Planescape - Divided We Stand • Chapter 1: The Drawing of the Five

[Hella_Tellah]

[sblock=OOC]To be clear, there are now two globes visible. One is in the room the characters currently stand in, hanging from the ceiling. Another one is in the larger, domed room, and that's the pulsating globe Vorrin is chatting with. Since Shayuri didn't mention going into the other room, I'm going to assume for the moment that Etrigan is examining the first globe mentioned. That's the globe hanging from the ceiling of the room the characters are in.[/sblock]
Etrigan peered into the glowing globe, and saw a floating brain through the hazy fluid and dull glow. He detected a single magical aura of moderate strength, but lacked the training necessary to make any further determinations.

He felt the brain meet his gaze. Etrigan shivered as he felt a stiff-bristled wolf's hair brush dip into his subconscious and draw a mental ink across his mind. Words began to form, brushed in deft strokes across the vellum of his consciousness.

"Welcome back, you evil son of a bitch."

 

[Antithetist]

Khalil's eyes widen as he mulls over the globe's communication. Why do you acknowledge me as master? He thinks back, wondering even as he does so whether the strange intelligence in the globe can pick up his reply, whether it isn't in fact completely ridiculous to just think at this thing and expect it to understand. I have been here before?

If the attempt at telepathic reply fails, Khalil repeats the words out loud, heedless of what the strangers around might think.

 

[Shayuri]

"Incredible...makes sense though...minds stabilize the chaos, what better way...?"

Etrigan coughed and tapped on the glass of the sphere gently. "Uh, hello?" he said to it. "Have we met before? I confess, my social circle is very...ah...light on the disembodied brain ethnicity. Not that I've a bias of course. It's just rare to encounter them where I live. Please, call me Etrigan. I much prefer it to 'evil son of a bitch.'"

 

[Baronsquee]

Vorrin's face is calm and composed, but intermittent twitches of exertion ruffle his brow. His keeps his eyes mostly closed, only peeking occasionally at the crumbling chasm before him.

Finally, he opens his eyes.

"I need aid. Please, everyone, try to imagine the floor of this room as complete and unbroken. If we work together, we may be able to repair this rift."

 

[Voda Vosa]

Feleghost didn't say anything, but in his mind, he imagined the floor impeccable and completed.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Khalil's eyes widen as he mulls over the globe's communication. Why do you acknowledge me as master? He thinks back, wondering even as he does so whether the strange intelligence in the globe can pick up his reply, whether it isn't in fact completely ridiculous to just think at this thing and expect it to understand. I have been here before?

"I acknowledge you as master because you have so commanded it, master," came the weary reply, slowly woven in among Khalil's thoughts. Then, with a glimmering, hopeful thread, it asked, "Would you have it otherwise, master? Would you release me from my service, maser?"

Etrigan coughed and tapped on the glass of the sphere gently. "Uh, hello?" he said to it. "Have we met before? I confess, my social circle is very...ah...light on the disembodied brain ethnicity. Not that I've a bias of course. It's just rare to encounter them where I live. Please, call me Etrigan. I much prefer it to 'evil son of a bitch.'"

"Of course we've met, you pug-nosed ninny-chanter," came the reply, brushed rough and fast across Etrigan's frontal lobe. "What'll it be this time? Imagine up a torture chamber? Another lab to experiment on the barmies? Go stitch your lips, you child of a vaporighu!"

 

[ethandrew]

Pinder walked next to the others, no more than waist high, stopping silent and looking in awe. Nothing made sense, not this land, why he was here, this room, this green pulsating globe, why he needed to focus on an intact floor. But he did just that, he had hoped that Sessay, who sat obediently just behind the chimp, had the mental faculty to do just the same.

 

[Shayuri]

"Now that's enough of that," Etrigan replied to the surly brain, now affronted. "I've never done any of that. I think YOU have a case of mistaken identities. Exactly who is it that you think I am? And, while you're at it, what is your name? I've already given you mine."

 

[Hella_Tellah]

"Now that's enough of that," Etrigan replied to the surly brain, now affronted. "I've never done any of that. I think YOU have a case of mistaken identities. Exactly who is it that you think I am? And, while you're at it, what is your name? I've already given you mine."

"Very well, you pus-spewing cretin. You've bound me to your foul service, so I'll answer you, though I can't fathom any purpose in taunting me with these inanities." The brain's telepathic writing brush seemed to hang in mid-thought, then return to its message with practiced cordiality. "We met on the fiery slopes of Gehenna. You are the mage who bound me to your service and placed me in this jar. I was called Etoann in life."

"Now go soak your head in acherai spit, you whoreson mandrake."

Meanwhile, the combined belief of Feleghost, Pinder, and Vorrin closed up the chasm in the larger room. As the final chaos-forged stone fell into place, the brain globe hanging from the brass-domed ceiling lit up fully, and they could see the room more clearly.

It had all the hallmarks of a sitting parlor: divans, chairs, paintings, and a fireplace. All had been torn apart, ripped, and dismantled, seemingly in a very determined and frustrated search for something. The walls were riddled with holes gouged roughly, and the brass dome was dented with a hundred small divots. From the doorway, they could see three further doors, though they couldn't see the entire room.

[sblock=Experience]Vorrin gains 1 point of experience for bringing order to chaos.[/sblock]
​

 

[Baronsquee]

Vorrin nods curtly at nobody in particular, and marches smartly into the newly-repaired room to take a peek around the corner. As he goes, he glances briefly at the paintings on the walls.