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Main Quest: Hopeless 1 Planescape: Purgatorio

Hopeless Main Quest

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This is a set of storyboards I completed for Rogue Dao Studios, where I was a writer for Planescape: Purgatorio.

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Page 1: Hopeless Main Quest

Main Quest: Hopeless

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Planescape: Purgatorio

Page 2: Hopeless Main Quest

Table of Contents

• Map of Hopeless

• NPC Character Studies

– Ilmyrn, the Disposable Heroine

– The Bookbinder

– The Gloomlord

– The Gaping Maw

• Quest Flowchart

• Quests (detail)

• Quest items

• Conversation Trees

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Map

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1. The Screaming Gate2. The Chapterhouse of

the Sisterhood3. The Defenestrated

Paladin (inn)4. The Castle of Bone

(inn)5. The Open Tomb (inn)6. The House of the

Mayor7. The Well of Gloom

(portal to the Waste)

A. Initial position of IlmrynB. Position of the githyanki

scholarC. Githzerai beggarD. The Bookbinder’s Shop

AB

C

D

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The Disposable HeroineIlmyrn Ferrei is an alu-demon, the offspring of a succubus and a mortal man. She was

once a Sensate, and after deserting from the Blood War sought to experience love in its many forms. In time, she gave herself completely to love for Aesillian, a godling of Bytopia. He spurned her without mercy or care, and Caligstro came to her in her anger and promised her vengeance if she would aid him in finding the Codex. She will talk at length alternately of her love and of her hatred of Aesillian, but will reveal nothing of Caligstro or her true purpose – to watch the PC, and report to Caligstro on his activities. In presenting herself to the PC, she will claim to be in Hopeless “to find one with whom I might travel to the River Lethe, that I might bathe in it, and forget all,” - which is partially true. While she was initially impressed with Caligstro, she has grown apprehensive of the bariaur’s ability to deliver on his promise to help her destroy Aesillian. She will inform the PC that she “has a considerable talent with locks, wards, and other devices and magics meant to foil or thwart the desires and curiosity of my employer” to make herself seem useful.

Once the Gloomlord (see pg 6) has made his offer, the PC can play on her loss to convince her to enter the Gaping Maw, to seek the True Death.

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Ilmyrn Ferrei1 Rogue/5 Sorceress Female TieflingStr 11Dex 15Con 11Int 12Wis 8Cha 16AC 12hp 13

Spells Known:

0) All

1) magic missile, identify, summon creature I, mage armor,

2) knock, lesser dispel

Feats: light armor, weapon finesse, weapon proficiency [simple], weapon proficiency [rogue], sneak attack, skill affinity (hide), skill affinity (bluff), racial spell (darkness), infernal resistance, combat casting, practiced spellcaster, trapfinding

Skills: Bluff 2, Concentration 7, Disable Device 5, Hide 6, Listen 4, Move Silent 4, Open Lock 4, Set Trap 5, Spellcraft 4, Search 4, Spot 4

Equipment: rapier [Cold Iron], belt of wasting [+1 Cha,-1 Con], bodice of seduction [charm person 1/d, female only], thieves’ tools +1

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The Bookbinder

The bookbinder is a celestial who once led the Chapterhouse of the Sisterhood. He lost his True Name to the Gloomlord (pg 6). He is shackled to Hopeless, now doomed to collect and preserve knowledge on behalf of his enemies, all the while watching the souls of the damned pass into the Grey Waste. He remarks that, “It is a torment worse than being rent by the denizens of the Waste – at least there I might find some comfort in oblivion.”

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The GloomlordThe Gloomlord declines to give his name, referring to himself only as the “four hundred sixty-five thousandth, one hundred eighty-second Gloomlord of the Pit of Despair”. He states, “Names are so irrelevant, don’t you think? I am what I am, and to call me by a name is simply to give a name to that which I am at this moment. Everything is mutable, changeable – nothing is everlasting. And that is the greatest of glooms, is it not? That in the end, no matter our stature or place, part of us dies every moment, every day?”

A servant summons the PC to meet with him, at which point the Gloomlord presents the PC a proposition: he states that he knows how to find Ursula (see pg 14). If the PC can find one soul who will give themself to the Maw of its own free will, he will tell the PC the location of the hag. This is not really an option: he will not permit the PC to leave Hopeless until the threat from the Maw has passed.

