saw him pulling out the small parts to the device we were trying to build, and returned them to the poucn. Meanwhile, Iesa kept digging further into his satchel he then pulled out Beepu’s spellbook and handed it to him.</p><p></p><p>Beepu kept nodding and held out his hand again. Iesa knitted his brow briefly, before remembering something, and dug in the satchel again, and pulled out a smooth glittering stone, which with a smile he handed to the gnome.</p><p></p><p>Beepu took it, and held out his hand expectantly again, while Iesa looked at him with confusion.</p><p></p><p>“What?”</p><p></p><p>“Where are they?”</p><p></p><p>“They?”</p><p></p><p>“The gems?”</p><p></p><p>Iesa blinked, “Gems? Uh…I didn’t see anything next to your book…and I wasn’t looking for them.”</p><p></p><p>“You fool! They were in a pouch next to my component kit here!” Beepu said angrily.</p><p></p><p>“Not when I found them. Those were in a locked box together, I swear!” Iesa held up his hands defensively.</p><p></p><p>“How could you miss them!” The gnome said angrily. “That as all my…my—”</p><p></p><p>“—I didn’t know!” Iesa raised his voice as he stepped towards the gnome.</p><p></p><p>“Guys!” I said, stepping in between them., motioning with my hands to lower their voices. “Beepu…you didn’t tell me anything about that; and we barely had time to get out of there. Blame me if you like; I’m sorry.”</p><p></p><p>Beepu’s anger melted to resignation. “I…I did not. I am sorry. And I thank you for saving me. It is just a lot of crowns lost”</p><p></p><p>“How much?” Daneath asked as he sat down on a dilapidated stool.</p><p></p><p>“About three thousand,” Beepu sighed.</p><p></p><p>Iesa hissed, “Ouch…yeah I’m <em>really</em> sorry. If I knew…well I guess, I’ll have to steal you some extra.”</p><p></p><p>“While you are at it some clothes as well.” Beepu said looking at the rags he wore.</p><p></p><p>I dug into my pack and pulled out the shirt I wore when we first arrived and handed it to the gnome. “Here, you can have this until we find you something.”</p><p></p><p>Beepu frowned, “Well…I do not want to hear about me wearing women’s clothing!”</p><p></p><p>I nodded, as Beepu pulled the tunic over himself.</p><p></p><p>“Well...it is softer than my own clothes,” Beepu said softly.</p><p></p><p>“You can keep it I suppose,” I said hiding my smirk.</p><p></p><p><em>--Well…you stirred up the whole port it seems Myr.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Wonderful. </em> I sighed and rubbed my temples. Gos, go h<em>ide. Warn us if they poke at where we are. Run if you need to.</em></p><p></p><p>“Well, Foggle mentioned that most of the port is looking—” Beepu started.</p><p></p><p>“—You think?” Daneath replied with a bit of annoyance. “Stole their stolen property in a port full of stolen things.”</p><p></p><p>“—For Myrai,” Beepu finished. I groaned and slumped down to the floor cradling my head with my knees. “Seems they are offering a large reward for her…alive.”</p><p></p><p>Everyone went silent and I could feel their eyes on me. I sighed and said quietly “One problem at a time. I need to rest,” and stared at the dirt wall across from me.</p><p></p><p>“Let’s all get some rest then. We are going to need it,” Iesa guessed.</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p></p><p>Later that evening, Daneath was sitting on the stool, trying to focus and stay awake. It was very dark, with only slivers of moonlight coming through the rafters above their hiding place. It was times like this that Daneath envied Myrai’s ability to create light. Hells, she didn’t even <strong><em>need</em></strong> it; she could see better than Beepu without any light at all.</p><p></p><p>So, Daneath instead focused on what he could hear. And at some point, he heard the sound of someone digging in a pouch. Turning his head, he saw in one of the rays of light, that it was Myrai was pulling a small object out of her pouch. She looked at it carefully and then she started to tremble. Barring her teeth in disgust, she threw the object downwards, where it shattered on the stone floor like glass. Grasping her temples with her hands, she started to breathe deeply, as if she was trying to calm herself. She finally pitched her head backwards and beat the wall with it, slowly trying to work out something.</p><p></p><p>“Sodding Baator,” she muttered. She turned her attention to the glass shards, and she started to mutter an incantation. It took time but as Daneath watched, the object was slowly restored, and she now stuffed it back into her pouch. She then again rested her head against the wall looking upwards towards the ceiling, with an expression on her face that read like she was in pain.</p><p></p><p>“You know, if you want more things to break, I’m sure that Beepu has something fragile in his kit,” Daneath said. Myrai barely smiled and turned her head toward the warrior and regarded him with a tired look.</p><p></p><p>“Sorry…I didn’t mean to wake you; I broke a mirror while cleaning myself.” She stammered, avoiding making eye contact.