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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 II: Trickery
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Cast

Kaleeza M'thal'ren, Dark Marshall
Xylly Lopeclaw
Mahalla's Prophetess, Sarrym Llynnl
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Scene 2: Trickery
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SCENE GlomdoringCaves: An inky gloom hangs over this cramped cave at any time
of day or night. Open shafts leading to aboveground carry the smell of rotting
vegetation and the chittering of insects into the cave, but a clogging growth of
vines and moss hangs over them, blocking all but the most indirect of light.
Roots bulge with diseased-looking knots along the walls of stone and damp earth,
adding to the cave's constricting air. Occasional flutters of darkness in the
shadows near the curving stone roof might be bats, or might be something more
sinister.

ROLE Kaleeza (F): Kaleeza M'thal'ren, Dark Marshall

COSTUME KaleezaCostume (Kaleeza): She is a regal aslaran and has dark tawny
brown hair, uniform in hue, dark enough that her whiskers tend to disappear into
the background of her face, and even her eyes are almost lost in the sameness of
color. She is immaculately groomed and projects an air of solemnity. One of
her ears has been lopped off almost all the way to its base, apparently by a
clean cut from which a thin, straight line of scar tissue has grown up. She is
wearing hunter green robes speckled with autumn leaves.

Kaleeza: ENTER SILENT

EFFECT S2dawn (6): The curtain rises on a bright clear dawn, though little of
the light penetrates into the gloomy, root-infested cave that occupies the
stage. Standing in the cave, brooding over a scroll in her paw, stands an
aslaran woman, withdrawn within her thoughts.

ROLE Xylly (M): Xylly Lopeclaw

COSTUME XyllyCostume (Xylly): He is a bouncing furrikin and has off-white fur
lined with stripes of pale brown, a pointed nose with prominent whiskers, and
small but sharp teeth, resembling the canids of the predatory ermines and
weasels to which he is kin. His bushy tail is short, drawn in close to his
legs, though it flicks from side to side as he moves to maintain both his
balance and his silence. His nekai take the same shape and form as the natural
claws that extend from his tiny paws, looking almost comical when not in motion
yet moving with blinding speed when he pounces. He is wearing dark grey robes
of hide and fur.

Xylly: ENTER lopes in with a movement that seems better suited to a four-legged
gait, his whiskers twitching as he darts unerringly toward Kaleeza.

Kaleeza, to Xylly: (without looking up from her studies) What makes Xylly so
early with the rising of Father Sun to call upon me?

Xylly: (almost petulantly) No one else notices me coming!

Kaleeza: (grinning) Faelings do not even know the smell of their own lovers.
But surely you have more for me than the promise of bedtime games?

Xylly: Would that not be enough? Very well, have it your way. I bring word
that Celest's culture festival was as loud, boisterous, and soaked in liquor as
could be imagined. Those merian lasses really can put away the ale. I saw one
who drank like--

Kaleeza: (interrupting abruptly) I know the pun you're building to and I really
don't have time for it this morning. What value is this news to us? Surely you
do not mean us to attack Celest while they nurse their hangovers? We are too
few in number and would profit little.

Xylly: (taking a more serious tone) I think this could be shaped into a chance
to proceed with the Element Initiative.

Kaleeza: (looking up at last from her scroll and raising an eyebrow) Indeed?
Pray tell, how?

Xylly: If we set Magnagora to seizing the opportunity of Celest's slumber, both
cities will leave the elemental planes to us.

Kaleeza: (turning back to her scroll) Magnagora will never trust us.

Xylly: So we won't tell them. I will leak the information to a few of our
chattier cousins, who will be overheard by Llessq when he spies on them later.
They will not know their information is false, and thus neither will he. We
will couch it in promise that we seek to capture an infant from Stewartsville
during Celest's distraction, to make it more believable.

Kaleeza: (looking up again) But the information you seek to plant is true. In
fact, one of my guildmates already has made plans to seize the infant for a
sacrifice.

Xylly: (grinning) The best lies are those which tell only the wrong truths.

Kaleeza, to Xylly: (returning to her scroll) Go, then. I will ensure we are
ready once the Magnagorans take the fish-bait.

Xylly: EXIT turns and lopes out of the cave with a self-satisfied grin.

EFFECT S2clouds (6): The light filtering in through vines and moss grows grey
and heavy as stormclouds gather, blotting out the sun.

