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Quarter

written by Lendren Starfall

Being an account of an extraordinary day, seen from four viewpoints,
none of them the whole truth.
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Part I: Violence
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Cast

Warlord Klaareck y'Bolgari, Magister of Boulders
Vellera y'Kaliath, Agony and Ecstasy
Aois-Dana Jek, the Perfect Third
Commander Ileen d'Murani of Death's Battalion
Llessq Vessn, The Unseen
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SCENE MagnagoraCouncil: A grim and severe room, with walls of dark stone banded
with iron, occupies the entire stage. Tiny windows near the ceiling let in only
a paltry amount of sunshine, dim and feeble after its struggle with the smog
outside. Crimson tapestries depicting scenes of battle and images of the Demon
Lords provide the room's only decoration. A huge, imposing table of stone the
color of clotted blood dominates the room, ringed with matching chairs, one at
the head of the table a hand's-breadth taller than the others.

EFFECT S1dawn (6): The curtain rises on a grim meeting chamber, walls of stone
and iron stark and unforgiving, decorated minimally with tapestries of crimson
depicting scenes of battle and images of the Tainted Plane of Nil. Through a
soot-stained window, the slanting rays of a clear dawn struggle against the smog
and are overcome, emerging as feeble remnants of their warmth-giving glory as
they enter the silent room.

ROLE Klaareck (M): Warlord Klaareck y'Bolgari, Magister of Boulders

COSTUME KlaareckCostume (Klaareck): He is an ordinary human and stands tall and
gaunt, his lanky limbs casting in odd directions as if he had a few extra
elbows. His elongated face is narrow and pinched, with a hooked nose and
protruding brow that suggest a bird of prey. Gnarled, callused hands clench
constantly around his geomantic staff, until the knotted twists of staff and
hands seem to blend together and become one. He wears ochre robes festooned
with geomantic symbols, a pair of black leather boots, and a wilted stone rose
pendant.

Klaareck: ENTER steps into the room, ducking his tall, lanky figure under the
doorway as if by long-ingrained habit, speaking over his shoulder.

Klaareck: It has been too long since we struck a truly decisive blow against
the weaklings across the sea. Our people lose their will, and you have failed
to inspire your own.

ROLE Vellera (F): Vellera y'Kaliath, Agony and Ecstasy

COSTUME VelleraCostume (Vellera): She is a fiendish viscanti and radiates
menace from every pore. Her twisted, vermilion skin is covered everywhere with
whorls and lines of angry pink, some scars, some fresher wounds; most prominent
of these are a pair of tumescent gashes on either cheek, where bits of skin have
been cut away ritualistically to suggest permanent tears of blood. Long waves
of curling hair spill over her shoulders, flame-red at the roots and changing
gradually to the black of dried blood at the ends. Her expression is fixed in a
sneer which may suggest a cruel willingness to give pain, or the struggle to
endure it, or both. She wears jet-black robes of skin-tight leather, a
blood-red belt, knee-high red leather boots, and a choker necklace ringed with
iron spikes.

Vellera: ENTER swaggers in behind Klaareck, appearing to size the man up with a
menacing sneer from behind. Fresh tears of blood hang on either cheek.

Vellera, to Klaareck: It is not my place to inspire them; it is my place to
terrify them and keep them strong and true. You are the Warlord, if we fail to
conduct war it is your fault. Anyway, if it is inspiration you seek, perhaps
our esteemed Aois-Dana should... sing, or some such rot.

ROLE Jek (M): Aois-Dana Jek, the Perfect Third

COSTUME JekCostume (Jek): He is a fierce loboshigaru and has a gleaming
blue-grey coat which has been fastidiously groomed, despite the fact that many
patches of fur have fallen out giving him an inescapably unkempt raggedness.
His narrow snout and beady eyes are alert and bright, glancing this way and
that, and his shaggy paws are constantly on his violin, caressing tortured
sounds from its strings idly even when its bow is silent. He wears slate grey
robes.

