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[5E] The Age of Worms - Solid Snake's Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Alexander Bryant1" data-source="post: 7476842" data-attributes="member: 6916184"><p><strong>Eleanor's Journal - Part 04</strong></p><p></p><p>I take my leave of my companions.</p><p></p><p>Officer Vereene is heading to the Watch.</p><p></p><p>The ambassadors travel to locate Lady Etona, probably near her temple or down by the docks where she seems to be ministering to the poor there? Nothing I know of Sehanine – or elves in general – allows this to make sense to me. Elves do not preach their gods unless insane, and they do not concern themselves with the trivial, noisy, short lives of us human specks.</p><p></p><p>“You are not human,” she says. It is that woman, me, again, but not me, someone who might look like my sister if I had one. She is dressed regally, though in fabrics and jewels I have never seen the like of before. And she is shocked at her pronouncement. And, I now see, merely the reflection from a mirror I am gazing into. “Lucienne?” she says – I say – touching lips.</p><p></p><p>“Ma’am?” calls out a food cart owner. He has been saying it several times now. I recognize his voice.</p><p></p><p>“Landrau,” I say shaking off scene which evaporates. “Just thinking of … official court business.” It is a little joke between us. Landrau is one of those people gifted with the ability to not take anyone seriously while at the same time letting you in on the joke. I like both him and his unique product very much.</p><p></p><p>“Oh,<em> official court </em>business. Madam President looks parched. Her usual?”</p><p></p><p>I don’t know what a president is, but it sounds like a title so I laugh. “Official, trade secret, palace, utensil business. And yes, a small pineapple juice as usual, please.”</p><p></p><p>“Utensils. Mmm.” He hands me a cup with the exotic yellow liquid. “No ownder you were wool-gathering. It’s been turning winds all day. Somethin’ up?”</p><p></p><p>Copper coins clatter on his table. “Yes, you could say that. Keep an ear to the juice trade these next couple days, won’t you?” A silver bounces among them now. That is professional courtesy: he would help whether I paid him or not, but I know he can do more with more, so I am helping my own cause with the coin.</p><p></p><p>He scoops them up leaving the silver coin spinning, one brief movement that makes me smile at his fingers’ cleverness. “Always lovely to see you, my queen.”</p><p></p><p>A final grin and I am hurrying to Loris Chosik who, regrettably, is in the middle of hosting a gathering when I arrive. Terrible manners my interrupting like this, but there is nothing to be done.</p><p></p><p>Lord Chosik is surprised and concerned to see me, so he takes me to his study where he hears my story. He becomes as alarmed as I had hoped, asking that the party meet him at the Hall of Justice in three hours. He has much arranging to do.</p><p></p><p>I go to Lady Zinia. Over enforced tea and through polite chit-chat lasting eight minutes exactly, I am able to bring her up to date in what may have been my fastest briefing ever delivered to her. Zaro also has news: she tells me that Elgios is a member of the Circle reporting to the Loris himself! And we are to meet him at once at his house.</p><p></p><p>I run and retrieve the others, Lady Etona included – she was at her temple – and we dash to the house of Elgios. He seems relieved to see us and takes us into his small mansion.</p><p></p><p>“I have for the first time in my life been subject to multiple assassination attempts in a single week,” he begins after we summarize for him what we know. “The Age of Worms is a prophecy of doom. Most such divinations are rubbish, but this one can be traced back 2000 years, and several of the predictions have come true. There are in fact a mere two left:</p><p></p><p>“<em>And on the eve of the Age of Worms, a hero of the Pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead.</em> I fear that eve is today, and that city is Greyhawk.</p><p></p><p>“The other concerns the <em>reunification of a tripartite spirit</em>. More mysterious, but you are closer to the actual machinations of the prophesy unraveling itself, so perhaps you will understand it? No?”</p><p></p><p>We are collectively shaking our heads.</p><p></p><p>“Someone,” I begin, “some organization is making this nonsense true.” I turn to the others. “Have any of you detected any connection between the Asmodi and any player in this Age of Loris narrative so far?”