Kaleeza: returns to studying the scroll, mumbling to herself from time to time,
as the cloud-obscured light climbs up in the sky.

ROLE Sarrym (F): Mahalla's Prophetess, Sarrym Llynnl

COSTUME SarrymCostume (Sarrym): She is a nimble shadowsinger faeling and keeps
her scaly wings close about her, almost covering her clothing. Her dark eyes
are perpetually lowered, gazing perhaps at her lyre, or perhaps at something
deep within. Hair the color of the new moon has been clipped short, exposing
her pointed ears. She wears robes of shimmering onyx, an onyx stud in her left
ear, an onyx stud in her right ear, leather buskin boots, fingerless gloves of
well-worn leather, and a midnight black rose.

Sarrym: ENTER steps into the cave, chewing her lip. Her bat-like wings are
wrapped tightly around her.

Kaleeza, to Sarrym: (without looking up) Yes, what is it?

Sarrym: (apologetically) Sorry to intrude, but I just heard that the
Magnagorans are marching on Celestia, although I was unable to discover why.

Kaleeza: (with a nod) Yes, I know. We misled them to this attack.

Sarrym: (taken aback) But why help them?

Kaleeza: To help ourselves. Quietly, without drawing the notice of the Serens,
have your people begin to gather the fae of Faethorn, but not give them yet to
the Avatars.

EFFECT S2noon (6): A brief break in the clouds fills the cave with light for
just a moment, revealing the sun to be straight overhead. Noon does little to
illuminate the cave, though, and the clouds soon hide the sun again.

Sarrym: Why not?

Kaleeza: It is all part of our plan. Go now. All will become clear soon.

Sarrym: (lowering her gaze) As you say, Dark Marshall.

Sarrym: EXIT backs out of the cave with her eyes lowered.

Kaleeza: (raising her eyes to the darkest corners of the cave) Mother Night,
your plans proceed and no one knows the entirety of their shape, perhaps not
even me. As ever, your glory is deepest where it is unseen.

SCENE Faethorn1: The ethereal forest fills the stage, dominated by the tall
tree in its center whose balcony has been decorated to resemble Maeve's court,
though concealed by curtains of vines and foliage. To the far left, the
shimmering gateway of the Water Plane rises at the stage's edge, while opposite
it the cracked archway of the Earth Plane crouches ominously. Fae of all sorts
scamper and flit amongst the trees, their shapes gossamer patterns of light and
shadow.

EFFECT S2thunderstorm (6): A crack of thunder punctuates her words as the sky
abruptly darkens, and the sound of rain above fills the cave. The curtain
lowers, leaving the theater empty but for the sound of the steady downpour.
When the curtain rises a minute later, Faethorn stands behind it, Maeve's tree
in center with the elemental plane gates demarcating the edges of the stage.
Rain spatters volubly through the forest, though nothing seems to get wet.

Xylly: ENTER SILENT

Kaleeza: tiptoes past Maeve's tree, glancing up at the balcony, and approaches
Xylly where he stands speaking persuasively to a leprechaun.

Xylly: (slapping a pair of shackles onto the leprechaun and adding it to the
coffle trailing him) You are not the only one with a keen nose, lover. Is your
stealth in service of surprising me?

Kaleeza: (stopping just short of Xylly, trailing her own coffle of shackled
fae) I just don't want Maeve to notice what we're doing. Technically, when this
concludes, it will be a violation of the accords which permit the fae to serve
their tah'vrai.

Xylly, to Kaleeza: (turning and twitching his whiskers) Will it really?
Perhaps you haven't told me everything about this Element Initiative.

Kaleeza, to Xylly: (with a wry grin) You would be disappointed in me if I had.

Kaleeza: turns to a brownie and begins murmuring to him under her breath with
promises of the tah'vrai.

Xylly, to Kaleeza: (leaning against a particularly gnarled tree) I suppose I
would. Incidentally, my sources tell me Magnagora is trouncing Celest.

Kaleeza: (slapping the brownie into shackles) Good for them, I suppose.

Xylly, to Kaleeza: I think that was the last fae, and neither Seren nor Maeve
any the wiser about our activities. Truly, Mother Night shrouds us in her
comforting embrace. What now?

Kaleeza, to Xylly: Now you lead half of us to the Earth Plane, I will lead the
other half to Water, and I will give directions then.

Xylly, to Kaleeza: I love it when you get bossy.

Xylly: EXIT leads his coffle towards and through the gate to the Earth Plane.

