«what is your favorite sidequest in Planescape: Torment? and why?»

ooooooooh, are you kidding, there are too many. Like, the whole mage-initiation quest-line from Mebbeth. The Dead Nations quest-line ruined me for all other ‘taking sides in a conflict’ narratives. But if I have to choose one quest, it’s probably Ingress.

You know, that quest you get right after leaving the Mortuary. Mad woman runs around the streets and if you manage to talk with her, tells you that she went to the Sigil through a portal without realizing what she’s doing. And then she tried to get home, but every door and arc is a portal and they shift and they can lead anywhere, so when she tried, she turned out in the places that made her insane, mutilated and scared of entering any doorway. So you go to the Smoldering Corpse Bar, talk with a planeswalker and he leads her to the right portal.

I think it was just a little genius thing, it gave you the feeling of the city and it’s jarring duality, it showed how one place can be “the City of Doors” and “The Cage” at the same time, and how those titles are just two sides of the same coin - ultimate freedom and ultimate danger. Ingress is a victim of a chance, chance that took her here, victim of too many open ways, of too many possibilities, so she became afraid of taking any way or option, because it’s safer to suffer and never try opening new doors, than open them and face pain and despair again. And then there’s Candrian Illborne, a planeswalker who has just as much experience as he has scars, he just got back from Plane of Negative Energy, where he almost got eaten by shadows. He’s tired, fucked up and freaking transparent right now, so you know he’s got a lot on his plate, but he takes time to answer all of TNO’s questions and even gives him a ring to protect from shadows who hunt TNO. And then he just goes and takes Ingress home. Just like that. Two of them are both were touched, hurt by planes, but Candrian uses his experience to show her way home. He can’t save her, he can’t heal her, nothing probably can but herself, but he can show her that the path through the darkness exist and it’s worth a risk to try and open new door.