</p><p></p><p>“No,” says Lady Etona. “The Asmodi were simply trying to retain a member who traveled with us in their ranks. He reneged on payment to them and the powers he borrowed were lost. I consider the matter closed, but they do not. We will have to meet with them to inform them of their error.”</p><p></p><p>“After our current problem is dealt with,” adds Ambassador Rey.</p><p></p><p>Elgios opens a safe and extracts an amulet. It is a silver disk with a ruby in the middle attached to a gold chain. “I know you are on a mission, but we must stay in communication. Activate this at any time to send a message to me and my trusted companions. We can use it to track your location and potentially summon you to us.”</p><p></p><p>He tells us further that the scrolls powering up whatever was behind the doors might be the Apostolate Scrolls from Kyuss, God of Worms. They purportedly allow the ability to contact Kyuss for the purpose of sacrificing. They will summon an ulgustasa, a great, green worm undead monstrosity.</p><p></p><p>We have 34 minutes left, just enough time to get to the Hall of Justice without running. Lord Chosik is there as we arrive.</p><p></p><p>The Justicier will assemble troops, he says, secure search warrants for the arena and question Loris and Okoral. All troops, including us, must submit to a Zone of Truth which we willingly enter. I confess to making ready for battle as each of my party members submitted to the test. I don’t really trust any of them yet.</p><p></p><p>We are all clean. Or not Changelings, anyway.</p><p></p><p>Two squads of 30 each have assembled under the overall command of Captain Stor. They will accompany us to the arena.</p><p></p><p>Stor is well-known to me: captain of the Watch, older at about 40 years, handsome, soft-spoken with a gift for calming men and exciting women. His is a long and storied career.</p><p></p><p>He is currently carrying two long swords and wearing heavy armor covered with layers of protection runes. Stor is anyone’s perfect embodiment of a hero and has certainly been helpful to my Lady Zinia in the past, so I am grateful enough that he is here.</p><p></p><p>We all troop in to the arena, Stor clearing the way. “Hello, Tom. We need to get through here, a priest of Vecna is attempting to infect the populace with gods-knows-what,” and “Hey there, Venset. There some kind of cult leader in here causing mischief – we need to see what’s going on.” he says to Grey Wardens in front of him and they fall aside. His aim is to arrest Loris and Okaral. We find them readily enough: Okaral is chained at Loris’ feet. Unless this is a ruse, some of our work has been done for us already, as one of these men is clearly guilty of something. Loris clears this up in a moment.</p><p></p><p>The captain has brought two lieutenants. His first one takes some men and goes through the secret door. The second one heads downstairs with a squad and myself, going down into the Village with the idea of rousting the warriors there. Officer Vereene would be the best person to do this but she is sticking with the captain.</p><p></p><p>“Lo, here is the apostle you seek!” Loris is shouting as I descend. I hear madness in that voice. We have our man, and he is undefended. He will be swiftly taken, I am sure. But where is the cult leader?</p><p></p><p>Halfway down to the Village I am almost knocked off my feet by an earthquake. A terrible buzzing – I feel it on my skin and inside my brain as much as in my ears. The scrolls … something unleashed … time is wrong, or right after being wrong. The men around me freeze into place, stopped in time, and then everything flies forward, time frantic, then … then normal.</p><p></p><p>It has happened. It has been unleashed.</p><p></p><p>I race down the rest of the way to the Village. “Heroes of Greyhawk! You are summoned to defend your city! Fly! Fly!!”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alexander Bryant1, post: 7476842, member: 6916184"] [b]Eleanor's Journal - Part 04[/b] I take my leave of my companions. Officer Vereene is heading to the Watch. The ambassadors travel to locate Lady Etona, probably near her temple or down by the docks where she seems to be ministering to the poor there? Nothing I know of Sehanine – or elves in general – allows this to make sense to me. Elves do not preach their gods unless insane, and they do not concern themselves with the trivial, noisy, short lives of us human specks. “You are not human,” she says. It is that woman, me, again, but not me, someone who might look like my sister if I had one. She is dressed regally, though in fabrics and jewels I have never seen the like of before. And she is shocked at her pronouncement. And, I now see, merely the reflection from a mirror I am gazing into. “Lucienne?” she says – I say – touching lips. “Ma’am?” calls out a food cart