EP 00. Pantastic”
Shared Pilot
Tune in and listen to the beginning of the tale of Pan, The Reveler and the Study of the Overlap! A dual story, split from this shared pilot, that uses lore from Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, as well as lore each of the players bring to the table.
Learn about Pan, their close friend Miah, and the story as a whole in this teaser/pilot.
Welcome, and thank you for joining Pantheon Arts Community Storytelling as we begin an adventure of multiversal proportions. This narrative features the base tale of Dungeons and Dragon’s Planescapes Campaign Setting as the tale we explore, but it also involves our mascot Pan, the Reveler in a way that fuses with this dynamic story where a multiversal glitch has struck a span of space that lies at the confluence of many planes of reality.
Narrated by Nicholas “Cobalt Hearth” LaHusen, the stage is set by players Kat, Rachel, Jarod, and Michael who enjoy the game as characters Lysira, Vadania, Acein, and Tusúal, each with their own potency and prowess lost to this glitch. We do this in our free time, and plan to offer: special features on player characters, player-read sections of dialogue, and full recaps of sessions written in a short story format. More may come in time or with support, but we start with these readings for now.
If you are a fan of science fiction, high fantasy, cosmic horror, and a fair amount of laughs in between the serious, then you’ll enjoy what Nicholas DM’s and spins made of each genre, and we couldn’t do it without these friends to share our time with.
Collide with these structured readings, and enjoy the recaps and writings both from what happened in the tabletop game and flashbacks pertaining to Pan.
And so, we begin, EP 00. “Pantastic”
Introducing the Setting
Our story begins in many places. Each of those roads we come to learn about intersect in the Outlands of The Forgotten Realms. A Great Wheel encircles a plane of existence that spreads to space ad-infinitum. A 1000 mile wide scope of reality that shares aspects of all the known planes of alignment, or “Outer Planes”, settles as the circumference of safety, but the hinterlands beyond that utter the loss of magic and those more natural laws of reality, too.
At the center of the Outer Planes lies this resolute disk of a scape that conducts the balance of the song of life perfectly through what is known as the “Concordant Opposition”. Any part of the disk that becomes either too much or too dissimilar from an Outer Plane; instead becomes linked to that Outer Plane and simply vanishes from the Outlands via a powerful Cosmic Realignment. Once this occurs, the cycle begins anew with fresh space forming where the old land had suddenly vanished.
In this way, the planes are always shifting, growing, and adjusting; just as the people who keep the balance, be they good, evil, orderly, chaotic, or somewhere in between as they also commit to changing such places and planes. In the center, the only place in the Outlands and known existence that doesn’t succumb to this Concordance is the mountain known only as “The Spire”- impossibly tall and adorned with the torus-shaped city of Sigil that looms over the plane as if a watchtower meant to maintain that balance with a penitent eye.
That halo-ringed city is where this series of stories truly begins, but not in the way you might think… This tale will play with the perceptions of these known planes, will test your ability to witness a version of the truth, and begs that you let go of what you think you know about anything that is real about the worlds we may come to inhabit and share.
The plot is split by two tales, in truth, one that follows the past of a pivotal and pivotable character, a wizardly fellow, who serves magical elixirs to all that need it. They are Pan, a satyr-ical scapegoat whose path zigs and zags to planes and realms and realities with tenacity of spirit and hope.
As someone who was once a God and a patron of Adventurers and Lovers, whose avatar was barred from entering the Forgotten Realms, they’ve come to find their power is lost - despite a sizable contingent of worshippers. Surprisingly, they have not perished like so many other Gods who float between life and death in the shimmering silver of the Astral Sea.
The truth of how and why is part of the journey we take together as we backtrack in Pan’s own personal quest and adventure; while the other story follows Pan’s latest band of misfits; people whose truths have similarly been occluded from them as they take a “Turn of Fortune’s Wheel” and attempt to recall what made them lose their memories of themselves. They too venture in this “City of Doors” that also claims the name of “The Cage” under the resolute hand of the “Lady of Pain” a being that is as omnipresent as they are omnipotent in staggering ways that we will come to know, in time.
This pilot serves as a starting point for both tales, and roots them around themes of: the discovery of the shadow and the self; empathy, and its role in that perception be it past, present, future or even an alternate reality; the subjectivity of reality it overlaps with in those perception; and, freedom as in the choices made that make up the growth of people in that grandest of schemes that is life.
Enter now, into Pan’s abode on Sigil, as they return from a quest rife with heart, and complete with a new friend.
The Story Begins
A warbling sound emanates from a silver portal into a fireplace-lit study, and out from the portal staggers a small-statured fellow with goat-like horns, fur-covered legs, and a humanoid torso - a Satyr!
They clatter across their rug-covered floor with cloven hooves tapping in stifled rhythm, and quickly put something in the pocket of their Displacer Beast hide trenchcoat. Pan plops into a cozy lounger chair opposite of the portal as it stutters to a close with a breezy, mystical sound.
“Good to be home.” They say with a sigh of a breath to themself.
Underneath their trenchcoat, Pan is adorned with a well-buttoned up silken tunic and heavy-cloth kilt both dyed in a black-blue color and rife with smudges and dirt, save for a perfectly folded up pocket square of a dire black in their breast pocket. A satchel shaped Bag of Holding is slung over their left shoulder - scrolls poking out and decorating the top flap, and a dull-brown scale-covered book that is clasped shut alongside it from Pan’s belt with a simple brass lock and chain.
The study itself is adorned with mementos, knick-knacks, and trophies of sorts; each containing stories and memories of truths from other worlds, realms, and planes that Pan has adventured to since losing their divine essence - the only story that is all but blank from their memory, one that may come to light in time, as well.