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The Gaping MawThe Gaping Maw is a non-sentient entity, more a force than a

thing with desires. It is much like a virus, a spirit which devours the will of beings in order to sustain itself in the Grey Waste. Because it is not native to the Grey Waste, it must continually feed or be drowned in apathy. When the PC arrives, the Gaping Maw is starved and desperately attempting to consume anything to prevent the loss of its own will. Because of this, it is actually attempting to planeshift Hopeless into the Grey Waste so that it can feed –even though this very act would cause it to forever destroy the gate through which its prey travels (being that it is non-sentient, it does not understand this).

The Maw’s attempts to planeshift the Gate-Town manifest as occasional quakes in the town and an alien voice speaking in the party’s minds, compelling them to pass through into the Waste. The closer they get to the Well of Gloom, the more this voice competes with another voice, that of the Waste itself, drowning them in a morbid ennui. This will play out as the PC’s allies/party members begin entering a melancholy state and falling into a listless paralysis which will require a remove curse to lift. Until this is done the character will not engage in combat at (script fires causing the effect of hold person at 20th level on the character). 7

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Quest Flowchart

The Gloomlord

The Sacrifice

The PetitionerThe

Bookbinder’s Shop

The Defenestrated

Paladin

The Disposable Heroine

The Disposable Heroine can be recruited on first meeting but may be rebuffed in the course of conversation options. She MUST be recruited in order for the player to pass the wards the githyanki scholar has placed on the door to his room.

The Bookbinder

Ilmyrn

Options are:1.Sacrifice her out of mercy (+1 Good)2.Sacrifice her, I’m not going in there (+1 Evil)3. Sacrifice her, none of the above (nothing)

The Screaming Gate

Gloomlord is not pleased with choice, but reveals Ursula’s

location. The PC has earned an

enemy which may play out later.

Gloomlord is pleased, and reveals Ursula’s location. Ilmyrn will

give player all her stuff if his Influence

check is > 5.

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Options are:1. Sacrifice her out of mercy

(+1 Good)2. Sacrifice her to preserve

Ilmyrn (+1 Evil)3. Sacrifice her, none of the

above (nothing)

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The Screaming Gate

Outside the Gate-Town, the PC will see the Screaming Gate, so named for the appearance of the frozen face making up its pillars. A seemingly endless procession of the Dead (not undead) pass through the Gate, none of them noticing or responding to the PC. There is no guard at the gate.

Once the PC passes through the Screaming Gate, he will enter Hopeless proper. An invisible trigger line will be set across the entire street passing by the Chapterhouse so that the PC cannot avoid it. On crossing it, if PC is good or neutral, a script will fire causing one of the Sisters standing in the doorway to beckon him over. If he chooses to go, and assuming he does not treat her as a prostitute hawking her wares, she will invite him in. Inside they will:

• answer general questions on about Hopeless (who is in charge, what to watch out for, etc)

• provide him with a grey sackcloth robe, which will keep the Mirthguard patrols from accosting him. The robe has a +0 AC rating, and presents a trade-off: wear the robe, and be attacked less by the inhabitants, don’t wear the robe, and be attacked more often

• tell the PC he is welcome to seek aid at the Chapterhouse, but they cannot aid him directly against the Mayor or the Lords of the Grey Waste

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The PetitionerPC encounters a petitioner – a githyanki who has recently jumped from a great height. His body is

obviously broken and he struggles to crawl. A trigger box surrounds him, causing a script to fire when the PC enters it. This script causes a nearby Mirthguard patrol to accost the PC. Their captain informs him that as the PC is a visitor, the PC must not interfere with the petitioner – his misery is part of his penance and if he cannot stand he must crawl to the Well of Gloom to seek “absolution in eternal loss”.

The Mirthguard captain then remarks that the petitioner’s possessions are forfeit to the gate-town’s vaults, and that he will receive his two coppers for the Ferrymen in recompense. The captain removes what seems to be valuables, casting aside any items he deems without value. This creates a pile which the PC may search through once the patrol departs. In the pile the PC finds a variety of low-value items, and the gith’s journal (see page quest items, basically it reveals the gith had been staying in an inn in the gate-town).

The PC may choose the ultra-goody goody choice and fight the Mirthguard patrol either for not allowing him to aid the petitioner or for confiscating the petitioner’s belongings. should It should be a difficult fight, and will have the effect of causing all Mirthguard attack the PC on perception (regardless of wearing the robes given by the Sisterhood).

If the PC fights the Mirthguard patrol and wins, he can loot them as well as the githyanki. The githyankiwill have the following: (insert level-appropriate gear here). If the PC does not fight and instead only searches the pile the Mirthguard have left behind, he finds the following: (insert level-appropriate gear here), and a strange metallic wheel with an alien script on it (his journal, see pg 15).