Jek: ENTER trails in, his shaggy paws caressing a tortured tritone from a
violin.

Jek, to Vellera: Not everything you do not understand is without value,
Heresiarch.

Klaareck: takes a seat at the head of the table, winding his fingers around his
staff.

ROLE Ileen (F): Commander Ileen d'Murani of Death's Battalion

COSTUME IleenCostume (Ileen): She is a regal undead aslaran and is almost
completely encased in her armour, from gauntlets to boots shod in iron. A hint
of a slight mane of dark grey at her neck, and glimpses of her slitted yellow
eyes, are the only indication of her race and gender. She wears full plate of
dull iron, a dull iron helm with a grinning death mask, iron gauntlets, and
heavy iron boots.

Ileen: ENTER clomps into the chamber and steps to her seat, taking it with a
jingle of iron.

Ileen: Discipline is more important than inspiration. My men are ready to
march once we have a battle worth marching to, and they will go where they are
told, die when they are ordered, and kill whom they are set upon.

Vellera: We need an opportunity to strike which will provide glorious victory,
whatever the reason, but the seafolk have been too ready, too warlike. They
have learned from us.

Klaareck: More likely they learned from that traitor who left us for them.

Ileen: snorts derisively.

Jek: (looking around) Where is that thrice-damned Ninjakari? Wait, he isn't
here already, is he?

Jek: starts looking under the table and behind the tapestries.

Klaareck: No, he'll be along in his own good time. Please sit, we must come up
with a plan.

Vellera: (taking a seat) But without his so-called intelligence what planning
can we do? If we have failed it is in spying; we never know what the fish are
doing but they always seem to know what we are planning.

Ileen: (dryly) I know what we should do. Instead of moving ahead with Project
Shallamar, let's sit here and argue for a few more months.

Klaareck: Moving ahead too soon would be disastrous. If we don't take them by
surprise all our preparations will be worth nothing.

Vellera, to Ileen: Sometimes I wonder if the ur'Guard do not fail time and
again through more than mere incompetence of its leadership, through resistance
to a plan that comes from the Nihilists. Afraid of sharing the glory of
victory?

Ileen, to Vellera: (with a low snarl, drawing a sword) Accusations of dishonor
can be washed away only in blood.

Jek: Oooh, girl fight.

Vellera, to Ileen: (standing and returning the snarl) Do you think me afraid to
back my accusations with blood?

Klaareck: (wearily) This is not helping.

EFFECT S1clouds (6): As the two women face off in battle-readiness, the grey
light dims farther as a low, angry front of clouds rolls in, promising rain and
violence.

ROLE Llessq (F): Llessq Vessn, The Unseen

COSTUME LlessqCostume (Llessq): She is a sinuous illithoid and remains
completely hidden within her robes, revealing nothing but a pair of dead eyes
the color of rancid cream. She is wearing midnight blue robes, an aquamarine
mask, and dark blue-grey gloves.

Llessq: ENTER slips silently in and sets herself into a chair at the end of the
table, unnoticed by the others.

Ileen: flashes her sword in a warning blow which nicks Vellera's cheek, adding
a line of red to the already present wounds that weep blood.

Vellera: hisses, raising her twisted symbol warningly.

Llessq: (with a quiet sibilance) This is entertaining, but I have more
important news. Even now, Celest slumbers, with few of their members awake, and
those few mostly the sniveling, weak ones. They have gorged themselves at some
festival of culture and ready themselves for another day of it.

Klaareck: (gesturing curtly to Vellera and Ileen) A festival cannot help but
draw many of them, and no merriment will keep them from responding to the cries
for help should we proceed with Project Shallamar. How is this good news?

Llessq, to KlaarecK: The festival shall not resume until nightfall, and I have
credible intelligence that until then, Celest will remain but sparsely
inhabited.

Klaareck, to Llessq: (stroking his chin, eyes narrowed) How came you by this
information?