</p><p></p><p>Daneath looked at Myrai, her outline was framed in a ray of moonlight, causing her mirrored eyes to gleam in the darkness. She sat, slumped against a wall on the broken floor, her legs stretched out on the stone. But Daneath noted that she sounded tired, frustrated and almost angry. This bothered him for some reason. Myrai and he rarely spoke alone. It seemed between the four of them, that it was the other three that did all the talking. Whether Beepu was going off on some random fact that Beepu felt was vitally important, when it was clear it wasn’t, or his brother whose self-confidence and bravado could easily steer people away from topics he didn’t want to talk about. But Myrai was different. Certainly, it was because Myrai was a girl, but when she spoke softly, everyone would turn to listen. And when she raised it, her voice commanded attention.</p><p></p><p>But she usually spoke with purpose and not just idle conversation; Iesa and Beepu would monopolize that. And she rarely sought to be the center of attention. When she it did, it was with purpose like in the brothel as she played a role. But when they travelled together, she would tend to quietly drink strong alcohol, and really said very little. If it weren’t for the fact that they were together at a table, you would almost believe that she was lonely despite sitting there among them.</p><p></p><p>Daneath frowned and pressed a bit “Isn’t that used to help cast a spell? I don’t remember you breaking your stuff before you needed it. Or is this something new?”</p><p></p><p>Myrai grimaced and replied “I do use it for a particular spell but..it was just I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror is all. And I don’t normally look at myself in mirrors.”</p><p></p><p>“Why?”</p><p></p><p>“Because it reminds me of something…I want to forget.”</p><p></p><p>“I admit that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. You’re a pretty lady after all. Easy on the eyes isn’t capturing the words I have heard in the inns.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other words coming from the inns. It’s just…when I look into a mirror, I see myself very differently than how people see me. And I don’t like what I see.”</p><p></p><p>Daneath was trying to process this, completely confused on how someone like Myrai couldn’t stand to look at herself. “You’ve lost me with that.”</p><p></p><p>Myrai nodded, “I’ll try to explain but it isn’t a simple thing. Nor is it a pretty story for that matter. But honestly, after what just happened, it might have been yesterday”</p><p></p><p>“Only if you want to Myrai, if you don’t…”</p><p></p><p>“No…if anything perhaps you can take something away from it. Something I can’t. Just…just understand…” her voice trailed off in a sigh, “I’ve never told anyone this…ever. So please…don’t bring it up with others.”</p><p></p><p>“I won’t. I want to know what’s bothering you.”</p><p></p><p>Myrai took a deep breath, as if steadying herself and then began. “Something to think about as I tell this…even hear someone say, they would ‘rather die’ after committing some horrible thing? Every time I hear that, I keep thinking how if they, really, really knew what the other side had in store for their souls, that they wouldn’t be so casual about saying that. What I am about to tell you…might explain why.</p><p></p><p>“I know that sometime after we met, that I mentioned I am a member of a faction…or was I suppose now. Anyway, that I was a member of the “Society of Sensation” or a Sensate.”</p><p></p><p>Daneath thought a moment, “I seem to remember you saying that, but it didn’t really mean much at the time.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, the society kind of disbanded, and that is a long story itself. But a Sensate’s purpose is to understand the universe, by experiencing everything it has to offer because learning by experience beats reading it in a book. So, to progress in the Sensates, you try to experience as many different things you can. But experience isn’t limited to good things, you can learn a lot from bad things. In many respects, you can learn more from failure, from regret and from pain compared to success, happiness and pleasures. There isn’t a great mystery on why you like things you like.</p><p></p><p>“But among entrants to the Sensates who want to join the faction, you need to submit either five memories using each sense, or a single memory of all five. That takes some work, to find a quality memory, but that’s not all. Sensates had a bad reputation because, they would go off and experience all the fun things to the exclusion of everything else. Drinking, gaming, drugs, sex, any type of hedonism you can think of. It became such a problem that Erin Montgomery, the Facto…sorry, leader of the Sensates started to have recruits tested. Basically, a test of self-control; when you are faced with the pleasures of the universe, can you pull yourself back from the brink?</p><p></p><p>“So, did you pass that test?” Daneath asked?</p><p></p><p>“What? Oh, I did, and you could call it either a close call or a very keen control of self. I literally had almost lost perspective and yet I still managed to pull back from the edge. And that time it didn’t seem to matter which case it was.