Planescape: Torment The Unofficial Novel Portions copyright (c) 1999 by Interplay Productions. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. CONTENTS CONTENTS 1 AUTHOR'S NOTE 4 THE MORTUARY 5 DEIONARRA 13 THE HIVE 16 MORTE, PART 1 22 HIVE MARKET 22 MAZED 26 SMOLDERING CORPSE 29 DAK'KON, PART 1 34 RAGPICKERS SQUARE 36 BURIED VILLAGE 44 THE UNBROKEN CIRCLE OF ZERTHIMON PART I 49 WEEPING STONE CATACOMBS 51 DEAD NATIONS 54 THE FATE OF SOEGO 58 THE SILENT KING 58 DROWNED NATIONS 61 THE TOMB 62 PHAROD 64 XACHARIAH, PART 1 68 DAK'KON, PART 2 70 XACHARIAH, PART 2 73 ANNAH, PART 1 75 CHAOS DOGS BARKING 78 ALLEY OF LINGERING SIGHS 83 MASTER OF THE BONES 85 UNBROKEN CIRCLE OF ZERTHIMON, PART 2 88 LOWER WARD 92 Page 1 Compiled by Rhys Hess Planescape: Torment The Unofficial Novel COAXMETAL 100 CLERK'S WARD 104 IGNUS 107 FALL-FROM-GRACE, PART 1 112 BROTHEL OF SLATING INTELLECTUAL LUSTS 115 NENNY NINE-EYES 116 MARISSA 118 KESAI-SERRIS 119 KIMASXI ADDERTONGUE 121 DOLORES 124 YVES THE TALE-CHASER 127 ART AND CURIO GALLERIA 132 The Arcadian stained-glass window. 133 The battle-horn of Acheron. 133 The Dark Birds of Ocanthus. 133 The ruby statuette. 134 The kyton's animate chain. 134 The statue of the screaming man. 134 The painting 'Outland Raiders.' 134 The painting 'The Folly of Udo.' 134 The painting 'Moment's Glance from the Walls of Moch'chma.' 135 CURIOSITY SHOP 135 AELWYN 139 CIVIC FESTHALL 141 FESTHALL LECTURES 144 PUBLIC SENSORIUMS 151 The experience 'unavoidable pain.' 151 The experience 'tender love.' 151 The experience 'mind-numbing tedium.' 151 The experience 'bitter loathing.' 151 The experience 'pure glee.' 152 The experience 'consuming impatience.' 152 The experience 'grim determination.' 152 The experience 'supernatural lust.' 152 The experience 'horrible regret.' 152 The experience 'indescribable frustration.' 153 The experience 'shock and a rise to seething vengefulness.' 153 The experience 'slowly dawning horror.' 153 TIEING LOOSE ENDS 154 RUBIKON 157 NORDOM, PART 1 162 QUELL 164 SENSORY STONE TRAP 167 DEIONARRA SENSORY STONE 168 MESSAGE FROM RAVEL 172 FALL-FROM-GRACE, PART 2 174 NORDOM, PART 2 180 DODECAHEDRON JOURNAL 185 ADVOCATE IANNIS 189 PREPARATIONS 193 Page 2 Compiled by Rhys Hess Planescape: Torment The Unofficial Novel RAVEL PUZZLEWELL, PART 1 198 RAVEL PUZZLEWELL, PART 2 206 UNBROKEN CIRCLE OF ZERTHIMON, PART 3 213 CURST 216 TRIAS 218 VHAILOR 221 ANNAH, PART 2 226 FHJULL 227 PILLAR OF SKULLS 231 MORTE, PART 2 236 CARCERI 240 TRIAS THE BETRAYER 241 SIGIL 244 MORTUARY PORTAL 245 FORTRESS OF REGRETS 249 COMPANIONS FATE 250 TRIAL OF IMPULSE 252 MAZE OF REFLECTIONS 254 ESCAPE 262 THE TRANSCENDENT ONE 264 FAREWELL 271 Page 3 Compiled by Rhys Hess Planescape: Torment The Unofficial Novel AUTHOR'S NOTE Even after playing Planescape: Torment several times, I found I was still interested in going back and replaying some scenes, just to read through the excellent dialog again. What I really would have liked would have been a listing of the dialogs in the game, which brought about the project you are reading here. I decided not to literally pull the dialog trees from the game, since in a linear format like this it would have made for very awkward reading. Instead, I followed one path through the game, creating a written story from the source material. The quoted speech, along with much of the other material, is taken directly from the game and only lightly edited. It is possible to read the entire, continuous story. I have suppressed much of the combat in the game to concentrate on the story and the interaction with the characters, and some sections and characters have been entirely omitted. Even so, the entire document runs to over 150,000 words. It is also possible to skip to certain sections, re-reading selected portions of the story, hopefully allowing you a new chance to appreciate the writing, or perhaps discovering a dialog option you had not investigated before. If by chance you are reading this without first having played Planescape: Torment, and what you read is of any interest at all, get the game and play it; the actual game, including excellent voice-acting, music, art and game system, is a much richer experience. I would ask that if this document is distributed in any form that it be kept intact and unchanged, and that no fee be charged in association with such distribution. Thanks to the entire team at Black Isle