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[5E] The Age of Worms - Solid Snake's Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="SolidSnake_01" data-source="post: 7542741" data-attributes="member: 63254"><p><strong><u>Gray Fox Journal: The Rod of Seven Parts</u></strong></p><p></p><p>I dredged the bank of the river for a few moments before I found what I was looking for. I am sure to everyone else I must have appeared insane. Something that I have become accustomed to at this point. Then I found it, a smooth flat stone almost exactly the size of the Seal. I placed into the satchel we found earlier and nodded to Moretto. He began the incantations and waved his hand, transforming the image of the stone into an exact duplicate of the Seal. I checked its authenticity from a slight distance before bringing the group together once more.</p><p></p><p>“In order for this to work everyone has to function as a team,” I said carefully as I looked everyone in the eye. “We do not know each other well, but we do know what we are all capable of. Fly Catcher does not and so he will be taken by surprise should he choose to engage us.” I paused momentarily to let it sink in. I had given this speech hundreds of times to new recruits. This situation was a bit different; I was not in command here. “Stick to the plan and we will make it out alive.”</p><p></p><p>They looked ready. I nodded to both Etona and Moretto to begin their incantations before walking into the shadowy lair of Fly Catcher with Rey. </p><p></p><p>____________________</p><p></p><p>Moretto was right. Fly Catcher had spun dark webs all over the room that connected this space to the Shadowfell. I didn’t see it before because I wasn’t looking, but it would be problematic if we were walking on the ground. Thankfully, Moretto’s levitation spell prevented us from making contact with Fly Catcher’s trap. Once Rey and I had floated into the center of the room, I called out.</p><p></p><p>“Fly Catcher! We have the Seal.”</p><p></p><p>I cackling whisper spoke from the darkness. “Place it on the Dias.”</p><p></p><p>The spider was indicating that I take the Seal to an adjacent room, cutting me off from my companions and potentially landing me in a trap. Not a chance. I need to keep him talking so Etona could get a fix on his location.</p><p></p><p>“Fly Catcher, we have met your demands. We need to be assured that Egan is safe. Bring him from the Shadowfell and I will personally hand you the Seal.”</p><p></p><p>The spider paused before responding. “No tricks, fleshbag.” The shadowy webs covering the floor writhed pulling something up from the floor. It was a humanoid creature, its voice muffled by the magical entanglements wrapping its body. All we could see were its eyes, wide with fear. “There, now give me what is mine!”</p><p></p><p>I did not waver. “We have no way of verifying that it is Egan. Release him, unharmed, so that we can make the exchange. We want a safe resolution to this situation.” </p><p></p><p>I’ve never heard a spider frustrated before. There is no way to describe the sound. Something between the hiss of a snake and the growl of a feral cat. Unpleasant.</p><p></p><p><em>Gotcha</em>. I knew that if I had his location identified, Etona did too.</p><p></p><p>The shadowy tendrils released a shocked Egan to the floor. I looked back at Rey to make sure she was ready and then floated over to his form for inspection.</p><p></p><p>“Egan are you alright,” I asked carefully.</p><p></p><p>“Wha-what’s happening,” he stammered. “Who are you-”</p><p></p><p>Fly Catcher cut the man off with a hiss. “There, I have done what you asked. Give me what I asked for! Place the Seal on the Dias!”</p><p></p><p>Here came the tricky part. “Fly Catcher, I am going to ask Egan to move towards Rey as I do what you ask. While he is moving past me, I am going to give him a case. This was a package that I was supposed to give him earlier...before the unpleasantness occured. It has documents in it, that is all. I am telling you this openly so you know I am being truthful.”</p><p></p><p>“No tricks!” I could almost see Fly Catcher now. He was on the ceiling, in the corner of the room. A good vantage point to ambush us.</p><p></p><p>“No tricks.” I lied as I pulled a cigar with a red band from my pouch and lit it.</p><p></p><p>As I passed the confused sorcerer, I handed him the case. I wanted to be sure to fulfill my promise in the event that he perished during this encounter. I kept moving towards the Dias as I was instructed to and threw the satchel into the alcove from the edge of the doorway. As it floated through the air, my mind replayed the conversation again and again. Why didn’t he want me to hand it to him directly? Too dangerous to give up his position. That made sense. He wanted it placed in a location he could observe and then retrieve it once we were gone. That made sense too. He was paranoid, but he wasn’t stupid. Then why was he pushing that I put in the Dias? S**t, I didn’t think of it. The satchel landed with a heavy thud into the alcove.