</p><p></p><p>“Anyway, before that, before I found a memory, there was this, guy at the time that was also trying to join and go upwards into the Sensates; Markel. I can’t forget him…cute, tousled dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and he was…well put together. Very easy on the eyes.” Myrai smiled as her eyes looked upwards as she recalled the memory. She then gave a light chuckle, “And I was absolutely enthralled with him.</p><p></p><p>Myrai then shook her head,“Who am I kidding, I thought I loved him. We were involved…a couple. I finally had found someone to spent time with…someone to share my feelings and heart with. Plus, he had jink and spent a lot it on parties. and he was exactly the problem that Erin didn’t want. And I didn’t realize how much it was a problem for me.</p><p></p><p>“So, while he was smart and he had the drive, he didn’t have that control. So, when they didn’t even <strong><em>let</em></strong> him take the test, he took it very hard. It sounds so trite; ‘they won’t let me in the club..I’m going to go cry.’ But the reality was that like Iesa and I, he had come from nothing and was raised on the streets. He wanted a path up out of the Hive and…like too many others, nothing to fall back on.</p><p></p><p>“So, how did he afford the parties?” Daneath asked beginning to suspect the problem.</p><p></p><p>“I didn’t know it when I met him, he but borrowed it all. And he borrowed…a lot. And as it turned out, he was in debt to the wrong sorts of people and the hourglass was nearly out. It was so bad; I had heard that he went to Suicide Alley—”</p><p></p><p>“--What’s that?”</p><p></p><p>“Oh…it’s a section of Sigil that you can actually get to the edge and look over it. All you see is grey though, but anyone that jumps off there disappears…forever. But its camped with fiends goading folks to jump, and spivs taking shorts, trying to kill them before they disappear. Not an uplifting place. So, I heard that he went there and stood at the brink of Sigil and stared. As the fiends and rabble always did, they jeered, they cajoled and egged him on to jump. But he didn’t…or couldn’t. But that was much later.</p><p></p><p>Daneath frowned, he had seen many like this; living on the edge of life itself, unable to improve their fortune. But many would endure, with faith, with will alone. But there was always that few who just wanted it to end. It was a story he had seen before.</p><p></p><p>“So, what did he do? He ask you for help?”</p><p></p><p>“No. He..he didn’t ask any of us that knew him. He was present the Festhall, but he was growing more and more distant. He didn’t tell us what was going on. I was concerned, but he brushed me off, over and over. Then it happened; and he was forced to make a choice. And he went to ‘The Tenth Pit,’” she said with tone of bitterness.</p><p></p><p>Daneath gave Myrai a puzzled look, and she explained. “Everyone has a favorite place to do things. You want to gamble and place a bet on Big “D” in the pit, you go to the Fortune’s Wheel, you want a place to make a dark deal and privacy, you go to the Styx Oarsman. But if you are fiend, a favorite place they like to go to is a pub called ‘The Tenth Pit.’ And there they cater to the whims and desires of the Baatezu, Tanar’ri and Yugoloths. And there they relax by, inflicting pain and suffering on others. And Sensates who…wanted to experience the worlds of pain and suffering, they could experience it…for a price.”</p><p></p><p>“Didn’t you say he was on his last legs though? And why he did want pain?”</p><p></p><p>Myrai, looked down and said grimly “I didn’t know why when I had first heard. But he went there to make a deal. And while everyone knew that making deals with any fiend never ends well, he still went. So, when I found out that he went there, I did the only thing I could do,” and she looked straight at Daneath with a tear in her eye.</p><p></p><p>“I followed.”</p><p></p><p><strong>Session Notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>So at the end of things, Beepu did lose a lot. Actually everything, but the spellbook really. There were some other items as well, most were minor, but I thought a scroll or two went missing. It was a high price for essentially being absent.</p><p></p><p>The next several installments, is actually a 'fill in the backstory'...and like many backstories, there is an important thread for later. Its a bit different, but hey...so is Sigil.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nthal, post: 8077437, member: 6971069"] [CENTER][B]Cellar Dwellers - 8/29/2020[/B] [I]The problem with hiding, is that; you are only hiding. It isn’t safety, because a mistake will expose you. It isn’t security, because otherwise why did you need to hide to begin with? What it is though, is comforting. That somehow you outwitted or outsmarted someone on where you are. A lie you tell yourself that you are safe. Sometimes it even works.