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

[Unsung]

The Harmony guardswoman regards Graydon politely. She wears a close-fitting red helmet, and a suit of shining red scale mail, small hooked blades of the same red-tinted steel sprouting from her shoulders, forearms, knuckles, knees, and back. A cluster of blades decorates the front of her helmet, just above her eyes. She smiles and nods, but doesn't say anything, merely sipping her drink. Her eyes go back to the barman, and Graydon follows her look.

Barstle wipes the top of the bar, and flicks a few drops of condensation at the tavern cat as it passes. "Ahhh, s'funny, but the times I miss most are the ones I remember least. Many a weekend lost to the faerie revels of Sylvania, fortunes once gained and again misplaced deep in the dark of them Dwarven Mountain dice-dens-- passionate, unpredictable aXos girls-- and why, Plague-Mort ain't even half so bad as they say, boy, if you make the right friends, and the tanar'ri pay decently when they decide to pay at all-- and oh, what I'd give for another night on the ol' Torch town... Shame it is, boy, all of it muddled by a drop too many of that damned Styx wash, eh? Eh? Ahhh..." His face lights up, as his eyes stare past Graydon, through him, past the walls of the bar, past the streets of Sigil and beyond time's fabric.

Then the half-elf sighs, and shakes clear his head, and seemed to sink an inch closer to the ground. The air seems to go out of him. "The planes are a most wondrous place for a bright young man from the Prime to find himself, his head full of dreams and a fever in his heart-- and some good steel by his side, or mayhap a solid wand-- I envy you all that, son, truly I do. But if I may favour you with a piece of advice, as was told unto me when I first tumbled out the back of that Waterdhavian earth-closet ere these many years-- and perhaps unlike m'self, you'll even hazard a listen..."

You suddenly lock eyes. All the twinkle in his eyes suddenly vanishes, blown out like a candle, and all the age that doesn't show on his youthful half-elven features suddenly shows in the chasm-like fear that sits in those two eyes. "Don't. Sign. Anything," he hisses, in a pitched whisper.

 

[Unsung]

The other modron regards Rusty expressionlessly, blinking. Finally, it shifts the deck of cards to its other hand, reaches out and takes Rusty's pointing finder and shakes it by the hand. "'Rusty'? Well, It Has A Certain Pithy Quality, This Unit Supposes. I Take It You Are New. I See You Have Been. Er. Modified. I Must Say, I Am Conflicted As To Whether Or Not I Would Hope These Changes Were Voluntary On Your Part, But. Hm. Oh Well.

"You Will Need To Learn To Divorce Yourself From Your Reliance On The Collective Pronoun. We-- That Is To Say, Each Of Us, You And I, Is A Discrete Individual, In An Uncaring Multiverse In Which The Default State Of All Life Is Loneliness. You May Well Be 'Rusty', However I Have Selected The Personal Designation--"

"Fourish!!" The entire crowd of blacksmiths at his back suddenly bellow the name at once, then break up into laughter.

The modron, apparently 'Fourish', merely blinks at the interruption. "Hm. Yes. Well. The Mob Has Spoken. If I May Ask. How Did You Come To Be. Um. Dislodged. From 'The March', Cutter?"

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Rusty stands there, listening, processing, trying to sort out what it had just heard. Finally, it says, "We...are...not...Rusty? We...are...Fourish?"

 

[Unsung]

OOC: @goatunit There's a good chance Eurid and Fourish have crossed paths before. The rogue modron is a factotum for the Godsmen. It's possible that Fourish is one of several people who might have mentioned the Jilted Planes to you in the past. Up to you, of course.

"You Are Rusty. I Am. Sigh," the modron says the word aloud, rather than letting out a breath, "Fine. I Am 'Fourish'. We Are, Or Rather Were, At Least At One Time, Modrons."

"I think you might be talking over the poor kid's head, Two," says the Harmonium behind him.

"Nonsense," Fourish scoffs.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

"We...are...Modrons? Were...Modrons?" The idea of past tense seems to dawn on Rusty rather suddenly and its voice takes on a sorrowful quality, "What...are...we...now?"

 

[Shayuri]

Shard accepts the cards and starts to shuffle them, though her attention is on the modron.