</p><p></p><p>“Betrayal!” The scream echoed from the darkness. “I knew I should not have trusted you! That is not the Sea-”</p><p></p><p>I didn’t give him time to finish before flicking my cigar. It detonated in close proximity to his face, the flash momentarily exposing the creature known as Fly Catcher. I had heard stories of the cursed Drow men who had angered Lloth. I had just never seen one up close. He was half man and half spider. Whether man or spider, zealot or atheist, it mattered not. I closed the distance between us and leapt onto his back. My blade buried itself into his flank, drawing green ichor which sputtered as it touched the ground below. I thought to ask for his surrender as my other arm wrapped around his throat, but then I realized from the blood coming out of his ears that he wouldn’t be able to hear me anyways.</p><p></p><p>I grunted in pain as Fly Catcher bit down on my forearm with his fangs. I could feel the poison coursing through my vein, seizing up my muscles. With my last moments of freedom, I cried out to my companions.</p><p></p><p>“Now!”</p><p></p><p>A flash of radiant light burst from the other side of the room, rolling over the shadowy webs and disintegrating them. <em>Well done Etona!</em></p><p></p><p>Rey and Obi, now uninhibited by the hostile terrain began to engage Fly Catcher in brutal melee. Stabbing and slashing at his segmented body. Hellish chains erupted from the darkness as Jordan lent his aid in keeping our foe from fleeing.</p><p></p><p>As the tide began to turn for Fly Catcher, he did what any sane person would. He attempted to flee to sanctuary. I had other plans. Shadows gathered around him like a cloak, yearning to transport him back to the Shadowfell. That is, until the spell Etona cast upon me roared to life and bathed us in silvery moonlight. The darkness receded, abandoning us in his moment of need.</p><p></p><p>“No! This can’t be,” he wailed. In a frenzy, he attempted desperately to throw me off. I would have laughed if I could. The poison that he had paralyzed me with made that impossible. I clung to him like death.</p><p></p><p>Fly Catcher scurried towards the Dias, passing the waiting phalanx of my comrades. They made him pay in blood and undid the effects his venom had wrought upon me. In his weakened state and with an advantageous position, I put the creature down. After collapsing in a heap, Fly Catcher’s body began to fade into dust. All that remained of him was a pair of dark metal bracers with an intricate pattern of webbing on their face. Both Rey and Etona rushed to my aid.</p><p></p><p>“Is he gone,” Etona asked with a mixture of sadness and concern in her voice.</p><p></p><p>“He’s gone.</p><p>_______________________</p><p></p><p><em>Making peace is harder than making war</em>. This thought came to me as I watched silently the conflict between Etona and Jordan. We had already bid Moretto farewell by this point, having vanquished the only foe capable of preventing him from reaching the surface. What remained was a dissolving alliance brought about by the destruction of a common foe.</p><p></p><p>We now had in our possession an item that may lead us to a piece of the famous Rod of Seven Parts. An artifact that was presumably powerful enough to challenge a God. The Wind Dukes had used it to defeat their enemy: Tharizdun. Apparently Jordan’s new life plan involved assembling the Rod to destroy the Arch-Devil Asmodeus, who he blamed for Universe’s ills. Which was another way of saying his own. It is amusing to see the words “justice” and “vengeance” so easily interchangeable. Jordan did reveal quite a bit about himself in these moments: that he and his betrothed were infected with the green worms of Kyuss. That Asmodeus came to him coincidentally in his time of need. And that his family’s legacy was destroyed by all of these events. He has not seem to move on from this trauma. Instead, he has obsessed over every detail, putting together an image that is to his liking. I have seen this many times before. The horrors of life are disturbing to us and so we concoct rationalizations for random events. No one wants to be told that their friend died for no reason, that the wicked sometimes triumph over the righteous, and that the universe doesn’t care about them. It is disquieting to realize that you are not special. The bottom line was that Etona did not trust Jordan with that kind of power and I didn’t blame her. And since neither he nor Egan would ever stop until they had the artifact, I knew where this was going.