[/I][/CENTER] I blinked as the setting sun hit my eyes, as we emerged from the fog. The sound of an angry and confused crowd was a fair distance behind us, as we picked up our pace and ran. Beepu was limping, while Daneath fell to the rear, watching for pursuers. Iesa in the meantime, ran us between alleys of the shanty town, looking around for something. We didn’t stop, until Iesa ran us to a cluster of former shacks, now just piles of wood on the earth. He held up his hand, in a motion to stop us. He then started looking around in the debris. Finally, he lifted up a flattened section of a former wall, revealing a rough hole, with a ladder descending into the earth. Without a word we all scrambled down. I flexed and gave Daneath’s shield a dim red light as he climbed. After a moment, and the sound of wood being moved, Mo bounded down the ladder, followed by Iesa, who was panting. “I covered us a bit more,” he whispered. “If we keep quiet, we should be safe.” “How did you know about this place?” Daneath whispered, as he set his shield down against the wall. The shield illuminated a simple cellar, with the remains of shelves, bottles, and a couple of barrels missing their tops. The floor was covered in flat stones, with some open sections of dirt in between the stones here and there. The walls seemed incomplete; rough earth, bordered, with some wooden beams, or panels. Some had hooks, and others supported empty or broken shelves. “I saw Mo poking around here when we came into the port,” Iesa said. “He probably smelled something, or something caught his eye. So, I guessed. Otherwise, I was going to run back to the cave.” “Well, it is adequate,” Beepu breathing was slowing. “My things Iesa.” “Oh sure,” said Iesa. Out of a satchel he fished out a pouch and handed it to the gnome. Beepu opened it, and I saw him pulling out the small parts to the device we were trying to build, and returned them to the poucn. Meanwhile, Iesa kept digging further into his satchel he then pulled out Beepu’s spellbook and handed it to him. Beepu kept nodding and held out his hand again. Iesa knitted his brow briefly, before remembering something, and dug in the satchel again, and pulled out a smooth glittering stone, which with a smile he handed to the gnome. Beepu took it, and held out his hand expectantly again, while Iesa looked at him with confusion. “What?” “Where are they?” “They?” “The gems?” Iesa blinked, “Gems? Uh…I didn’t see anything next to your book…and I wasn’t looking for them.” “You fool! They were in a pouch next to my component kit here!” Beepu said angrily. “Not when I found them. Those were in a locked box together, I swear!” Iesa held up his hands defensively. “How could you miss them!” The gnome said angrily. “That as all my…my—” “—I didn’t know!” Iesa raised his voice as he stepped towards the gnome. “Guys!” I said, stepping in between them., motioning with my hands to lower their voices. “Beepu…you didn’t tell me anything about that; and we barely had time to get out of there. Blame me if you like; I’m sorry.” Beepu’s anger melted to resignation. “I…I did not. I am sorry. And I thank you for saving me. It is just a lot of crowns lost” “How much?” Daneath asked as he sat down on a dilapidated stool. “About three thousand,” Beepu sighed. Iesa hissed, “Ouch…yeah I’m [I]really[/I] sorry. If I knew…well I guess, I’ll have to steal you some extra.” “While you are at it some clothes as well.” Beepu said looking at the rags he wore. I dug into my pack and pulled out the shirt I wore when we first arrived and handed it to the gnome. “Here, you can have this until we find you something.” Beepu frowned, “Well…I do not want to hear about me wearing women’s clothing!” I nodded, as Beepu pulled the tunic over himself. “Well...it is softer than my own clothes,” Beepu said softly. “You can keep it I suppose,” I said hiding my smirk. [I]--Well…you stirred up the whole port it seems Myr. Wonderful. [/I] I sighed and rubbed my temples. Gos, go h[I]ide. Warn us if they poke at where we are. Run if you need to.[/I] “Well, Foggle mentioned that most of the port is looking—” Beepu started. “—You think?” Daneath replied with a bit of annoyance. “Stole their stolen property in a port full of stolen things.” “—For Myrai,” Beepu finished. I groaned and slumped down to the floor cradling my head with my knees. “Seems they are offering a large reward for her…alive.” Everyone went silent and I could feel their eyes on me. I sighed and said quietly “One problem at a time. I need to rest,” and stared at the dirt wall across from me. “Let’s all get some rest then. We are going to need it,” Iesa guessed. [HR][/HR] Later that evening, Daneath was sitting on the stool, trying to focus and stay awake. It was very dark, with only slivers of moonlight coming through the rafters above their hiding place. It was times like this that Daneath envied Myrai’s ability to create light. Hells, she didn’t even [B][I]need[/I][/B] it; she could see better than Beepu without any light at all. So, Daneath instead focused on what he could hear. And at some point, he heard the sound of someone digging in a pouch. Turning his head, he saw in one of the rays of light, that it was Myrai was pulling a small object out of her pouch. She looked at it carefully and then she started to tremble. Barring