Kaleeza: rolls her eyes and turns towards the Water gate.

SCENE WaterPlane: A faint shimmer of azure ripples in an unbroken plane of
seawater across the length and breadth of the stage. Many-legged starsuckers
pulsate as they glide from place to place on the right side of the stage near a
small island, while bloated leeches cling first to one spot and then another on
the left side.

EFFECT S2nightfall (6): As the sun sinks below the horizon, burgeoning clouds
still pouring torrents of rain and softening the coming of darkness, the curtain
falls. A few moments later, it rises on a featureless landscape of azure,
tossing waves occupied by leeches and starsuckers.

Kaleeza: drives a coffle of fae before her, the ethereal creatures no longer
going placidly but wailing and straining against their chains as if in agony. A
few pairs of shackles in the coffle lie empty now.

Sarrym: ENTER enters on the sandy island, leading a larger coffle of enslaved
fae before her.

Sarrym, to Kaleeza: What do we do now, Dark Marshall?

Kaleeza: (approaching a dream leech and pressing a pooka from her coffle
towards it) Order the fae to attack the creatures.

EFFECT S2Q1 (0): The pooka approaches the leech reluctantly, terrified and
struggling in his shackles but unable to resist Kaleeza's will.

Sarrym: (watching the pooka warily) Surely they cannot hope to defeat these
elemental creatures.

Kaleeza: Surely. F'ai glomdoring. No quarter.

EFFECT S2Q2 (0): The pooka strains against its shackles as long as possible,
but when it can no longer avoid the confrontation, it throws itself at the
swollen leech with a half-hearted snarl.

EFFECT S2Q3 (0): The ensuing battle is swift, bloody, and entirely one-sided;
the pooka is rent flesh from bone, howling in agony, until it is completely
consumed.

Sarrym: shudders for only a moment before squaring her shoulders.

Kaleeza, to Sarrym: (watching the Harbinger appraisingly) Nothing matters but
Glomdoring.

Sarrym: (hastily, as she begins urging her coffle towards a starsucker) Glory
be to Glomdoring.

Kaleeza: turns back to the leech, gathering up the excrement from its meal, a
faintly shimmering, gossamer cloud of elemental energy in a shape vaguely like a
broken pooka. She tucks this into her pack, then drives her coffle towards
another dream leech.

SCENE EtherealGlomdoring: Huge sheets of diseased moss hang draping every tree
in this twisted forest of gnarled, bole-pocked trees. The buzzing of locusts
fills the air, which shimmers with an ethereal unreality, perspectives shifting
as if the trees are silently rearranging themselves whenever the eye is averted.
Pacing between the wyrden growths, Glumki Thorneye strides, licking his lips.

EFFECT S2cloudbreak (6): As the rain lets up at last and the clouds begin to
break, the curtain falls. For a few moments, the agonized screams of the fae,
punctuated by splintering of broken bodies, fill the air, then silence. At
last, the curtain rises on a twisted forest of rotting vegetation, where Glumki
Thorneye paces, licking his lips.

Xylly: ENTER SILENT

Kaleeza: strides up towards Glumki Thorneye, leading Xylly, Sarrym, and a
half-dozen others. The rattling of unseen, empty shackles is the only reminder
of the now-absent fae.

Xylly, to Kaleeza: My sources tell me that Magnagora has captured Japhiel and
take him to Nil now.

Kaleeza: (ignoring Xylly's news) Glumki Thorneye, we bring you the culmination
of the tah'vrai, the fae of Faethorn infused with the energies of the elemental
planes.

Kaleeza: fetches handfuls of the dream-like images of devoured fae from her
pack and passes them to Glumki, as the others pass more of the same forward to
her.

EFFECT S2Q4 (0): Glumki Thorneye devours these shadows of the fae eagerly in a
splash of pale fluid, like blood but so white as to be almost transparent,
disappearing before it hits the ground.

Sarrym: Oh my, look how much power this is generating in the Ravenwood, I've
never seen so much at once! Glory be to Glomdoring!

Kaleeza: (handing over the last of the twisted fae as she leads the rest of
those present in a cheer) Glory be to Glomdoring!

EFFECT S2conclusion (6): The cheering is interrupted by a loud screeching howl
from the north. Everyone turns to look, falling silent, as the trees in the
distance shudder as they are engulfed in a wave of angry, wrathful faeriefire,
rushing towards the celebrants. 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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