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Shemeska's Planescape Storyhour - (Updated 14February2024)
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<blockquote data-quote="Shemeska" data-source="post: 6743849" data-attributes="member: 11697"><p>“The shattered temple is not his!” Hobard pointed a finger directly at Muriav Garianis with the spite and contempt in his voice and eyes nearly palpable. “Regardless of our status as a Faction, it was our home, and it is still ours!”</p><p></p><p>More and more citizens in the crowd abruptly left their seats and scattered for the park’s periphery moment by moment as the rancor between the two sides escalated. Looking down on it all, the Council members cast worried glances between themselves, but none of them outside of Rhys made any interruption.</p><p></p><p>“How dare you even think yourself entitled to defile that place with your feet Muriav?” The githzerai shook with rage as he stared down the cleric. “The gall! The gall you have to presume to take what is ours, to spit on our faction, to spit on our dead, and then to build a temple to your sodding fool of a power!”</p><p></p><p>“You and yours were exiled from Sigil by the Lady herself!” Garianis laughed, though the timbre of his voice stood in stark contrast to the slight tremor in his hand as it reached up to clasp his holy symbol.</p><p></p><p>“Shut up Garianis.” Hobard narrowed his eyes, “Your bravado is as hollow as the divinity of the power you shackle yourself to.”</p><p></p><p>The Marauder refilled and lit her pipe again, silently enjoying an event that it seemed clear that she’d anticipated if not somehow played a role in arranging. Several council members shot her a suspicious look, but Rhys ignored the ‘loth as she motioned for the council’s guards to interpose themselves between the Athar and the Garianis family.</p><p></p><p>Rhys stepped forward and tapped her staff on the platform, calling out to both Hobard and Garianis alike, “This is neither the place nor the time to spill any blood over a parcel of land littered with dust and bones from more than one recent conflict. The Lady’s Shadow has fallen across those fighting over that spot before, and I dare say that Her Serenity would be quick to do so again if provoked.”</p><p></p><p>A hush passed over the crowd, including the Athar and the Garianis clan at the former factol’s invocation of that very real threat. Mutual antipathy and righteous zeal overcame her warning only moments later when one of the Garianis family spat in the direction of the Athar. In response, one of the younger members of the exiled faction gestured with a knife to the woman, one of Muriav’s nieces.</p><p></p><p>“Guards!” Garianis shouted. “Arrest these fools!”</p><p></p><p>“If you so much as touch one stone in the Shattered Temple it will be the death of you.” The Athar factol’s voice was cold and his gaze never left the cleric’s.</p><p></p><p>“Do you hear this madman?!” Garianis laughed and spread his arms. “He threatens me in front of all of you.”</p><p></p><p>The Marauder continued the smirk as Rhys motioned to the guards to take action. Once the tiefling had given orders, she glanced down at the ‘loth. The Marauder met Rhys’s gaze and calmly, arrogantly blew a ring of smoke in her direction. If any telepathic words of warning, rebuke, or taunting passed between them, it wasn’t obvious, and whatever Rhys’s suspicions, the obvious situation swallowed her attention.</p><p></p><p>More shouting erupted between the two men, joined soon by their respective followers. It took more than twenty minutes for the council’s guards to separate the groups and escort them out of the park’s grounds. What might have ended in bloodshed had not, and for once it seemed Rhys was pleased. Despite her quick action then and there however, the stage had been set for a looming confrontation between the Garianis clan and a faction that seemed eager to retain their ownership of the Shattered Temple or perhaps even make a return into the city itself as a political power.</p><p></p><p>The council meeting ended on that note, with voices tinged with concern and worry as much as speculation and even some bets as to who might be found stabbed to death within a fortnight or even mazed or flayed for their audacity in perhaps flaunting the spirit if not absolutely the letter of The Lady’s proclamation.</p><p></p><p>Everything had ended as well as it could have, all things considered. There had been no blood spilled, no lightning bolts hurled by the githzerai archmage who now ruled over the Athar, nor had a half dozen tieflings stabbed Florian for her very public but quickly overshadowed insults. The cleric’s words had, it seemed, been forgotten by the assembled witnesses.</p><p></p><p>One witness had not forgotten.</p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">****</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“So, back to the Jammer for dinner, or did you want to do something stupid and try to follow either of those two groups and see what they’re up to?” Florian smiled as she walked through the park gates and turned down the street. Feeling eyes upon her back, she briefly turned around to look.</p><p></p><p>Behind her, the Marauder and her entourage emerged amid a throng of other citizens. Shemeska stood there in the middle of the street only for a moment, and unless one was watching her specifically they wouldn’t have noticed a thing before she turned, laughed, and continued with her previous self-indulgent conversation without skipping a measure.