</p><p></p><p>“Let’s give it to Rey,” I said.</p><p></p><p>Everyone stopped talking. Even Jordan.</p><p></p><p>“She can decide what to do with it,” I continued.</p><p></p><p>Jordan and Egan couldn’t be trusted with that kind of power. They wouldn’t know how to manage it for vastly different reasons. Etona would probably throw it into a lake, having no concept of its importance. But Rey was afraid of it and what it would do. So she was perfect.</p><p></p><p>Once the group agreed that Rey would be in charge of holding the artifact, everything fell into place. Egan provided magical enchantments that allowed us to fly down the waterfall and towards the area Moretto had mentioned previously. The Seal showed me the way to Icosial’s tomb and cleared a path through the danger. We found ourselves standing in a hidden chamber after a long journey. A sarcophagus floated its center, among murals depicting the Wind Duke general battling the forces of chaos. As I approached, the white marble sarcophagus descended to the floor allowing me to place the Seal in its appropriate place. The top slid open and inside was a pair of swords, a ring, and a fragment of the Rod of Seven Parts. Even I couldn’t help but marvel at the treasures before me. I was jostled from my reverie by Jordan. He was trying to get my attention and pointing at the far end of the room. As I looked up, I saw the form of a demon covered in blinking eyes, framed by a pair of leathery wings. All its eyes were fixed upon me. I heard Jordan say “Oculus Demon” in a voice tinged with fear.</p><p></p><p>“What do you offer,” it asked.</p><p></p><p>“What do you want,” I countered.</p><p></p><p>“My freedom. Give it to me Seal-Bearer and you may take whatever you like,” it replied.</p><p></p><p>It seemed simple enough. Like a transaction. It had something we needed and we could give it something it wanted. Simple. Then why did I feel so uneasy with what it was saying? Everything is a test. </p><p></p><p>“This is a test isn’t it?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. What do you offer,” it asked again.</p><p></p><p>I was sure by the look on Jordan’s face that in a fight with this creature, we would lose. All the sacrifices we would have made would be for nothing...that’s when it struck me. I knew what I had to do.</p><p></p><p>The scarf felt crisp against my hands, the blood long hardening with time. It turned the silk rough and stained the white into a dark maroon. I am not sure how long I held it in my hands before depositing it in the sarcophagus. A part of me regretted the decision instantly. It was the only thing that still tied me to Jade. <em>I’m sorry Boss</em>. <em>I can’t carry you anymore</em>. My vision blurred as I reached in and took the fragment of the Rod. I handed it wordlessly to Rey and saw the demon nod in approval. I couldn’t hear it clearly but the party seemed to debate the merits of sacrificing another item for the ring and the swords. I didn’t care. I felt hollow and numb.</p><p></p><p>We departed shortly after Jordan attempted to “sacrifice” his cursed sword. The demon chuckled and unsurprisingly it did not work. On the way back, there was more talk about what to do with the Seal and the dangers of other explorers acquiring the remaining artifacts. The group once again settled on Rey giving it to her Draconic mistress Seraph. I did not offer any argument and began to hand the Seal over to her when I felt something come over me. A powerful force was drawing me towards something Rey was carrying. It was not the Rod; I could see that object. No it was something else.</p><p></p><p>“Rey, do you have anything else from the Cairn on you,” I asked.</p><p></p><p>Rey nodded and produced a talisman and a circlet. Both of them glowed with a silvery light. Before I knew what I was doing I had exchanged the Seal for the circlet and placed it on my head. A part of me thinks it was the magic that compelled me to do so, but the honest part of me knows that it wasn’t. I was hoping for anything to make the pain stop. The circlet did not help in that regard. It made things worse, for a moment. All of my unprocessed grief came rushing up to me at once. I saw the battle against Jade play out from every direction. Time slowed and insight burst through me like a torrent. <em>You knew that you were going to die that day, but you stayed anyways</em>. <em>You were waiting for me</em>. <em>It had to be me that did it, right Boss? I’m sorry</em>. <em>Thank you for saving me again</em>.</p><p></p><p>I awoke to find everyone staring at me. A damp sensation rolled down my cheek as I got my bearings. No one said anything. Neither did I. We exited the tomb through the portal that gained us initial entry. On the other side were the avian creatures that Rey had previously described as Seraph’s protectors. Two of them pointed to me, obviously puzzled before getting their superior. <em>How would I know that?