her teeth in disgust, she threw the object downwards, where it shattered on the stone floor like glass. Grasping her temples with her hands, she started to breathe deeply, as if she was trying to calm herself. She finally pitched her head backwards and beat the wall with it, slowly trying to work out something. “Sodding Baator,” she muttered. She turned her attention to the glass shards, and she started to mutter an incantation. It took time but as Daneath watched, the object was slowly restored, and she now stuffed it back into her pouch. She then again rested her head against the wall looking upwards towards the ceiling, with an expression on her face that read like she was in pain. “You know, if you want more things to break, I’m sure that Beepu has something fragile in his kit,” Daneath said. Myrai barely smiled and turned her head toward the warrior and regarded him with a tired look. “Sorry…I didn’t mean to wake you; I broke a mirror while cleaning myself.” She stammered, avoiding making eye contact. Daneath looked at Myrai, her outline was framed in a ray of moonlight, causing her mirrored eyes to gleam in the darkness. She sat, slumped against a wall on the broken floor, her legs stretched out on the stone. But Daneath noted that she sounded tired, frustrated and almost angry. This bothered him for some reason. Myrai and he rarely spoke alone. It seemed between the four of them, that it was the other three that did all the talking. Whether Beepu was going off on some random fact that Beepu felt was vitally important, when it was clear it wasn’t, or his brother whose self-confidence and bravado could easily steer people away from topics he didn’t want to talk about. But Myrai was different. Certainly, it was because Myrai was a girl, but when she spoke softly, everyone would turn to listen. And when she raised it, her voice commanded attention. But she usually spoke with purpose and not just idle conversation; Iesa and Beepu would monopolize that. And she rarely sought to be the center of attention. When she it did, it was with purpose like in the brothel as she played a role. But when they travelled together, she would tend to quietly drink strong alcohol, and really said very little. If it weren’t for the fact that they were together at a table, you would almost believe that she was lonely despite sitting there among them. Daneath frowned and pressed a bit “Isn’t that used to help cast a spell? I don’t remember you breaking your stuff before you needed it. Or is this something new?” Myrai grimaced and replied “I do use it for a particular spell but..it was just I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror is all. And I don’t normally look at myself in mirrors.” “Why?” “Because it reminds me of something…I want to forget.” “I admit that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. You’re a pretty lady after all. Easy on the eyes isn’t capturing the words I have heard in the inns.” “I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other words coming from the inns. It’s just…when I look into a mirror, I see myself very differently than how people see me. And I don’t like what I see.” Daneath was trying to process this, completely confused on how someone like Myrai couldn’t stand to look at herself. “You’ve lost me with that.” Myrai nodded, “I’ll try to explain but it isn’t a simple thing. Nor is it a pretty story for that matter. But honestly, after what just happened, it might have been yesterday” “Only if you want to Myrai, if you don’t…” “No…if anything perhaps you can take something away from it. Something I can’t. Just…just understand…” her voice trailed off in a sigh, “I’ve never told anyone this…ever. So please…don’t bring it up with others.” “I won’t. I want to know what’s bothering you.” Myrai took a deep breath, as if steadying herself and then began. “Something to think about as I tell this…even hear someone say, they would ‘rather die’ after committing some horrible thing? Every time I hear that, I keep thinking how if they, really, really knew what the other side had in store for their souls, that they wouldn’t be so casual about saying that. What I am about to tell you…might explain why. “I know that sometime after we met, that I mentioned I am a member of a faction…or was I suppose now. Anyway, that I was a member of the “Society of Sensation” or a Sensate.” Daneath thought a moment, “I seem to remember you saying that, but it didn’t really mean much at the time.” “Well, the society kind of disbanded, and that is a long story itself. But a Sensate’s purpose is to understand the universe, by experiencing everything it has to offer because learning by experience beats reading it in a book. So, to progress in the Sensates, you try to experience as many different things you can. But experience isn’t limited to good things, you can learn a lot from bad things. In many respects, you can learn more from failure, from regret and from pain compared to success, happiness and pleasures. There isn’t a great mystery on why you like things you like. “But among entrants to the Sensates who want to join the faction, you need to