</p><p></p><p>In that moment though, the Marauder stared at Florian, making certain that she made eye contact. Purple flame danced within her pupils and silently, as she turned away, she smirked and squeezed her fingers gingerly around something resting there in her palm. Ice cold and with a heartbeat of its own, the shadows that swirled around the Key caressed her fingertips like a lover’s tongue as she invoked its power.</p><p></p><p>Without warning, where there had never been a portal before, the stones below Florian’s feet vanished into a yawning mouth to the Negative Energy plane.</p><p></p><p>“F*ck!” The color drained from the cleric’s face, literally so, as she tumbled into the portal. Shrieking in terror she managed to grasp onto the edge of the bound space. Glancing down the Void stretched out eternally, a devouring darkness composed of the physical stuff of anti-life itself.</p><p></p><p>“What the hell!” Fyrehowl shouted as she dove forward to latch her hands onto Florian’s arms as she slipped further into the portal with a whistling noise as the ever-hungry vacuum of the Negative Energy plane sucked at the air as well as the mortal scrambling to escape the portal. “I’ve got you! Hold on!”</p><p></p><p>Florian shuddered as the ambient negative energy sucked at her life-force, and only with the lupinal’s aid was she able to grab enough purchase to clamber out of the portal.</p><p></p><p>“What the bloody blazes was that?!” Florian shouted as she clutched her holy symbol, whispering a prayer of thanksgiving to Tempus.</p><p></p><p>“Whatever you do, don’t step on that same spot in Sigil ever again?” Nisha gave a sidelong glance at the patch of street she’d watch suddenly erupt into a portal. “Because that’s like an ooze portal writ large and you seem to have the portal key.”</p><p></p><p>“Holy hells!” Florian shook her head. “Not the best start to my day, I… GAHHH!”</p><p></p><p>Without warning the street below her vanished, the space bound by a tracery of scuffs and cracks in the marble replaced with a roaring portal into Elemental Flame. Thankfully the moment that it opened, Fyrehowl was there to snatch the cleric out of the way. Both of them looked down at the roaring flames with horror.</p><p></p><p>“Does this sort of thing normally happen in this city?” Alex turned away from the open portal took look questioningly at the others. “Or are you people just bad luck?”</p><p></p><p>“No, that’s not normal.” The lupinal’s ears lay back against her head and the fur on her neck and shoulders stood prickled and erect with worry. “I’ve never seen that happen.”</p><p></p><p>“I wouldn’t stand anywhere near where you’re at…” Nisha warned even as she trotted a dozen feet away, dragging Tristol with her as she latched onto his arm.</p><p></p><p>“Seriously, what the hell just happened?” Florian looked to Tristol, then to Clueless. “Since when do two random portals open directly under your feet to try and kill you?”</p><p></p><p>“You haven’t been worshiping…” Nisha looked across the street at the decorative blades on a home’s ornate iron eaves. “… you know who, have you? Because that’s a bad idea.”</p><p></p><p>“No!” Florian clutched her holy symbol of Tempus. “But that’s the sort of creepy that this is.” She pointed at the slowly closing portal. “None of you brought any artifacts into the city did you?”</p><p></p><p>Clueless moved his ankle warily.</p><p></p><p>“That didn’t look like a normal portal opening or closing.” Tristol stared warily at the locations of the two portals. “The magic felt strange. I can’t define it any more than that though.”</p><p></p><p>“So what you’re saying is to always fly or just wander the city using a buddy system?” Alex looked dubious at the idea. “You all live in this city why again?”</p><p></p><p>Toras glanced around, looking for anyone that might have been watching. Paranoid or not, the vague thought crossed his mind that if the portal key hadn’t been a physical item, it might have been a thought, a phrase, or something equally ephemeral that might have been carefully applied from a distance to open the portal. If so, it might still have been accidental, but after everything that had happened to them all, he knew the chances of that were rather remote.</p><p></p><p>Moving out of the street, Florian began a series of prayers to heal the damage that she’d taken from exposure to the fury of the Negative Energy plane. Fyrehowl and Nisha helped her as the others warily looked for any explanation of what might have happened. The more Toras thought about the situation though, the more certain he was that somehow it linked back to Florian’s insult against the Marauder during the council meeting.</p><p></p><p>“Where the hell are you?” Toras muttered as he glanced for where the ‘loth might be.</p><p></p><p>Not having waited to watch, the Marauder was already a block away. A delighted smirk crossed her mind as she heard Florian’s screams from down the street crying out for help, though her face never reacted to give away her culpability. She continued walking and chatting with her entourage, displaying the same supremely smug arrogance that she always did. Talking about something other than her attempted assassination via portal, Shemeska never noticed the low, dull rumble of a Cage Quake that softly shook the foundations and rattled the windows in the surrounding blocks.