</em> I don’t even speak their language. The larger eagle-humanoid returned, unable to contain his shock.</p><p></p><p>“It is not possible. Why would he have such a blessing?”</p><p></p><p>I had no idea what they were talking about.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SolidSnake_01, post: 7542741, member: 63254"] [B][U]Gray Fox Journal: The Rod of Seven Parts[/U][/B] I dredged the bank of the river for a few moments before I found what I was looking for. I am sure to everyone else I must have appeared insane. Something that I have become accustomed to at this point. Then I found it, a smooth flat stone almost exactly the size of the Seal. I placed into the satchel we found earlier and nodded to Moretto. He began the incantations and waved his hand, transforming the image of the stone into an exact duplicate of the Seal. I checked its authenticity from a slight distance before bringing the group together once more. “In order for this to work everyone has to function as a team,” I said carefully as I looked everyone in the eye. “We do not know each other well, but we do know what we are all capable of. Fly Catcher does not and so he will be taken by surprise should he choose to engage us.” I paused momentarily to let it sink in. I had given this speech hundreds of times to new recruits. This situation was a bit different; I was not in command here. “Stick to the plan and we will make it out alive.” They looked ready. I nodded to both Etona and Moretto to begin their incantations before walking into the shadowy lair of Fly Catcher with Rey. ____________________ Moretto was right. Fly Catcher had spun dark webs all over the room that connected this space to the Shadowfell. I didn’t see it before because I wasn’t looking, but it would be problematic if we were walking on the ground. Thankfully, Moretto’s levitation spell prevented us from making contact with Fly Catcher’s trap. Once Rey and I had floated into the center of the room, I called out. “Fly Catcher! We have the Seal.” I cackling whisper spoke from the darkness. “Place it on the Dias.” The spider was indicating that I take the Seal to an adjacent room, cutting me off from my companions and potentially landing me in a trap. Not a chance. I need to keep him talking so Etona could get a fix on his location. “Fly Catcher, we have met your demands. We need to be assured that Egan is safe. Bring him from the Shadowfell and I will personally hand you the Seal.” The spider paused before responding. “No tricks, fleshbag.” The shadowy webs covering the floor writhed pulling something up from the floor. It was a humanoid creature, its voice muffled by the magical entanglements wrapping its body. All we could see were its eyes, wide with fear. “There, now give me what is mine!” I did not waver. “We have no way of verifying that it is Egan. Release him, unharmed, so that we can make the exchange. We want a safe resolution to this situation.” I’ve never heard a spider frustrated before. There is no way to describe the sound. Something between the hiss of a snake and the growl of a feral cat. Unpleasant. [I]Gotcha[/I]. I knew that if I had his location identified, Etona did too. The shadowy tendrils released a shocked Egan to the floor. I looked back at Rey to make sure she was ready and then floated over to his form for inspection. “Egan are you alright,” I asked carefully. “Wha-what’s happening,” he stammered. “Who are you-” Fly Catcher cut the man off with a hiss. “There, I have done what you asked. Give me what I asked for! Place the Seal on the Dias!” Here came the tricky part. “Fly Catcher, I am going to ask Egan to move towards Rey as I do what you ask. While he is moving past me, I am going to give him a case. This was a package that I was supposed to give him earlier...before the unpleasantness occured. It has documents in it, that is all. I am telling you this openly so you know I am being truthful.” “No tricks!” I could almost see Fly Catcher now. He was on the ceiling, in the corner of the room. A good vantage point to ambush us. “No tricks.” I lied as I pulled a cigar with a red band from my pouch and lit it. As I passed the confused sorcerer, I handed him the case. I wanted to be sure to fulfill my promise in the event that he perished during this encounter. I kept moving towards the Dias as I was instructed to and threw the satchel into the alcove from the edge of the doorway. As it floated through the air, my mind replayed the conversation again and again. Why didn’t he want me to hand it to him directly? Too dangerous to give up his position. That made sense. He