Pan’s emerald green eyes trace from one item to the next as they pull out their Pipe of Smoke Monsters and rest their staff behind the chair in a small nook. Smoky wisps that resemble parts of the story of each memento begin to puff out of the pipe, remembrance of the tales in shadowed detail, tales that they often reflect on.
After a few puffs and reminders of other victories, and losses, they take in that good feeling to have made it back home once more - to the “Study of the Overlap”, the Headquarters of their Minor Faction in the city of Sigil that studies the overlap of the Planes and their Laws, or the smaller parts of The Balance.
Putting out their pipe, they then stand up with a stretch, and begin to move about the room and unravel from the tale of the day; taking off their Silvered Star Cluster Cufflinks, and Horn Bell Ornaments (Hammers Removed) in a jewelry box, they also remove their Multi-Scope Specs, in place of some standard bifocals.
As the focus of the flickering light adjusts to this new pair of lens, a different, larger horned humanoid with a bovine bottom-half stood in the foyer, right hand on their hip, and a short tail flailing like a small whip to more stout legs below.
“So, you must have done well.” Snorted the Minotaur.
“The tide was on our side, yes, Miah.” Pan responded, patting the pocket they had placed the item into before
“Well, come on, let’s see it.” she says, taking a step forward.
“Bup, bup, bup, where is the frame?” a bubbling staccato with each bup.
Miah reaches out for the satchel still hanging from Pan’s shoulder, but they hop backwards, and pull out a cloth wrapped item from the bag, “Hey there, you ought to be more careful with this - it’s glass, remember?”
The fireplace roars behind them in the hearth of brick and mortar inset with a dragon’s skull. The shadows of the teeth flicker a fanged maw of the dragon on the wall behind Miah. It begins to crawl up the wall with a harrowing display dancing to her silent tune as Shadows were part of Miah’s specialty.
“Okay, okay… You do know better than me what to do with this.”, and Pan spread forth their hand to give the cloth-covered item to her.
Her robe was unhooded, and was a deeper purple, bathed in rose pink hues, a thick leather with studded pauldrons were cinched over the shoulders to keep the robe in place, a light and flowy thing that didn’t quite seem to fit her size. Miah delicately picked up the cloth-covered item to reveal a shard of glass, part of a mirror.
Pan clatters over to the black-stoned frame, wheeling it over is tough for them, but they push a bit harder to make it there - a full body mirror frame, leaning backwards, but with nary a piece of glass on it.
“If this works, then we’re one step closer to stopping Her.” The glass reflected those same shadows from the fireplace and Miah peered longingly into the glass, “One step closer to getting out of this maze once and for all.”
As storied as Pan and this room of items that hold memories were, Miah could trace tales equally as ancient; indeed, there was something different about this Minotaur, this lady that had carried so many lives of burdens on her shoulders. Stretched now to infinity was the distance between the shard in her hand and the board of black stone.
Pan said nothing, just waiting for her to take it in, this was what they were looking for the whole time since they found this shattered mirror in that darkest of caves of Pandemonium. It was something to bridge the gap, but it was just one shard of the silvered slivered glass - they would have need of 20 others according to legend. It mattered not, for this could mean it was false, no longer.
“Here goes nothing? I guess that feels appropriate.” She said before placing the metaphorical puzzle piece on the board. She kept her hand on the piece of glass like the planchette of a ouija board, and uttered an incantation in a language that no one else can claim to know. The token of glass begins to slide into place in the near-center of the mirror. “Amazing. It feels like home, already.”
The glass lingered in that centered space for a few seconds before she took her hand off it, excitement being stifled in a pensive refrain. They did it, they found one of the shards of the Cobalt Edge!
“Should we cover it with some cloth or celebrate that it looks like it’s right and start planning where to look for the next one?” Pan asks softly, breaking the tension of the moment.
Miah continues to look ahead, and says plainly, “Why not both?”, Pan dances in excitement. Her eyes take a moment longer before seeking something to cover the mirror with, “How’d you think the rug’ll do?”
Pan scuttles along to grab two bottles from a shelf in the kitchenette of their Study, and peers back for a moment with a playful shrug to Miah’s question. He yells back, “Ciders, to celebrate this sweet moment!” and resolutely uncorks each bottle one at a time with a hallowed THUMP.
Miah begins to break a smile in the sliver of reflection that she hasn’t been able to find in many Moons. Pan notices the smile after turning around again, and hands her one of the bottles. Miah looks back at him after covering the mirror with the rug in her other hand, silence stirs for a moment, “Promise me.”
“Promise you, what?” Pan asks, arms lowering slightly.
“Promise me that we’ll find the other pieces in time.” Miah responds, as she begins to brush dust off the rug half-heartedly.
Pan takes a drink, leaning against a nearby chair with a heavy sigh, “Miah, the most I can promise is that I can try, but to do it in time… we’ll need some help.”
“At least now, we know where to look.” she says, swishing the liquid in the bottle with a fizzy accord.
“Yes, but now, we drink up, and celebrate how far we’ve come.” Pan says with a jolly demeanor as they begin their revelry, “Tomorrow. Tomorrow, we know where to look.”
Miah nods in agreement and takes a drink, “Tell me the story, from the beginning. I know you want to.”
Thank you so much for joining us on this teaser, where the story diverges with Pan being a featured character in both stories but in different ways. We don’t know when the next one will be available, but are aiming for another one by the end of June.
For future episodes, we are aiming for 20-40 minutes depending on how much happens in a given session, and plan to include good stopping points periodically if time does not permit you to listen for that entire time.
Pantheon Arts Community Storytelling and our Ephemeral Aperture are so appreciative of you sharing this time with us to listen to Pan, The Reveler, and hear the story unfold.
Royalty free music from Pixabay, uploaded by Alexander Nakarada: Link to Pixabay