"You've fallen," she says after a moment. "Gone against your nature, and in doing so changed it." She smiles a little wistfully. "Strange how, no matter how mindless a creation can appear, nothing can be created that does not carry a piece of the creator. Even a fragment of a Will can take on a life of its own, if the circumstances are right."

Shard nods at Fourish. "Congratulations." She hands the cards back.

 

[Unsung]

The modron takes its time answering its question, but its eyes do not stray from Rusty's central core, never once distracted by the empty mask that sits above what others might assume to be its shoulders. It takes back the cards and answers Shard after she speaks.

"Yes, The Divine Spark, Which Is Carried Within All Things. I Am A Firm Believer In This Principle," says Fourish calmly. "But You Say, 'Fallen'. Fallen. Risen. Gone Rogue. Turned Coat And Do-Si-Doed. Mere Semantics. What Matters Is That I Have Chosen-- Made A Choice That Is Mine And Mine Alone. As, Perhaps, This One Has, Or Soon Will," Fourish continues to look levelly at Rusty.

"You And I Are No Longer Modrons, But Individuals. More Than This Would Be Difficult To Be Certain Of Without Presuming A Good Deal. We Are. Hmm."

The modron glances up at Shard, then down at her feet, as at the moment the old tomcat comes threading its way back through the bar.

"...Strays," Fourish finishes, looking back at Rusty.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Rusty turns away abruptly, its posture slumped into what can only be called moping, as it makes its way back to the table with the others.

Its voice is low and quiet and utterly morose, "We...are...alone."

 

[Unsung]

Fourish stares after Rusty's sudden departure. "Well, That Was Hardly The Desired Outcome," it says, seeming to itself.

"We playin' cards or what?" snapped the quasit on the table.

Fourish watches the other modron for a moment, then picks itself up with both hands and tilts itself back to the table from atop its crate. It hands the deck of cards off to the human beside it, and the man deals out the cards. "Very Well," it says.

"Looking to be dealt in?" the guard nods to Shard, indicating the spot at the table in front of her.

 

[Queenie]

"Don't know the dark on no Earth or Feywild," Eurid confesses to his companions. "But the multiverse is a sodding big place."

Asked about his adventures out of town, the paladin leans back in his chair and thinks a moment. He taps a finger on the edge of the table as he lists each of the places he's been.

"Let's see..." he starts. "Been to a few Quasies on faction business--Ash and Salt, specifically. I've delivered deaders to their families on Toril, Krynn, Oerth, and a few other Primes. Spent a week in Gehenna once. Brief excursion to Pandemonium. Several layers of the Abyss. Been to Bytopia twice, fittingly enough..."

"Other than that, most of my out-of-town business has been along the Great Ring. I know the Gate Towns pretty good."

Lili wrinkles her tiny eyebrows at all the talk that is above her head. "Why, I have never heard of so many of those places." She stops to consider for a moment before her face bursts with excitement, "Oh, but you've never been to the FeyWild? It is the most beautiful place you could ever visit! Not like this dark and dingy place." She waves her arms about as she speaks, tiny bits of glittering sparkle flying here and there as she does. "It is full of life and love and light and all the colors of the rainbow and more, and yes, rainbows are everywhere! The air smells like the most fragrant lily you have ever smelled and there are meadows full of gorgeous flowers and glittering waterfalls everywhere with the freshest waters and trees so tall you could never fly high enough to reach the tops! But you must watch out for the trees because sometimes they whisper secrets on the wind after you have left them. Trees, they are a jealous lot, jealous that you can travel around and they cannot. It's sad, really." She looks forlorn but only for a moment before coming alive again. "Oh, but the night time might even be more fantastic than the day there! The moon is almost as bright as the sun and the stars twinkle like the brightest diamonds in the sky. The parties," she signs, "The parties. Our revelries last for days and days, all the scrumptious food and drink you could ever imagine and all the companionship you might desire too. And, of course, herbs of the greatest potency to lift the veil between worlds and help you find your true destiny." She stops to smile at the occupants of the table, then she shrugs her shoulders with a small tinkling sound, her cares fleeting. "Those parties I already miss. But I must see the world so here I am."