wanted it placed in a location he could observe and then retrieve it once we were gone. That made sense too. He was paranoid, but he wasn’t stupid. Then why was he pushing that I put in the Dias? S**t, I didn’t think of it. The satchel landed with a heavy thud into the alcove. “Betrayal!” The scream echoed from the darkness. “I knew I should not have trusted you! That is not the Sea-” I didn’t give him time to finish before flicking my cigar. It detonated in close proximity to his face, the flash momentarily exposing the creature known as Fly Catcher. I had heard stories of the cursed Drow men who had angered Lloth. I had just never seen one up close. He was half man and half spider. Whether man or spider, zealot or atheist, it mattered not. I closed the distance between us and leapt onto his back. My blade buried itself into his flank, drawing green ichor which sputtered as it touched the ground below. I thought to ask for his surrender as my other arm wrapped around his throat, but then I realized from the blood coming out of his ears that he wouldn’t be able to hear me anyways. I grunted in pain as Fly Catcher bit down on my forearm with his fangs. I could feel the poison coursing through my vein, seizing up my muscles. With my last moments of freedom, I cried out to my companions. “Now!” A flash of radiant light burst from the other side of the room, rolling over the shadowy webs and disintegrating them. [I]Well done Etona![/I] Rey and Obi, now uninhibited by the hostile terrain began to engage Fly Catcher in brutal melee. Stabbing and slashing at his segmented body. Hellish chains erupted from the darkness as Jordan lent his aid in keeping our foe from fleeing. As the tide began to turn for Fly Catcher, he did what any sane person would. He attempted to flee to sanctuary. I had other plans. Shadows gathered around him like a cloak, yearning to transport him back to the Shadowfell. That is, until the spell Etona cast upon me roared to life and bathed us in silvery moonlight. The darkness receded, abandoning us in his moment of need. “No! This can’t be,” he wailed. In a frenzy, he attempted desperately to throw me off. I would have laughed if I could. The poison that he had paralyzed me with made that impossible. I clung to him like death. Fly Catcher scurried towards the Dias, passing the waiting phalanx of my comrades. They made him pay in blood and undid the effects his venom had wrought upon me. In his weakened state and with an advantageous position, I put the creature down. After collapsing in a heap, Fly Catcher’s body began to fade into dust. All that remained of him was a pair of dark metal bracers with an intricate pattern of webbing on their face. Both Rey and Etona rushed to my aid. “Is he gone,” Etona asked with a mixture of sadness and concern in her voice. “He’s gone. _______________________ [I]Making peace is harder than making war[/I]. This thought came to me as I watched silently the conflict between Etona and Jordan. We had already bid Moretto farewell by this point, having vanquished the only foe capable of preventing him from reaching the surface. What remained was a dissolving alliance brought about by the destruction of a common foe. We now had in our possession an item that may lead us to a piece of the famous Rod of Seven Parts. An artifact that was presumably powerful enough to challenge a God. The Wind Dukes had used it to defeat their enemy: Tharizdun. Apparently Jordan’s new life plan involved assembling the Rod to destroy the Arch-Devil Asmodeus, who he blamed for Universe’s ills. Which was another way of saying his own. It is amusing to see the words “justice” and “vengeance” so easily interchangeable. Jordan did reveal quite a bit about himself in these moments: that he and his betrothed were infected with the green worms of Kyuss. That Asmodeus came to him coincidentally in his time of need. And that his family’s legacy was destroyed by all of these events. He has not seem to move on from this trauma. Instead, he has obsessed over every detail, putting together an image that is to his liking. I have seen this many times before. The horrors of life are disturbing to us and so we concoct rationalizations for random events. No one wants to be told that their friend died for no reason, that the wicked sometimes triumph over the righteous, and that the universe doesn’t care about them. It is disquieting to realize that you are not special. The bottom line was that Etona did not trust Jordan with that kind of power and I didn’t blame her. And since neither he nor Egan would ever stop until they had the artifact, I knew where this was going. “Let’s give it to Rey,” I said. Everyone stopped talking. Even Jordan. “She can decide what to do with it,” I continued. Jordan and Egan