submit either five memories using each sense, or a single memory of all five. That takes some work, to find a quality memory, but that’s not all. Sensates had a bad reputation because, they would go off and experience all the fun things to the exclusion of everything else. Drinking, gaming, drugs, sex, any type of hedonism you can think of. It became such a problem that Erin Montgomery, the Facto…sorry, leader of the Sensates started to have recruits tested. Basically, a test of self-control; when you are faced with the pleasures of the universe, can you pull yourself back from the brink? “So, did you pass that test?” Daneath asked? “What? Oh, I did, and you could call it either a close call or a very keen control of self. I literally had almost lost perspective and yet I still managed to pull back from the edge. And that time it didn’t seem to matter which case it was. “Anyway, before that, before I found a memory, there was this, guy at the time that was also trying to join and go upwards into the Sensates; Markel. I can’t forget him…cute, tousled dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and he was…well put together. Very easy on the eyes.” Myrai smiled as her eyes looked upwards as she recalled the memory. She then gave a light chuckle, “And I was absolutely enthralled with him. Myrai then shook her head,“Who am I kidding, I thought I loved him. We were involved…a couple. I finally had found someone to spent time with…someone to share my feelings and heart with. Plus, he had jink and spent a lot it on parties. and he was exactly the problem that Erin didn’t want. And I didn’t realize how much it was a problem for me. “So, while he was smart and he had the drive, he didn’t have that control. So, when they didn’t even [B][I]let[/I][/B] him take the test, he took it very hard. It sounds so trite; ‘they won’t let me in the club..I’m going to go cry.’ But the reality was that like Iesa and I, he had come from nothing and was raised on the streets. He wanted a path up out of the Hive and…like too many others, nothing to fall back on. “So, how did he afford the parties?” Daneath asked beginning to suspect the problem. “I didn’t know it when I met him, he but borrowed it all. And he borrowed…a lot. And as it turned out, he was in debt to the wrong sorts of people and the hourglass was nearly out. It was so bad; I had heard that he went to Suicide Alley—” “--What’s that?” “Oh…it’s a section of Sigil that you can actually get to the edge and look over it. All you see is grey though, but anyone that jumps off there disappears…forever. But its camped with fiends goading folks to jump, and spivs taking shorts, trying to kill them before they disappear. Not an uplifting place. So, I heard that he went there and stood at the brink of Sigil and stared. As the fiends and rabble always did, they jeered, they cajoled and egged him on to jump. But he didn’t…or couldn’t. But that was much later. Daneath frowned, he had seen many like this; living on the edge of life itself, unable to improve their fortune. But many would endure, with faith, with will alone. But there was always that few who just wanted it to end. It was a story he had seen before. “So, what did he do? He ask you for help?” “No. He..he didn’t ask any of us that knew him. He was present the Festhall, but he was growing more and more distant. He didn’t tell us what was going on. I was concerned, but he brushed me off, over and over. Then it happened; and he was forced to make a choice. And he went to ‘The Tenth Pit,’” she said with tone of bitterness. Daneath gave Myrai a puzzled look, and she explained. “Everyone has a favorite place to do things. You want to gamble and place a bet on Big “D” in the pit, you go to the Fortune’s Wheel, you want a place to make a dark deal and privacy, you go to the Styx Oarsman. But if you are fiend, a favorite place they like to go to is a pub called ‘The Tenth Pit.’ And there they cater to the whims and desires of the Baatezu, Tanar’ri and Yugoloths. And there they relax by, inflicting pain and suffering on others. And Sensates who…wanted to experience the worlds of pain and suffering, they could experience it…for a price.” “Didn’t you say he was on his last legs though? And why he did want pain?” Myrai, looked down and said grimly “I didn’t know why when I had first heard. But he went there to make a deal. And while everyone knew that making deals with any fiend never ends well, he still went. So, when I found out that he went there, I did the only thing I could do,” and she looked straight at Daneath with a tear in her eye. “I followed.” [B]Session Notes:[/B] So at the end of things, Beepu did lose a lot. Actually everything, but the spellbook really. There were some other items as well, most were minor, but I thought a scroll or two went missing. It was a high price for essentially being absent. The next several installments, is actually a 'fill in the backstory'...and like many backstories, there is an important thread for later. Its a bit different, but hey...so is Sigil. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Journal of the Souls of Legend (completed)
Top