which worked on Planescape: Torment, especially those responsible for the story and dialog. Rhys Hess [email protected] (formatting for Winword 97 / 2000 by: Maik Schärer / phagga [email protected]) Page 4 Compiled by Rhys Hess Planescape: Torment The Unofficial Novel THE MORTUARY A Dream: Lying on a slab, in a mortuary. A pillar covered with names. Racks of skulls. A symbol. A woman. A ghost. I awoke, on a slab, in what was obviously a mortuary. As I levered myself up, I caught movement from the corner of my eye. A floating skull. No, I realized, a floating, talking, skull as it spoke. "Hey, chief. You okay? You playing corpse or you putting the blinds on the Dusties? I thought you were a deader for sure." I was confused, and had trouble focusing on what the skull was saying. "Wh...? Who are you?" "Uh... who am *I?* How about *you* start? Who're you?" "I... don't know. I can't remember." I realized that I didn't remember anything about myself. "You can't remember your *name?* Heh. Well, NEXT time you spend a night in this berg, go easy on the bub. Name's Morte. I'm trapped in here, too." "Trapped?" "Yeah, since you haven't had time to get your legs yet, here's the chant: I've tried all the doors, and this room is locked tighter than a chastity belt." I needed to orient myself, and find out from the skull where I was. "We're locked in... where? What is this place?" "It's called the 'Mortuary'... it's a big black structure with all the architectural charm of a pregnant spider." Could I have died? Did that explain the lack of memories? "'The Mortuary?' What... am I dead?" "Not from where I'm standing. You got scars a-plenty, though... looks like some berk painted you with a knife. All the more reason to give this place the laugh before whoever carved you up comes back to finish the job." "Scars? How bad are they?" "Well... the carvings on your chest aren't TOO bad... but the ones on your back..." Morte paused. "Say, looks like you got a whole tattoo gallery on your back, chief. Spells out something..." I looked down at myself, and realized the truth about the scarring. They covered every visible bit of skin. There was a tattoo on my arm as well, the same one from my dream. I wondered what was on my back, though. "Tattoos on my back? What do they say?" "Heh! Looks like you come with directions..." Morte cleared his throat. "Let's see... it starts with... 'I know you feel like you've been drinking a few kegs of Styx wash, but you need to CENTER yourself. Among your possessions is a JOURNAL that'll shed some light on the dark of the matter. PHAROD can fill you in on the rest of the chant, if he's not in the dead-book already.' "Pharod...? Does it say anything else?" "Yeah, there's a bit more..." Morte paused. "Let's see... it goes on..." 'Don't lose the journal or we'll be up the Styx again. And whatever you do, DO NOT tell anyone WHO you are or WHAT happens to you, or they'll put you on a quick pilgrimage to the crematorium. Do what I tell you: READ the journal, then FIND Pharod.' Page 5 Compiled by Rhys Hess Planescape: Torment The Unofficial Novel "No wonder my back hurts; there's a damn novel written there. As for that journal I'm supposed to have with me... was there one with me while I was lying here?" "No... you were stripped to the skins when you arrived here. 'Sides, looks like you got enough of a journal penned on your body." The skull wasn't being that much help. "What about Pharod? Do you know him?" "Nobody I know... but then again, I don't know many people. Still, SOME berk's got to know where to find Pharod... uh, once we get out of here, that is." "How *do* we get out of here?" "Well, all the doors are locked, so we'll need the key. Chances are, one of the walking corpses in this room has it." "Walking corpses?" I queried. "Yeah, the Mortuary keepers use dead bodies as cheap labor. The corpses are dumb as stones, but they're harmless, and won't attack you unless you attack first." The thought of killing, for some reason, made me uneasy. "Is there some other way? I don't want to kill them just for a key." "What, you think it's going to hurt their feelings? They're DEAD. But if you want a bright side to this: if you kill them, at least they'll have a rest before their keepers raise them up to work again." "Well, all right... I'll take one of them down and get the key." I approached one of the zombies mindlessly moving about the room.