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[5E] The Age of Worms - Solid Snake's Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Alexander Bryant" data-source="post: 7290983" data-attributes="member: 6884000"><p><strong>Journal of Etona - Entry Thirteen</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Coldeven 13th day</strong></p><p>We journeyed down carefully, aiming for our old hideout. More of the snownadoes, more traps circumvented, sparks in the air. What a marvelous land that was. Just . . . very cold. Also, my eyes hurt while I was up there.</p><p></p><p>At our “pad” - our out-of-town headquarters, I suppose - I prowled while people slept, and that is how I heard and then saw the group of four men come up the trail to the place. I recognized Egan and initially came to greet him but then withdrew. Something about their postures, the way they moved. One of them heard me.</p><p></p><p>The one in the lead grabbed Egan by the scruff of the neck and said, “Did you hear that? What was that?” A human speaking Common. As I passed around them, I realized that their scent was also wrong for humans. Where had I smelled that before?</p><p></p><p>Two more thoughts raised my hackles:</p><p>They have come to steal the artifacts.</p><p>They are mistreating my friend.</p><p></p><p>I moved around them trying to size them up. Eventually I understood that they could see in the dark better than I. It would be revealed soon that they used magic I had seen Egan use for this purpose. They also exchanged words between themselves that were not Common, but like their scent I had encountered this before as well.</p><p></p><p>Where? Where before?</p><p></p><p>I stole back to our little base and awakened the others. We would confront them on the road in front of the building, see what they wanted. Angivre and I perched in the second-story window keeping watch.</p><p></p><p>They halted before the trio reached the corona of light thrown by Rey and Rishka’s torches and the moon-kissed stone I provided. I could no longer see the other two with him under the overcast dark sky.</p><p></p><p>“Egan, what is this about?” Rey called to them.</p><p></p><p>Our young warlock came forward. “Oh, eh, hi there, Rey! Yes. Good evening,” Egan replied. “We’re just here to get something and then we’re off.”</p><p></p><p>“What you are here for does not belong to you,” Rey said.</p><p></p><p>Apparently, that was the end of the conversation. What followed was a very peculiar mix of hide-and-seek and dodge-the-fire-wizard. Egan would play the part of concerned hare.</p><p></p><p>The trio was aligned with the Hell realm. Their leader was armed with flame spells which he shot out with abandon. All three could turn invisible and throw spheres of <em>orum</em>, or utterblack around.</p><p></p><p>Rey and Rishka – and Obi, too – dodged torrents of flame in attacking the fire mage who, like Egan, wore a tough armor. I let fly the Silver at him, Rishka attacked with jaws wide open, and Rey struck with her spear. In short order we forced his retreat . . . into thin air: not only was he was adept at his invisibility but he could also shadowstep like many Eladrin.</p><p></p><p>He was a diversion, however: his two invisible fellows made for the well where the artifacts were. At least one of them dove in sealing the top with a complicated spell of whirring metal blades that appeared out of nowhere. I had seen the like before: Olma, a Dwarven cleric I had known, had also used this <em>dweomer</em> (her word for a spell). It was an odd plan: how would they get out again? Could they also shadowstep? If so, could they do so from inside a well?</p><p></p><p>They dropped i, we countered; they created the blade wall, we kicked in the stones underneath to pound them; they shadowstepped, we tracked them. Egan, bereft of powers through all this, sought shelter. He was clearly on our side: in the fight he yelled that we should dispatch these men and that he was powerless and he would explain everything and . . . oh, poor Egan.</p><p></p><p>They were able to grab the artifacts and get some distance away, but not far enough. We felled both of them knocking them unconscious. However, between a last powerful storm of fire from their invisible leader and Rishka’s seeming insatiable hunger, both of them ended up dead. I could do nothing about the former, but the latter . . . </p><p></p><p>“Rishkar! If you eat someone still living again in my presence, you will have to answer to an angry goddess.” His small eyes slitted in regarding me. Rey intervened and led him away.</p><p></p><p>We tracked the mage to the Whispering Cairn. "Your claim is not unjust!" I called out, and though his party's attack without even speaking to us was rash, even these actions could be justified. I explained that we understood all of this and wanted to parlay. He did not, remaining invisible. In the end we simply waited him out and, when he appeared we surrounded him, Rishkar licking his lips.