Planescape Sequel Story

[Canis Eire]

VERY interesting, Galadria. You've definitely got my brain percolating... How much longer you going to make us wait for the rest? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Galadria]

Hi, Canis! WELCOME TO IRONWORKS!!!!! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Are you Canis from the BIS boards? No matter, thanks for the compliment. I'm almost done with fiddling with the ending (adding dialogue, mostly), and will post the conclusion tomorrow.

[Galadria]

All right, here is the conclusion:

The little party walked right in to the Court, as promised, and the tribunal was already assembled. Screwtape, a tall, glowering blood-red pit fiend glared at Fhjull when they strode in, but did not dare say anything, because of the presence of the Judge.
Grace looked at this being with undisguised awe. Integrity radiated from him, as well as wisdom. His beard was long, but his face unlined, and the eyes that looked straight into the heart of all there were golden. Minos, the Judge of All. She fought the sudden desire to run away.
Fhjull, as the bringer of the complaint, approached the Bench first. "Your Supreme Honor," he began unctuously, "we are here today for a unique purpose, a Ba’atezu of my age and standing arguing for the reversal of an Infernal Contract. But, the situation is unique. Archdemon Screwtape, my respected blood-enemy, has caused to be enforced a contract, the basis of which is flawed, as should be well-known to him. This contract, which I would like the Court to examine, is out of the usual form, I would say incompetently written if it were not for my respect for my former colleague, and would the Court please note the escape-clause?"
Screwtape rose in barely-contained fury. "If it please the Court, the fact is that this man signed the contract, fully intending to get out of it. The list of crimes that he has committed, as You shall find appended to the Counter-Complaint, items 1 through 457,387,234,746 should alone send him to the Abyss, with the Court's blessing. I pray" (the word seemed to be bitter in his mouth) "that you hold this contract enforceable."
There then followed what seemed to be days of interminable argument and counterargument, objections and sur-rebuttals, that poor Annah got quite lost in the proceedings. She lay her head next to Grace's and hissed, "How is it going, mistress? Does it look good or bleak? I canna figure it out." Grace shook her head, not wanting a rebuke from that awesome Bench.
Finally, both sides rested and Minos spoke. "I think that we can now agree that, though sins were many, they were sincerely repented and that remorse of sufficient degree is present in the signer." Fhjull grinned at Screwtape in triumph. "However," Minos went on, "the signer did sign the contract, and that has generally been held to be sufficient to override remorse and repentance, due to the free will that the One that is above us all has granted to mortals. There remains the matter of the escape clause, which I shall read into the Record. 'The contract shall be made null and void if the signee is able to charm, without force or magic, a Tanari'i of the rank of succubus and above, into his service.'" Has that action been performed?
Fhjull's smile was at its broadest. "Your Supreme Honor, I would like to call to the Witness Stand the succubus now known as Fall-from-Grace, now residing in Sigil at the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts."
Grace went with proper diffidence to the chair indicated. There was no oath. There was no need, as you could not lie to this judge. Fhjull began: "Did you, Fall-from-Grace, enter into the service of this man, known in the contract as Adahn?"
"I did," she answered firmly.
"You did so with no force or magic involved?" Fhjull's eye gleamed as he talked.
"No."
"You did so with no designs of preying on this individual, seducing him after the manner of succubi?"
"No. I have not done that for many years."
"And why is that?"
"I have come to see it as a pointless waste of time."
"You are not at this time enslaved to any other individual?" Fhjull seemed to shake internally with glee.
"No," Grace answered decisively. "I was once enslaved to a series of Ba'atezu nobles, but won my freedom."
Fhjull turned to Minos. "There you have it, your Supreme Honor. Your Honor knows that she is telling the truth. What could be simpler?"
Minos turned to Screwtape. "Do you wish to cross-examine the witness, Counselor Screwtape?"
The demon responded, "No, your Supreme Honor. What would be the use? Blast it, I had a succubus, a real one, not that mutilated thing," here he shot a withering glance at Grace, but she endured it with her usual composure, "ready for him. She would have sucked him right down into the Abyss, but he just laughed at her and walked off, saying that there was something else he wanted to try, first. Bah." He disappeared in a puff of sulfurous smoke, instantly disappeared by the blessed air of the court. Grace thought to herself, perhaps that was not the only thing that you are wrong about.
Minos inclined his head at the beaming Fhjull. "So" he said, "the contract is rendered null and void. Summon this man." Fhjull made a few passes.