</p><p></p><p>Two Wards away, Fell the Fallen Dabus shuddered as he felt the quake erupt as a sign of Her displeasure. It was happening again.</p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">****</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shemeska, post: 6743849, member: 11697"] “The shattered temple is not his!” Hobard pointed a finger directly at Muriav Garianis with the spite and contempt in his voice and eyes nearly palpable. “Regardless of our status as a Faction, it was our home, and it is still ours!” More and more citizens in the crowd abruptly left their seats and scattered for the park’s periphery moment by moment as the rancor between the two sides escalated. Looking down on it all, the Council members cast worried glances between themselves, but none of them outside of Rhys made any interruption. “How dare you even think yourself entitled to defile that place with your feet Muriav?” The githzerai shook with rage as he stared down the cleric. “The gall! The gall you have to presume to take what is ours, to spit on our faction, to spit on our dead, and then to build a temple to your sodding fool of a power!” “You and yours were exiled from Sigil by the Lady herself!” Garianis laughed, though the timbre of his voice stood in stark contrast to the slight tremor in his hand as it reached up to clasp his holy symbol. “Shut up Garianis.” Hobard narrowed his eyes, “Your bravado is as hollow as the divinity of the power you shackle yourself to.” The Marauder refilled and lit her pipe again, silently enjoying an event that it seemed clear that she’d anticipated if not somehow played a role in arranging. Several council members shot her a suspicious look, but Rhys ignored the ‘loth as she motioned for the council’s guards to interpose themselves between the Athar and the Garianis family. Rhys stepped forward and tapped her staff on the platform, calling out to both Hobard and Garianis alike, “This is neither the place nor the time to spill any blood over a parcel of land littered with dust and bones from more than one recent conflict. The Lady’s Shadow has fallen across those fighting over that spot before, and I dare say that Her Serenity would be quick to do so again if provoked.” A hush passed over the crowd, including the Athar and the Garianis clan at the former factol’s invocation of that very real threat. Mutual antipathy and righteous zeal overcame her warning only moments later when one of the Garianis family spat in the direction of the Athar. In response, one of the younger members of the exiled faction gestured with a knife to the woman, one of Muriav’s nieces. “Guards!” Garianis shouted. “Arrest these fools!” “If you so much as touch one stone in the Shattered Temple it will be the death of you.” The Athar factol’s voice was cold and his gaze never left the cleric’s. “Do you hear this madman?!” Garianis laughed and spread his arms. “He threatens me in front of all of you.” The Marauder continued the smirk as Rhys motioned to the guards to take action. Once the tiefling had given orders, she glanced down at the ‘loth. The Marauder met Rhys’s gaze and calmly, arrogantly blew a ring of smoke in her direction. If any telepathic words of warning, rebuke, or taunting passed between them, it wasn’t obvious, and whatever Rhys’s suspicions, the obvious situation swallowed her attention. More shouting erupted between the two men, joined soon by their respective followers. It took more than twenty minutes for the council’s guards to separate the groups and escort them out of the park’s grounds. What might have ended in bloodshed had not, and for once it seemed Rhys was pleased. Despite her quick action then and there however, the stage had been set for a looming confrontation between the Garianis clan and a faction that seemed eager to retain their ownership of the Shattered Temple or perhaps even make a return into the city itself as a political power. The council meeting ended on that note, with voices tinged with concern and worry as much as speculation and even some bets as to who might be found stabbed to death within a fortnight or even mazed or flayed for their audacity in perhaps flaunting the spirit if not absolutely the letter of The Lady’s proclamation. Everything had ended as well as it could have, all things considered. There had been no blood spilled, no lightning bolts hurled by the githzerai archmage who now ruled over the Athar, nor had a half dozen tieflings stabbed Florian for her very public but quickly overshadowed insults. The cleric’s words had, it seemed, been forgotten by the assembled witnesses. One witness had not forgotten. [center]****[/center] “So, back to the Jammer for dinner, or did you want to do something stupid and try to follow either of those two groups and see what they’re up to?” Florian smiled as she walked through the park gates and turned down the street. Feeling eyes upon her back, she briefly turned around to look. Behind her, the Marauder and her entourage emerged amid a throng of other citizens. Shemeska stood there in the middle of the street only for a moment, and unless one was watching her specifically they wouldn’t have noticed a thing before she turned, laughed, and continued with her previous self-indulgent conversation without skipping a