</p><p></p><p>He told us he was with an organization called the <strong>Asmodi</strong>, a group of some size and resources acting on behalf of Hell. Egan’s abilities - could we fail to notice? - were from there, negotiated earlier with this group. He owed them much for his powers.</p><p></p><p>“He was desperate, penniless, and trying to find his lost sister,” I protested to a shrug.</p><p></p><p>“Few happy people come to us. You for example, moon priest, wouldn’t. But we offer a fair deal. Customers such as Egan are not even required to pay up front.”</p><p></p><p>Ruthless this may be, but it was undeniably fair to an extent. That they only required material gain was fortunate: Egan had not sold his soul. Except . . . .</p><p></p><p>“That treasure you came for and were willing to kill us over is not his and so not yours to claim. He found it alongside R--, the huntress here and myself.” No need to give him names beyond my own. “A different prize will have to be offered.”</p><p></p><p>This he nodded at.</p><p></p><p>Rey and I stepped away and had our first of many little conferences. She was angling to kill this man. The only counter-argument that she would listen to was whether or not that would do any good.</p><p></p><p>A yell of pain. Rishkar had eaten part of the man’s hand ostensibly, the walking crocodile explained, to prevent more spell casting. I think it more likely he was simply missing his midnight snack.</p><p></p><p>We asked the sorcerer about what usually happened when a claim team did not come back.</p><p></p><p>“They simply send a stronger party to find out what happened.”</p><p></p><p>“What do we need to do for your order to leave Egan alone and never bother the rest of us again?” I returned.</p><p></p><p>It would take much money, he said, something of similar value. No, he did not want to die, though I sensed he was not particularly afraid of that. This to me is odd: I thought servitors of Hell gave up their spirit to torment upon death, but maybe that was incorrect. He was certainly disciplined: he was reacting only mildly to the loss of part of his hand.</p><p></p><p>Rey still wanted to kill him, and so did Rishkar since it was nearly Elevensies and the hand merely whet his appetite, but I wanted no part in that. I could not talk them out of it, however, so I left.</p><p></p><p>And yet, Rey held back. She could not do it. I knew she could not! I took and squeezed her hand. "Thank you," I whispered to her.</p><p></p><p>And so the man told us to go to Greyhawk's Silver Dragon Inn and leave a message there for the Asmadi. They would contact us to arrange payment of the debt. We then let him go, and he seemed to be grateful enough for sparing his life so I remain hopeful we will get a fair bargain out of it.</p><p></p><p>“Is this what you want in life?” I asked him as he was leaving. He turned around to face me again. “A little borrowed power to terrorize others with? To do the bidding of creatures who mean the world no good?”</p><p></p><p>“Everything people have, every scrap of happiness, comes from power. All else is illusion. It is what there is.”</p><p></p><p>I stepped close to him and gazed into his eyes.</p><p></p><p>“No. There is more.”</p><p></p><p>He stared at me a moment then chuckled, a little ruefully I thought. “Maybe for elves, but we humans have a rougher time of it. This life is short and dirty. You make what you can of it and then you’re erased.”</p><p></p><p>He walked away.</p><p></p><p>“Sehanine light your way, human. I hope to see you again.”</p><p></p><p>***</p><p><strong>Coldeven 14th day</strong></p><p>When we went back to Diamond Lake, Rey, Rishkar and I made a bee line to the Emporeum. Shag met us at the door: he is the new door attendant! As I hugged him and asked if he was available later that night for games and tea, I wondered at my gentle friend’s ability to turn people away. I couldn’t imagine him sternly ordering anyone to retreat.</p><p></p><p>While Shag and I chatted, I sent a message to Madame Z. It came back almost immediately – please come up to her office.</p><p></p><p>She was agitated, I could see, and distracted. Clearly she wanted to unburden herself to me. Before she could, however, I wanted to set up a meeting with the Twilight Lodge. She agreed to leave the usual message at the usual location, and we would wait. She then asked us into a small private nook off the main office.</p><p></p><p>We crowded in, Rey and I, Rishka remaining just outside, taking care not to disturb her remarkable collection of a hundred or so little figurines of the peoples and monsters of the world.