Vhaillor took a blow from the huge mace and sent a vicious cut with his axe at the neck of his opponent. It cannot miss, he thought triumphantly. But suddenly, the big man was gone! Vhaillor quickly recovered from the swing and his shock. More tricks! He thought grimly, and followed the man through the portal.
The Nameless One, naked except for his own blood and carrying the mace, which quickly disappeared, stood in the Courtroom. He looked around, puzzled, and then at seeing Grace and Annah, comprehension dawned.
He looked at Trias, then up at Minos, and his proud head inclined. "Where am I?" he asked humbly, "and why am I here?" Annah frantically tried to rise and run to him, but Grace and Nordom held her down.
Minos answered him. "Your Infernal Contract has been held to be null and void. You are here for final judgment. You have borne many names, though Adahn is the name on this contract, it does not seem fitting to use it. We have considered your life and now give our verdict. You will at once be transported to the penal plane of Purgatory to expiate all of your sins that were not sincerely repented and expiated in your life. These are many, but like yourself for most of your long life, Purgatory is timeless. There, many punishments will be dealt to you. Accept them gladly, and one day, you may be released into the heavenly light. Receive them sullenly and resentfully, and you shall find yourself back in the Abyss."
The Nameless One bowed his head in assent. "Much suffering, much torment I have caused, your Honor. To be forgiven them is my sincerest desire. Do your will, I will accept these punishments with patience and joy."
The Judge looked grimly satisfied. “Thank now your friends,” he said, indicating them. “Without them, you would still be in the Abyss.”
He surveyed them. “Grace,” he said finally, “you said you would find me, and you did. Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure,” she answered with a little smile. “It seemed the least that I could do.”
“No,” he replied, “the least would have been to leave me to rot. Thank you again. I’ll always wonder why, but your enigma has saved me, and I am glad of it.” He turned to Annah. “My fiery girl, you came, too. Somehow, I am not surprised. I wish that we could have had more time.”
Annah glared fiercely, then crumbled. “I couldna do else. I..I..I wad see ye again, at least oncet.”
“I’m glad that you have, my fierce one. Know that I fell in love with you.”
“And I ye..” She could not continue, and looked away.
“Morte,” he said, to cover her confusion, “I see that you are still tagging after Annah and Grace. You have done me a good turn, old skull. I appreciate it.”
“Aw, shucks, Chief,” Morte mumbled, “it was just so that I could try my luck with Annah again, you know me.”
“Yes, Morte, I do. Nordom, thank you for your part.”
“Nordom addressed,” the little machine buzzed, “Offered: Appreciation. Action: Accepted. Odds that Nordom would do the same again. 104,000,000 to one, give or take 1.6.”
Minos raised his hand to activate the portal to Purgatory, when Annah managed to get to her feet. "Yer Supreme Honor," she cried, "before ye send him, may I beg a boon?"
Minos almost smiled, and indicated that she should come forward. "You have done much to deserve the gratitude of this Court," he said gravely, "for, by your efforts, contrary to much of your nature, have helped to right a grave injustice. The amount of Justice in the Multiverse is a matter of immense concern to this Court. Ask your boon"
She wriggled a little in embarrassment, but finally said, "Yer Honor, I want te go with him."
A look, it might have been startlement, crossed the august face. "Go with him? Child, Purgatory is a place for the repentant dead and the spirits that minister to them, not one as alive as yourself. What would you do there? You cannot. and should not, take any of his punishments for him. They are for the good of his soul, not just to cause him pain."
"I ken that," she answered stoutly, "but, canna I jus' be there, to wipe his brow as he roasts in the flames? Or whatever. An', when I die, sinful as I be, I can go there too, and we can be together? Please, yer Honor. I think that I will die, soon, anyway, wi'out him, so I'll end up there, anyway."
Minos looked deeply into her, and finally said, "Yes, I shall grant your request. I see that if I do not, your soul might wither away and you end up in the Abyss, and that would be a foul thing." Annah ran to her love and put her arms around him. He patted her head as he looked at her bemusedly.
“Annah,” he rumbled, “you do not have to do this. You are young. There will be others. You could have children.”
She clung with him even more fiercely. “I dinna wan’ bairns,” she mumbled, “I know well what life woul’ await ‘em. Ye dinna ken how rare it is for …one o’ my blood to find love, and rarer still to be loved back. So, my jo, I shall be wi’ ye always. Will tha’ be so ill?” For answer, he hugged her back.
But, one more rose from the back of the Courtroom. The armored spirit known as Vhaillor clanked to the front. "Your Honor," he puffed, "this is MERCY, not JUSTICE." This man committed awful CRIMES, to me, among others. He DESERVES the ABYSS."
Minos frowned, an awful thing. As he did, the roof seemed to split open, and choirs of Solars and Devas appeared, holding weapons aflame with heavenly fire. "As for you, Vhaillor," he intoned, "you shall not maintain this strange half-life that you almost live. I, under the One, am the Supreme Judge of the Multiverse. You shall no longer usurp my judgment. Begone to the Abyss, and take this man's place." Vhaillor sank through the floor and was gone.
The heavenly choirs disappeared. Minos then smiled upon the Nameless One and Annah. They disappeared, to embark on their long journey, together.
Minos indicated that they could go. Trias turned to Grace. "Well, what shall you do, now?"
She smiled. "Back to the Brothel, I suppose. We really are happy, there, and I have had enough adventure to last me for a great while. I have experienced much, and will need long to think on it."
"Yeah," said Morte, "I want to see Kimasxi again. I've thought of several new insults that I want to call her."
Nordom beeped and whirred. "Never do I want to be parted from Fall-from-Grace. Or at least for 106,412 years, give or take 2.3.

THE END

All right, that's it. Didja like it?

[ 06-15-2002, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: Galadria ]

[Ar-Cunin]

<h1> YES </h1>

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[Galadria]

LOL, thanks, Ar-Cunin.

[Canis Eire]

Very good, Galadria. You've built a rather different cosmology than the one I envisioned, but I like it. btw- I am indeed Canis from the BIS boards. I'm broadening my horizons.

Anyway, I might have done things differently (for example, my Nameless One was a Grace man), but that's the beauty of the game, isn't it? Maybe I'll manage to put my plot together one of these days and give you a look at it. You've given me a few new ideas for it after all...

[Yack]

thats a good tale cutter, but a tale never the less, I'm not that barnie to believe those bloods are alive after all that...

great story Galadria, I bet the little Annah inside you must be happy [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Galadria]

All right, in response to a request, I am bumping this. [img]graemlins/kiss.gif[/img]

[the sauceman]

That was by far the best story I could have imagined about a happy ending for TNO and Co.

Very, very well done! =D

[Galadria]

Thank you very much, Sauceman, I appreciate your reading it, and even more your complimenting it. [img]smile.gif[/img]