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The Defenestrated PaladinThe githyanki’s journal can be read by the following methods:

• a githzerai beggar found at C on the map (pg 2). He will be named “Gith Quipper” and look similar to the githyanki scholar. He will require the PC pay him 5gp.

• a cleric at the Sisterhood (2 on the map). The cleric will only read if the PC is good or neutral. Will ask the PC for a donation if good, will require 10gp if neutral.

• Ilmryn can identify it

• the PC can identify it

The journal (see pg 15) will only reveal pieces of information, the most relevant being the author stayed “in a dilapidated hostel in the gate-town of Hopeless,” and that his name ends in “-thaveron.” There are three inns in the town, the PC will have to find which he stayed in to move on to the next part of the quest. The Defenestrated Paladin is an inn relatively near the Screaming Gate; it turns out to be the inn mentioned in the githyanki’s journal. It seems a lot of folks who stay here end up falling from windows, not just paladins and githyanki scholars. Anyway. The treatise ‘A Metaphorical Comparison of Planar Realities, by T’szthaveron, First Zenarch of Kytli’ is found in the room with some minor jink, perhaps travel-size toiletries and the like, maybe a toothbrush that doubles as a throwing knife. The treatise has been half-eaten by cranium rats, and is scrawled in the same alien script as his journal, on paper.

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The BookbinderAs the PC passes the Bookbinder’s Shop in Hopeless, a one-time trigger fires, causing Ilmyrn to

remark that they may learn more about the scholar inside. If they ask the Bookbinder if he has any books written by T’szthaveron, he will respond in the affirmative, giving vague directions as to which shelf it may be found. All the books are in the Planar Common tongue, but are not in any order whatsoever, so the PC will have to search a bit. The book the player is looking for is called “A Brief Treatise on the Alignment System” (see pg 16). This will reveal that the githyanki came to Hopeless to meet with Ursula the Bald, a night hag who knew of “a book which might unlock further mysteries”.

If the player goes inside before find the githyanki’s treatise, the Bookbinder will address him in typical Hopeless townie fashion (see conversations, pg 18).

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The GloomlordA timer begins after the PC opens the Treatise (5 minutes). On expiration, an

Ultrodaemon contacts PC by having a minion deliver a summons - he is requested to meet with him at the House of the Mayor (6 on the map). He promises information on how to reach Ursula if the PC will help with the Gaping Maw. The Ultrodaemon is a pleasant enough fellow, and an intellectual, but looks pretty scary. He informs the party that he has chosen them, being recently arriving non-petitioners and untouched by the pervasive malaise, to aid the lords of the Grey Waste in ensuring that the Gaping Maw is unsuccessful in its attempt to devour Hopeless. He explains that the quakes which rock the city are not normal, but are in fact caused by an entity known only as the Gaping Maw. The Gaping Maw normally feeds on the will of fools who descend into the Grey Waste willingly, but it is now starving and instead is attempting to eat that which is nearest: the gate-town. He is not permitted to leave Hopeless, and assures the PC that he will share the Ultrodaemon’s fate if he chooses not to aid him – all gates leaving Hopeless are closed.

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ConclusionThere are two ways to deal with the Gaping Maw: feed it the Bookbinder, or feed it Ilmyrn. These

two are the only folks in Hopeless that will willfully enter oblivion.

After speaking with the Gloomlord, the next time the PC speaks with Ilmyrn an additional conversation option will be available. If the player chooses the options carefully, this conversation will result in the PC convincing Ilmyrn to seek oblivion in the Maw, and forget her pain. The same can be done with the Bookbinder.

Once the PC has convinced either (or both!) to sacrifice themselves, he must go to the Gloomlord and inform him he has a candidate. Here he will be permitted to choose which he will sacrifice, and why. This is found in the Decision box found on the quest flowchart (pg 8). A cutscene then shows the sacrificee stepping off into the Maw.

A perfect gentlemen, the Gloomlord then informs the PC the Ursula is in Sigil. If he is pleased with the PC’s choice (i.e. it is not his slave, the Bookbinder) then he tells him she is in the Hive. If not, then, he leaves it vague, and informs the PC he is no longer welcome in Hopeless and recommends he leave immediately.

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Quest itemsReveals that the petitioner is a visiting scholar, and was staying in one of the inns of the gate-town:

The top rune reads: The Working Notes of [a scratch renders the next few glyphs unreadable] –theveron, First Zenarch of Kytli.