measure. In that moment though, the Marauder stared at Florian, making certain that she made eye contact. Purple flame danced within her pupils and silently, as she turned away, she smirked and squeezed her fingers gingerly around something resting there in her palm. Ice cold and with a heartbeat of its own, the shadows that swirled around the Key caressed her fingertips like a lover’s tongue as she invoked its power. Without warning, where there had never been a portal before, the stones below Florian’s feet vanished into a yawning mouth to the Negative Energy plane. “F*ck!” The color drained from the cleric’s face, literally so, as she tumbled into the portal. Shrieking in terror she managed to grasp onto the edge of the bound space. Glancing down the Void stretched out eternally, a devouring darkness composed of the physical stuff of anti-life itself. “What the hell!” Fyrehowl shouted as she dove forward to latch her hands onto Florian’s arms as she slipped further into the portal with a whistling noise as the ever-hungry vacuum of the Negative Energy plane sucked at the air as well as the mortal scrambling to escape the portal. “I’ve got you! Hold on!” Florian shuddered as the ambient negative energy sucked at her life-force, and only with the lupinal’s aid was she able to grab enough purchase to clamber out of the portal. “What the bloody blazes was that?!” Florian shouted as she clutched her holy symbol, whispering a prayer of thanksgiving to Tempus. “Whatever you do, don’t step on that same spot in Sigil ever again?” Nisha gave a sidelong glance at the patch of street she’d watch suddenly erupt into a portal. “Because that’s like an ooze portal writ large and you seem to have the portal key.” “Holy hells!” Florian shook her head. “Not the best start to my day, I… GAHHH!” Without warning the street below her vanished, the space bound by a tracery of scuffs and cracks in the marble replaced with a roaring portal into Elemental Flame. Thankfully the moment that it opened, Fyrehowl was there to snatch the cleric out of the way. Both of them looked down at the roaring flames with horror. “Does this sort of thing normally happen in this city?” Alex turned away from the open portal took look questioningly at the others. “Or are you people just bad luck?” “No, that’s not normal.” The lupinal’s ears lay back against her head and the fur on her neck and shoulders stood prickled and erect with worry. “I’ve never seen that happen.” “I wouldn’t stand anywhere near where you’re at…” Nisha warned even as she trotted a dozen feet away, dragging Tristol with her as she latched onto his arm. “Seriously, what the hell just happened?” Florian looked to Tristol, then to Clueless. “Since when do two random portals open directly under your feet to try and kill you?” “You haven’t been worshiping…” Nisha looked across the street at the decorative blades on a home’s ornate iron eaves. “… you know who, have you? Because that’s a bad idea.” “No!” Florian clutched her holy symbol of Tempus. “But that’s the sort of creepy that this is.” She pointed at the slowly closing portal. “None of you brought any artifacts into the city did you?” Clueless moved his ankle warily. “That didn’t look like a normal portal opening or closing.” Tristol stared warily at the locations of the two portals. “The magic felt strange. I can’t define it any more than that though.” “So what you’re saying is to always fly or just wander the city using a buddy system?” Alex looked dubious at the idea. “You all live in this city why again?” Toras glanced around, looking for anyone that might have been watching. Paranoid or not, the vague thought crossed his mind that if the portal key hadn’t been a physical item, it might have been a thought, a phrase, or something equally ephemeral that might have been carefully applied from a distance to open the portal. If so, it might still have been accidental, but after everything that had happened to them all, he knew the chances of that were rather remote. Moving out of the street, Florian began a series of prayers to heal the damage that she’d taken from exposure to the fury of the Negative Energy plane. Fyrehowl and Nisha helped her as the others warily looked for any explanation of what might have happened. The more Toras thought about the situation though, the more certain he was that somehow it linked back to Florian’s insult against the Marauder during the council meeting. “Where the hell are you?” Toras muttered as he glanced for where the ‘loth might be. Not having waited to watch, the Marauder was already a block away. A delighted smirk crossed her mind as she heard Florian’s screams from down the street crying out for help, though her face never reacted to give away her culpability. She continued walking and chatting with her entourage, displaying the same supremely smug arrogance that she always did. Talking about something other than her attempted assassination via portal, Shemeska never noticed the low, dull rumble of a Cage Quake that softly shook the foundations and rattled the windows in the surrounding blocks. Two Wards away, Fell the Fallen Dabus shuddered as he felt the quake erupt as a sign of Her displeasure. It was happening again. [center]****[/center] [/QUOTE]
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Shemeska's Planescape Storyhour - (Updated 14February2024)
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