Llessq: I have serendipitously overheard a meeting between a few of Glomdoring
discussing it. Some few of them still find it advantageous to maintain good
relations with the seafolk, and thus, remain privy to more of their secrets.

Vellera: (turning to Llessq, keeping one eye on Ileen) And how certain could
even they be?

Llessq: They discussed fetching a baby from Stewartsville in preparation for
the coming new moon, and certain enough were they to proceed despite their
native cowardice.

Ileen: (resuming her seat) It may be our best opportunity to proceed with
Project Shallamar.

Klaareck: Can this intelligence be trusted? It might be trickery.

Llessq: After hearing it, I slipped into Celest to verify it, which is why I am
late. The few fish who wake stumble between their golden streamers with
unsteady steps, as the morning after too much of the Olde Orcish.

Jek: smirks knowingly.

Vellera: We must move quickly if we can complete our assault before nightfall.
My people are ready.

Ileen: And mine are always ready.

Klaareck: Go, then, and marshal them, all of you. We march immediately.

SCENE Celestia: The air is full of light on these sandy plains, so much that it
seems even motes of dust are iridescent as if they were gemstones too small to
be seen hanging in the air. All around, the haunts of the Supernals gleam in
their overweening effulgence, almost blinding.

EFFECT S1noon (6): The leaders move quickly out into the city, as the curtain
falls. When it rises again, the sun stands directly overhead, shining through a
gap in a low curtain of thunderclouds which hang ominously over the plains of
Celestia. The leaders now have dozens of followers, from all five guilds of
Magnagora, arrayed around them, battle-ready.

Vellera: The time has come for Project Shallamar; today, we shall strike a blow
the pitiful fish cannot undo with mere essence and effort. Today, we taint one
of the Supernals.

Klaareck: begins to whisper tactical orders to the other leaders while Vellera
and her Nihilists engage in a profane ritual amongst a cloud of taint spewed
forth by the geomancers.

Llessq: No one is to touch any of these annoying cherubs until the word is
given. We do not want the Celestians to know we are here until it is too late.

Ileen: (to her armor-clad ur'Guard) And when they do come, we will rend them
unto death.

Jek: (playing tritones on his violin) This is going to be fun!

Vellera: mutters sacrilegious phrases as she peels back layers of skin from her
own flesh and the flesh of her guildmates, spraying thick gobbets of blood to
land hissing on the clean white sands.

EFFECT S1thunderstorm (6): The rumbling of the clouds is punctuated by a crack
of thunder, followed by sheets of pelting rain. Atop the sudden mist on the
sands, surrounded by a shimmering dun sphere of swirling energies, the five
Demon Lords appear, snarling. The energies of Celestia probe at the sphere, but
it holds, buttressed by the words and spells of the Nihilists, keeping the Demon
Lords safe within.

Klaareck: To battle! For the Taint!

EFFECT S1Q1 (0): The sphere around the Demon Lords begins to roll, carrying
them towards the Supernals, as the Magnagoran forces flank them protectively.

Ileen: Ur'Guard, form up on left and right flanks! Give no quarter!

EFFECT S1Q2 (0): As battle is engaged with the devas and angels that ward the
Supernals, a few Celestians begin to appear and gather for battle, though these
are mostly cut down by the Ninjakari at the invading force's rear flank.

Vellera: strides forward at the head of the army, leaving a trail of her own
blood behind on the sands, her expression triumphant.

EFFECT S1Q3 (0): A sparse handful of Celestians gather, barely enough to do
more than slow the invading force, squaring their shoulders and swallowing their
evident fear as they move to engage in what can scarcely hope to be more than a
holding action.

Jek: leads a group of the Cacophony to ring around the Celestians, preventing
their retreat.

EFFECT S1Q3 (0): As the rain sheets down and the sun, hidden behind clouds,
slinks its way towards the horizon, the Demon Lords advance inexorably towards
Japhiel. The other Supernals gather around him, but their angels seem unable to
penetrate the sphere around the Demon Lords, and in fact, burst into soot when
they touch it.