</p><p></p><p>She was hoping, she said, that we would take papers to Greyhawk and bring back an emissary for a nobleman on the council who was looking to get more involved in local mining. This was apparently a secret as council members are not supposed to have direct interests in mining or some such? Words about laws slip too easily out of my thoughts. The escort of this individual back to Diamond Lake would need to be covert and also not connected to Greyhawk itself. This ruled out many people whom Madame Z could otherwise trust, and so she had hoped to hire us.</p><p></p><p>It is a way to pay our debt, though doing this job also pays gold as well. Furthermore, I did come upon the idea that this councilman we would be aiding could perhaps be persuaded to move the refinery elsewhere, particularly once we’ve destroyed it. The mines themselves are doing little damage to the land, so if this poisonous thing could be relocated it would save people its weight in bother. Finally, this same councilman could potentially vote for our treaty recommendation to smooth relations between Rishkar’s folk and the humans.</p><p></p><p>Once away from the Emporeum, I spoke with <strong>Merris Sandover</strong>, a scout for the Bronzewood Lodge, asking him to contact <strong>Nogweir</strong>, their leader, about the poisoning of the land and what we could do about the refinery. He is not of a mind to level the building for some reason, but he liked my idea of approaching the councilman. I asked him to keep a look out for Verdre and tell her we went to Greyhawk, our next destination for the next several days.</p><p></p><p>Next up was Allustan. We asked if he would venture into the deep of the cairn to examine the black sphere and its red stand. No, definitely not, he said, but he would like a chance to study it. Egan volunteered to make the arrangements to get it up to the surface world and into Allustan’s house using a team of men and dwarves. He will stay behind to oversee this.</p><p></p><p>I am actually quite worried about him: his latest bad idea is finding information on the Wind Dukes for the purpose of communing with them, gaining their favor, and passing their power through him as he did with the Court of Hell. I made him promise he would consider <strong>not</strong> doing that – not be enslaved to another round of potentially malefic deities – and so to not move at all towards that end at least until we return. At least when I was not in Her favor, she did not send agents after me to exact retribution.</p><p></p><p>Come to that: perhaps he would interested in following Her Silver Path?</p><p></p><p>We let Mel know we were leaving for Greyhawk in a couple days. She had an interesting surprise for us: a summonable celestial steed! It was white and silver-gray, beautiful, sixteen hands high. Calm, utterly confident with a look in its eye that I’d last seen from a halfling pretending he was a child but knew that I knew but was in on the secret. Mel will be our human guide through the noisy hive of the human capital city. We assembled everything we would need to visit it, and the next day off we went.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alexander Bryant, post: 7290983, member: 6884000"] [b]Journal of Etona - Entry Thirteen[/b] [B]Coldeven 13th day[/B] We journeyed down carefully, aiming for our old hideout. More of the snownadoes, more traps circumvented, sparks in the air. What a marvelous land that was. Just . . . very cold. Also, my eyes hurt while I was up there. At our “pad” - our out-of-town headquarters, I suppose - I prowled while people slept, and that is how I heard and then saw the group of four men come up the trail to the place. I recognized Egan and initially came to greet him but then withdrew. Something about their postures, the way they moved. One of them heard me. The one in the lead grabbed Egan by the scruff of the neck and said, “Did you hear that? What was that?” A human speaking Common. As I passed around them, I realized that their scent was also wrong for humans. Where had I smelled that before? Two more thoughts raised my hackles: They have come to steal the artifacts. They are mistreating my friend. I moved around them trying to size them up. Eventually I understood that they could see in the dark better than I. It would be revealed soon that they used magic I had seen Egan use for this purpose. They also exchanged words between themselves that were not Common, but like their scent I had encountered this before as well. Where? Where before? I stole back to our little base and awakened the others. We would confront them on the road in front of the building, see what they wanted. Angivre and I perched in the second-story window keeping watch. They halted before the trio reached the corona of light thrown by Rey and Rishka’s torches and the moon-kissed stone I provided. I could no longer see the other two with him under the overcast dark sky. “Egan, what is this about?” Rey called to them. Our young warlock came forward. “Oh, eh, hi there, Rey! Yes. Good evening,” Egan replied. “We’re just here to get something and then we’re off.” “What you are here for