couldn’t be trusted with that kind of power. They wouldn’t know how to manage it for vastly different reasons. Etona would probably throw it into a lake, having no concept of its importance. But Rey was afraid of it and what it would do. So she was perfect. Once the group agreed that Rey would be in charge of holding the artifact, everything fell into place. Egan provided magical enchantments that allowed us to fly down the waterfall and towards the area Moretto had mentioned previously. The Seal showed me the way to Icosial’s tomb and cleared a path through the danger. We found ourselves standing in a hidden chamber after a long journey. A sarcophagus floated its center, among murals depicting the Wind Duke general battling the forces of chaos. As I approached, the white marble sarcophagus descended to the floor allowing me to place the Seal in its appropriate place. The top slid open and inside was a pair of swords, a ring, and a fragment of the Rod of Seven Parts. Even I couldn’t help but marvel at the treasures before me. I was jostled from my reverie by Jordan. He was trying to get my attention and pointing at the far end of the room. As I looked up, I saw the form of a demon covered in blinking eyes, framed by a pair of leathery wings. All its eyes were fixed upon me. I heard Jordan say “Oculus Demon” in a voice tinged with fear. “What do you offer,” it asked. “What do you want,” I countered. “My freedom. Give it to me Seal-Bearer and you may take whatever you like,” it replied. It seemed simple enough. Like a transaction. It had something we needed and we could give it something it wanted. Simple. Then why did I feel so uneasy with what it was saying? Everything is a test. “This is a test isn’t it?” “Yes. What do you offer,” it asked again. I was sure by the look on Jordan’s face that in a fight with this creature, we would lose. All the sacrifices we would have made would be for nothing...that’s when it struck me. I knew what I had to do. The scarf felt crisp against my hands, the blood long hardening with time. It turned the silk rough and stained the white into a dark maroon. I am not sure how long I held it in my hands before depositing it in the sarcophagus. A part of me regretted the decision instantly. It was the only thing that still tied me to Jade. [I]I’m sorry Boss[/I]. [I]I can’t carry you anymore[/I]. My vision blurred as I reached in and took the fragment of the Rod. I handed it wordlessly to Rey and saw the demon nod in approval. I couldn’t hear it clearly but the party seemed to debate the merits of sacrificing another item for the ring and the swords. I didn’t care. I felt hollow and numb. We departed shortly after Jordan attempted to “sacrifice” his cursed sword. The demon chuckled and unsurprisingly it did not work. On the way back, there was more talk about what to do with the Seal and the dangers of other explorers acquiring the remaining artifacts. The group once again settled on Rey giving it to her Draconic mistress Seraph. I did not offer any argument and began to hand the Seal over to her when I felt something come over me. A powerful force was drawing me towards something Rey was carrying. It was not the Rod; I could see that object. No it was something else. “Rey, do you have anything else from the Cairn on you,” I asked. Rey nodded and produced a talisman and a circlet. Both of them glowed with a silvery light. Before I knew what I was doing I had exchanged the Seal for the circlet and placed it on my head. A part of me thinks it was the magic that compelled me to do so, but the honest part of me knows that it wasn’t. I was hoping for anything to make the pain stop. The circlet did not help in that regard. It made things worse, for a moment. All of my unprocessed grief came rushing up to me at once. I saw the battle against Jade play out from every direction. Time slowed and insight burst through me like a torrent. [I]You knew that you were going to die that day, but you stayed anyways[/I]. [I]You were waiting for me[/I]. [I]It had to be me that did it, right Boss? I’m sorry[/I]. [I]Thank you for saving me again[/I]. I awoke to find everyone staring at me. A damp sensation rolled down my cheek as I got my bearings. No one said anything. Neither did I. We exited the tomb through the portal that gained us initial entry. On the other side were the avian creatures that Rey had previously described as Seraph’s protectors. Two of them pointed to me, obviously puzzled before getting their superior. [I]How would I know that?[/I] I don’t even speak their language. The larger eagle-humanoid returned, unable to contain his shock. “It is not possible. Why would he have such a blessing?” I had no idea what they were talking about. [/QUOTE]
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