Klaareck: Geomancers, fall back and ward the Nihilists, allow the Ur'Guard
through.

EFFECT S1Q4 (0): The Celestians make a desperate attack at the sphere but are
met by two columns of Ur'Guard, a crash of thunder marking the clash. Bodies on
both sides fall and are left behind, and one by one, the defenders are whittled
away.

Llessq: heads a group numbering almost half the invaders to cut down Raziela,
then Elohora, and on through the others defending Japhiel, suffering heavy
casualties but nevertheless making an unstoppable juggernaut as the Supernals
perish one by one until only Japhiel remains.

Ileen: wades into the fight, cutting down one Celestian after another as if
knocking over angry children.

EFFECT S1nightfall (6): As the sun sinks below the horizon, the sky still
swaddled in angry clouds, the last few Celestians huddle together against five
times their number, as the Demon Lords come within a stone's throw of Japhiel.

Klaareck: The Taint comes to Celestia and it will fall this day! Surrender,
and you may find a place amongst us.

EFFECT S1Q5 (0): One amongst the Celestians comes forward to speak with
Klaareck, terrified but putting on a brave face, discussing terms of surrender
as her eyes look past the geomancer to watch the sphere part and surround
Japhiel, soon containing him within a bubble within the bubble, imprisoned.

Vellera: (crowing exultantly) Japhiel is ours! Nihilists, form the rite of
endings!

EFFECT S1Q6 (0): As the surrender negotiations drag on, the Nihilists ring the
sphere in a complex geometrical shape, lines of energy crossing between them to
form a net around the sphere. With a flash, they and the sphere vanish, taking
Japhiel and the Demon Lords with them, leaving behind a cloud of soot and taint
which seep into the ground where Japhiel stood.

Klaareck: Praise to the Engine! This day will not soon be forgotten!
Magnagora, return in victory to the Megalith where we shall celebrate this
historic triumph!

SCENE Megalith: The Necropolis looks as it always does, save that even more
than at the busiest times it is thronged with hordes of Magnagorans of all
guilds, many bearing wounds and the ravages of long battle, but all engaged in
raucous celebrations.

EFFECT S1cloudbreak (6): The clouds roll away, splintering into shards which
melt into the night sky, revealing sparkling stars, some of them blotted out by
the clouds of smog. The curtain falls, then rises a moment later to reveal the
Megalith, thronged by cheering Magnagorans.

Jek: leads an victorious cheer from his guildmates, a chorus harmonized in
tritones that claw agonizingly at the ear.

Vellera: Even now, Japhiel screams within the Engine of Transformation, the
Taint filling him and making him better, stronger, and more importantly, ours.
In a fortnight, the Demon Lord he will become will march with us to take another
Supernal, and by autumn Celestia will be ours entirely, given to Taint, and the
fish will know despair and perish. Praise to the Demon Lords and to the
Nihilists who conceived and carried out this plan!

Ileen: And praise to the warriors of Magnagora whose strength and honor can be
read in the blood that beautifies the sands of Celestia!

Llessq, to Klaareck: (in a conspiratorial whisper) I trust the esteemed Warlord
will not forget the intelligence which made today's victory possible.

Klaareck: Don't worry, there is enough triumph for everyone. Now, what shall
we do with the prisoners--

EFFECT S1conclusion (6): The celebration pauses as a distant shudder is felt,
particularly by the demigods amongst the Magnagorans, who turn as one to look
uncertainly to the west, their expressions uncertain and troubled, their
exultation suddenly dampened. The curtain falls.

EXEUNT

PAUSE

EFFECT Interlude1 (12): A haunting melody is heard from backstage, a violin
played soft and slow in a simple, somber melody. Each note fades in slowly, is
held for several seconds, and cuts off abruptly, giving the tune the curious
property of sounding as if it were being played backwards.

PAUSE

EFFECT Interlude2 (12): The violin's plaintive melody builds slowly in
intensity, then ends abruptly, hanging in the air on an unresolved interval.

PAUSE

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to be continued...
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