The individual entries:

• Day 1, Hopeless: I have arrived in the gate town, and plan to descend into the Glooms to meet with Ursula the Bald after resting … has brought my belongings to my room …

• Day 2, Hopeless: … slept for long hours, perhaps due to weariness of the journey. No matter … the denizens of this … curious malaise. Their pallor is of a sickly grey hue, and they are wan and … Consquently … shall search for news of …. perhaps the hag can be easily …

• Day 3: … proximity of the Grey Waste is now palpable in my mind … forced to wake my servant … refused to see to his duties. No matter, the effectiveness of the mindlash technique dissuaded him from further procrastination … have found that my usual walk has had a deleterious effect upon my psyche, causing me to rest early …

• Day 4: … has jumped from a window! He is now quite dead, and left neither …. I am now alone in this Gate-Town. Additionally, it seems none know of where Ursula might be found, nor care of this or any matter …

• Day 5: A voice spoke in my mind, not the voice of any being, but as a great wind – it sung to me, a song of loss, of sorrow, of madness, of forgetting. I could not hear the final verse of the song … I know not from whence it came, but … found myself partaking in a wine of great vigor …

• Day 6: … did not wake until … the pervasive gloom has … But I dreamed the last verse of song was revealed … now feel a bleakness, a sadness eternal – yet one I found strangely comforting …

• Day 7: I can no longer endure this.15

The Journal

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Quest items

Reveals the scholar’s name: T’szachervon, First Zenarch of Kytli

“A metaphorical comparison of planar…and so, like the fish living in a pond are unaware of other bodies of water, most planar dwellers are unaware of other planes. As fish perceive the sky above them, so we perceive the astral plane – a vast empty space, hostile to our bodies built for living in this specific environment . . . bians would be the planar equivalent of those capable of free travel between planes, holding free access to the astral. Still, amphibians can only trav . . . ithin the confines of the island or continent on which they dwell. Like them, we planar travelers can only travel within our own multiverse. Furthermore, there are surely hidden planes and demi-planes within our multiverse, just as there are hidden or inaccessible bodies of water within our own world.

…can it not be said, then, that perhaps there are other alignments and therefore other planes associated with them?”

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The Treatise

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Quest items

A copy of the scholar’s treatise on alignments; reveals the scholar’s hope to meet with Ursula the Bald, a hag who has knowledge of a book of ultimate knowledge:

“A critique of the alignment system: the system of alignments seems to be imposed upon reality rather than describing it. As a descriptive tool, it is woefully lacking in power and accuracy: (see Thorion, “Philosophical Critiques of the Planar System”) it is unable to properly treat moral shades of grey or delineate between motivation and effect…origin of the system was found by the Aboleth Ulchalothe (see Ulchalothe, “Encounters on the Astral Plane”) during travels on the transitive plane when it touched the mind of the primordial called Bazim-Torag, gleaning the secrets it learned when it ascended. The examination its brain (see Vendrin Szass, “The Hunt of a Scholar: Harvesting the Mind of the Great Aboleth to Prove the Hypotheses of Cosmological Creation”) provides irrefutable proof that it did indeed encounter Bazim-Torag, and the secrets gleaned thereby were indeed valid. The being commonly referred to as Ao developed a template for the planes prior to their creation, in this he created the alignments as philosophical hosts for each plane. However, it seems that Ao’s creation soon outgrew his template…in closing, I would like to state that it is my hope that my secondary project, my search for a book rumored to describe the very makeup of the multiverse, will reveal more…planned an expedition to the Grey Waste, to meet with the hag Ursula the Bald, who has undertaken to reveal the location ...”

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The Bookbinder’s Copy

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Conversation Trees– Ilmyrn, conversation one (“Oi. Cutter. You headed into the Great Gloom?”)

– Ilmyrn, conversation two (“Changed your mind, cutter?”)

– Ilmyrn, conversation three (Door wards)

– Ilmyrn, conversation four (“Oi. Cutter. This ’ere’s a bookbinder’s shop…”)

– Ilmyrn, conversation four (Attempt to convince to go into the Maw)

– Innkeep, The Open Tomb (Lies huddled on the floor, “Leave me alone. Take any room you like.”)

– Innkeep, The Castle of Bone (“I don’t care, look in whatever barmy room you like.”)

– The Defenestrated Paladin, (will find a sign-in book with the scholar’s name in it)

– The Innkeep, Defenestrated Paladin, conversation two (I don’t suppose it really matters much if the door is warded…)

– The Bookbinder, conversation one (Leave me to my work.)

– The Bookbinder, conversation two (I know of this scholar, yes.)

– The Bookbinder, conversation three (I would gladly sacrifice myself, that I might escape this…)

– The Gloomlord, conversation one (Summoned to speak with him, bartering for the location of Ursula the Hag)

– The Gloomlord, converation two (Here’s your victim!)

– The Gloomlord, conversation three (Get Ursula’s location – its actually on the Prime)

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