Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Planescape: Tales from the Smoldering Corpse

It was an usual feeling for Thea; not standing out not being stared at. There was a part of her screaming at her to run all the way home. To somewhere where there was not a city as the sky. She had been summoned to the Grand Marshal's Chamber only to come face to face with the Duchess, her Grandmother. The look in her eyes was stern, not angry but stern.
“There is an important matter I need attending to. A family matter.” Said the Duchess.
“What is it your grace?” Asked Thea secretly relieved that she was not being chastised for some failing.
“I need you to find my mother.”

They entered part of the castle which had been shut off since the time of the Old Duke. They walked in silence passing what appeared to be a shrine to a blonde haired lady. Thea wondered who this clearly beloved lady but the way her grandmother scowled at the painting made her decide that it was best not to ask. The chamber they arrived at was lushly appointed as one would expect from that of a noble lady. The only thing to stand out was a free standing arch in the centre of the room.
“Three things my dear; don't stare, trust no-one and find Shiphra'asia.” Said the Duchess as she handed Thea a bag of sand gestured towards the arch.

Stepping through the portal was jarring. The air suddenly smelt wrong reminding her of the slums in the east. Looking round she appeared in a square. The building surrounding her were different much more blade covered than she had ever seen before. She had been told to make her way to the sign of the Smouldering Corpse.

A attempted mugger had been nice enough to provide her directions. She did not pause at the door but walk confidently to the bar and ordered a drink. The drink did not intermediately fatal when it was placed in front of her. Taking a long drag on it she looked around for her contact.

Across the bar, the newcomer caught the attention of a skulking figure. Even sitting as he was in the shadows of the tavern, he himself stood out. His hair was unnaturally, vividly red and grew in an unruly mane framing his boyish features. Strange markings covered his face and something was just plain 'off' about his dull, hollow gaze. He was dressed in dark leathers, a sword at his hip, a dagger in his belt.

A sly smirk crossed his face. This, he told himself, was someone who wasn't from around here.
No Hive dweller was so well dressed, nor so well groomed. Even the way she looked around the bar screamed 'Prime' to his well honed senses. He loved Primes, Clueless sods made easy marks.

She was looking for someone hmm? Well, perhaps he could be that person, at least till it proved unprofitable.

He rose gracefully from his seat and sidled over, sitting beside her and giving her his very best charming smile.
The effect was, unfortunately, rather dampened by his strange, opalescent, white eyes. Eyes that seemed very much to belong to a blind man, though he showed no signs of impaired vision.

"What brings a lady such as yeself to a dive like this?" he asked, his Sigilian accent thick, his voice surprisingly soft and lyrical. "It can't be the entertainment." He gestured vaguely toward the burning humanoid figure near the entrance, suspended over a grate by some unseen force as it writhed in silent agony.

She glanced up at the figure and cracked a smile which did not come with teeth. The scales round her eyes glinted in the firelight.
"Don't know he kind of reminds me of my great uncle. So are you hear to offer secrets or pleasure no mere mortal could ever offer me?" She said with more bravado than she actually had.
She was use to being the scariest thing in the room either by her blood or her office.

Auriel laughed at her comment, the tiefling; for he assumed she was a tiefling; had moxie.
"Well more the former." He grinned "unless ya buy me a drink first."

He wasn't at all afraid of her, her appearance was, in this place, absolutely nothing unusual. But that's what made her interesting to him. He'd initially assumed she was a clueless prime from the way she moved and regarded her surroundings, but seeing her up close, he was starting to second guess himself. Certainly she wasn't a local, even the hoity toity snobs and weirdos of the Clerks Ward didn't dress in quite such an unusual manner and certainly he'd never heard an accent quite like hers.
So where had she come from?

"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" he tried. "You're not from around here are ya?"

"You have the pleasure of meeting the Baroness-Arcane Theadora Dorran Hexankriegir of the Imperial order of the Shattered Moon." Said Thea straightening herself up into a more dignified pose.
She kept the pose for a moment before guesting to the bar keep with an almost regal wave.
"So who are you and what'ya drinking?"

Auriel raised an eyebrow. Baroness huh? Fancy. Nobility meant gold didn't it?

"Auriel Dumar" He told her, extending a hand to shake and grinning rougishly. "And uh, well if ya buyin... " He gestured to the barkeep. "The good stuff yeah?"

The barkeep rolled his eyes and went to get a bottle from a high shelf.

Auriel turned his attention back to Thea. "What's a Baroness doin' this side a Sigil? You're not a Sensate right?" He was starting to doubt himself on that front. Wouldn't be the first time a noble had wandered out of the Clerks Ward and decided to slum it in the hive. Some of them even made it back to the Civic Festhall to tell their tale.
"This isn't some sorta... slum tour is it? Because lady, if you want shitty dives, this is not even the worst bar we've got." He laughed.

The choice of drinks was telling. His greed outweighs his wisdom; which could be a usful trait especally if she could keep him believing that there was more profit keeping knives out of her back than trusting them in. Catching the barman's eye and pressed a gold coin in his hand. The look she gave him hopefully conveyed that she wanted her companion to be kept in drinks for the time being.
"I'm not looking for a slum tour; I have a much more exciting idea. Said Thea smiling wide enough to show her pointed teeth. "We're going demon hunting."

"Demon hunting?" Auriel looked skeptical. "well i'm all for a bit of fun but that kinda thing's likely to put a blood into the deadbook pretty quick. If not some worse punishment. The fiends don't take too kindly to people pokin' at em with pointy things you know? " He quite happily took the drink. Hey maybe this girl was crazy and not long for the land of the living, but she had gold right now and seemed happy enough to spend it.

From the bar, hunched over the scarred and stained wood, Little Nickel stared down at the last inch of liquid in her last mug of beer. She was out of money; pickings were slim this side of Sigil, with half as many pockets coming up with naught but dust or congealed sweat as a copper here and there. She was never gonna get off this blasted Spire unless she found another door, but what then? Her glamorous new life wasn't gonna fund itself, and who knows what godsforsaken place she'd end up in next.

She glanced blearily at the newcomers--some pretty-faced, sparkly-eyed git who talked too much, and a well-dressed tiefling who clearly belonged anywhere else. Nickel idly considered cosying up to 'em, seeing what she could get away with--maybe a free drink out of it, who knew--but she immediately dismissed the idea. Nickel was a thief, and she knew better than to make a grab for another thief's mark.

She pressed her cheek against the filthy bartop and frowned at the last of her beer, distantly grateful that her small body got quite drunk on quite little. She'd go out looking for opportunity when she sobered up.

(Hi Atlas! I'll get a reply up in a bit. I'm tired hah)