does not belong to you,” Rey said. Apparently, that was the end of the conversation. What followed was a very peculiar mix of hide-and-seek and dodge-the-fire-wizard. Egan would play the part of concerned hare. The trio was aligned with the Hell realm. Their leader was armed with flame spells which he shot out with abandon. All three could turn invisible and throw spheres of [I]orum[/I], or utterblack around. Rey and Rishka – and Obi, too – dodged torrents of flame in attacking the fire mage who, like Egan, wore a tough armor. I let fly the Silver at him, Rishka attacked with jaws wide open, and Rey struck with her spear. In short order we forced his retreat . . . into thin air: not only was he was adept at his invisibility but he could also shadowstep like many Eladrin. He was a diversion, however: his two invisible fellows made for the well where the artifacts were. At least one of them dove in sealing the top with a complicated spell of whirring metal blades that appeared out of nowhere. I had seen the like before: Olma, a Dwarven cleric I had known, had also used this [I]dweomer[/I] (her word for a spell). It was an odd plan: how would they get out again? Could they also shadowstep? If so, could they do so from inside a well? They dropped i, we countered; they created the blade wall, we kicked in the stones underneath to pound them; they shadowstepped, we tracked them. Egan, bereft of powers through all this, sought shelter. He was clearly on our side: in the fight he yelled that we should dispatch these men and that he was powerless and he would explain everything and . . . oh, poor Egan. They were able to grab the artifacts and get some distance away, but not far enough. We felled both of them knocking them unconscious. However, between a last powerful storm of fire from their invisible leader and Rishka’s seeming insatiable hunger, both of them ended up dead. I could do nothing about the former, but the latter . . . “Rishkar! If you eat someone still living again in my presence, you will have to answer to an angry goddess.” His small eyes slitted in regarding me. Rey intervened and led him away. We tracked the mage to the Whispering Cairn. "Your claim is not unjust!" I called out, and though his party's attack without even speaking to us was rash, even these actions could be justified. I explained that we understood all of this and wanted to parlay. He did not, remaining invisible. In the end we simply waited him out and, when he appeared we surrounded him, Rishkar licking his lips. He told us he was with an organization called the [B]Asmodi[/B], a group of some size and resources acting on behalf of Hell. Egan’s abilities - could we fail to notice? - were from there, negotiated earlier with this group. He owed them much for his powers. “He was desperate, penniless, and trying to find his lost sister,” I protested to a shrug. “Few happy people come to us. You for example, moon priest, wouldn’t. But we offer a fair deal. Customers such as Egan are not even required to pay up front.” Ruthless this may be, but it was undeniably fair to an extent. That they only required material gain was fortunate: Egan had not sold his soul. Except . . . . “That treasure you came for and were willing to kill us over is not his and so not yours to claim. He found it alongside R--, the huntress here and myself.” No need to give him names beyond my own. “A different prize will have to be offered.” This he nodded at. Rey and I stepped away and had our first of many little conferences. She was angling to kill this man. The only counter-argument that she would listen to was whether or not that would do any good. A yell of pain. Rishkar had eaten part of the man’s hand ostensibly, the walking crocodile explained, to prevent more spell casting. I think it more likely he was simply missing his midnight snack. We asked the sorcerer about what usually happened when a claim team did not come back. “They simply send a stronger party to find out what happened.” “What do we need to do for your order to leave Egan alone and never bother the rest of us again?” I returned. It would take much money, he said, something of similar value. No, he did not want to die, though I sensed he was not particularly afraid of that. This to me is odd: I thought servitors of Hell gave up their spirit to torment upon death, but maybe that was incorrect. He was certainly disciplined: he was reacting only mildly to the loss of part of his hand. Rey still wanted to kill him, and so did Rishkar since it was nearly Elevensies and the hand merely whet his appetite, but I wanted no part in that. I could not talk them out of it, however, so I left. And yet, Rey held back. She could not do it. I knew she could not! I took and squeezed her hand. "Thank you," I whispered to her. And so the man told us to go to Greyhawk's Silver Dragon Inn and leave a message there for the Asmadi. They would contact us to arrange payment of the debt. We then let him go, and he seemed to be grateful enough for sparing his life so I remain hopeful we will get a fair bargain out of it. “Is this what you want in life?” I asked him as he was leaving. He turned around to face me again. “A little borrowed power to terrorize others with? To do the bidding of creatures who mean the world no good?” “Everything people have, every scrap of happiness, comes from power. All else is illusion. It is what there is.” I stepped close to him and gazed into his eyes. “No. There is more.” He stared at me a moment then chuckled, a little ruefully I thought. “Maybe for elves, but we humans have a rougher time of it. This life is short and dirty. You make what you can of it and then you’re erased.” He walked away. “Sehanine light your way, human. I hope to see you again.” *** [B]Coldeven 14th day[/B] When we went back to Diamond Lake, Rey, Rishkar and I made a bee line to the Emporeum. Shag met us at the door: he is the new door attendant! As I hugged him and asked if he was available later that night for games and tea, I wondered at my gentle friend’s ability to turn people away. I couldn’t imagine him sternly ordering anyone to retreat. While Shag and I chatted, I sent a message to Madame Z. It came back almost immediately – please come up to her office. She was agitated, I could see, and distracted. Clearly she wanted to unburden herself to me. Before she could, however, I wanted to set up a meeting with the Twilight Lodge. She agreed to leave the usual message at the usual location, and we would wait. She then asked us into a small private nook off the main office. We crowded in, Rey and I, Rishka remaining just outside, taking care not to disturb her remarkable collection of a hundred or so little figurines of the peoples and monsters of the world. She was hoping, she said, that we would take papers to Greyhawk and bring back an emissary for a nobleman on the council who was looking to get more involved in local mining. This was apparently a secret as council members are not supposed to have direct interests in mining or some such? Words about laws slip too easily out of my thoughts. The escort of this individual back to Diamond Lake would need to be covert and also not connected to Greyhawk itself. This ruled out many people whom Madame Z could otherwise trust, and so she had hoped to hire us. It is a way to pay our debt, though doing this job also pays gold as well. Furthermore, I did come upon the idea that this councilman we would be aiding could perhaps be persuaded to move the refinery elsewhere, particularly once we’ve destroyed it. The mines themselves are doing little damage to the land, so if this poisonous thing could be relocated it would save people its weight in bother. Finally, this same councilman could potentially vote for our treaty recommendation to smooth relations between Rishkar’s folk and the humans. Once away from the Emporeum, I spoke with [B]Merris Sandover[/B], a scout for the Bronzewood Lodge, asking him to contact [B]Nogweir[/B], their leader, about the poisoning of the land and what we could do about the refinery. He is not of a mind to level the building for some reason, but he liked my idea of approaching the councilman. I asked him to keep a look out for Verdre and tell her we went to Greyhawk, our next destination for the next several days. Next up was Allustan. We asked if he would venture into the deep of the cairn to examine the black sphere and its red stand. No, definitely not, he said, but he would like a chance to study it. Egan volunteered to make the arrangements to get it up to the surface world and into Allustan’s house using a team of men and dwarves. He will stay behind to oversee this. I am actually quite worried about him: his latest bad idea is finding information on the Wind Dukes for the purpose of communing with them, gaining their favor, and passing their power through him as he did with the Court of Hell. I made him promise he would consider [B]not[/B] doing that – not be enslaved to another round of potentially malefic deities – and so to not move at all towards that end at least until we return. At least when I was not in Her favor, she did not send agents after me to exact retribution. Come to that: perhaps he would interested in following Her Silver Path? We let Mel know we were leaving for Greyhawk in a couple days. She had an interesting surprise for us: a summonable celestial steed! It was white and silver-gray, beautiful, sixteen hands high. Calm, utterly confident with a look in its eye that I’d last seen from a halfling pretending he was a child but knew that I knew but was in on the secret. Mel will be our human guide through the noisy hive of the human capital city. We assembled everything we would need to visit it, and the next day off we went. [/QUOTE]
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