owner. He has been saying it several times now. I recognize his voice. “Landrau,” I say shaking off scene which evaporates. “Just thinking of … official court business.” It is a little joke between us. Landrau is one of those people gifted with the ability to not take anyone seriously while at the same time letting you in on the joke. I like both him and his unique product very much. “Oh,[I] official court [/I]business. Madam President looks parched. Her usual?” I don’t know what a president is, but it sounds like a title so I laugh. “Official, trade secret, palace, utensil business. And yes, a small pineapple juice as usual, please.” “Utensils. Mmm.” He hands me a cup with the exotic yellow liquid. “No ownder you were wool-gathering. It’s been turning winds all day. Somethin’ up?” Copper coins clatter on his table. “Yes, you could say that. Keep an ear to the juice trade these next couple days, won’t you?” A silver bounces among them now. That is professional courtesy: he would help whether I paid him or not, but I know he can do more with more, so I am helping my own cause with the coin. He scoops them up leaving the silver coin spinning, one brief movement that makes me smile at his fingers’ cleverness. “Always lovely to see you, my queen.” A final grin and I am hurrying to Loris Chosik who, regrettably, is in the middle of hosting a gathering when I arrive. Terrible manners my interrupting like this, but there is nothing to be done. Lord Chosik is surprised and concerned to see me, so he takes me to his study where he hears my story. He becomes as alarmed as I had hoped, asking that the party meet him at the Hall of Justice in three hours. He has much arranging to do. I go to Lady Zinia. Over enforced tea and through polite chit-chat lasting eight minutes exactly, I am able to bring her up to date in what may have been my fastest briefing ever delivered to her. Zaro also has news: she tells me that Elgios is a member of the Circle reporting to the Loris himself! And we are to meet him at once at his house. I run and retrieve the others, Lady Etona included – she was at her temple – and we dash to the house of Elgios. He seems relieved to see us and takes us into his small mansion. “I have for the first time in my life been subject to multiple assassination attempts in a single week,” he begins after we summarize for him what we know. “The Age of Worms is a prophecy of doom. Most such divinations are rubbish, but this one can be traced back 2000 years, and several of the predictions have come true. There are in fact a mere two left: “[I]And on the eve of the Age of Worms, a hero of the Pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead.[/I] I fear that eve is today, and that city is Greyhawk. “The other concerns the [I]reunification of a tripartite spirit[/I]. More mysterious, but you are closer to the actual machinations of the prophesy unraveling itself, so perhaps you will understand it? No?” We are collectively shaking our heads. “Someone,” I begin, “some organization is making this nonsense true.” I turn to the others. “Have any of you detected any connection between the Asmodi and any player in this Age of Loris narrative so far?” “No,” says Lady Etona. “The Asmodi were simply trying to retain a member who traveled with us in their ranks. He reneged on payment to them and the powers he borrowed were lost. I consider the matter closed, but they do not. We will have to meet with them to inform them of their error.” “After our current problem is dealt with,” adds Ambassador Rey. Elgios opens a safe and extracts an amulet. It is a silver disk with a ruby in the middle attached to a gold chain. “I know you are on a mission, but we must stay in communication. Activate this at any time to send a message to me and my trusted companions. We can use it to track your location and potentially summon you to us.” He tells us further that the scrolls powering up whatever was behind the doors might be the Apostolate Scrolls from Kyuss, God of Worms. They purportedly allow the ability to contact Kyuss for the purpose of sacrificing. They will summon an ulgustasa, a great, green worm undead monstrosity. We have 34 minutes left, just enough time to get to the Hall of Justice without running. Lord Chosik is there as we arrive. The Justicier will assemble troops, he says, secure search warrants for the arena and question Loris and Okoral. All troops, including us, must submit to a Zone of Truth which we willingly enter. I confess to making ready for battle as each of my party members submitted to the test. I don’t really trust any of them yet. We are all clean. Or not Changelings, anyway. Two squads of 30 each have assembled under the overall command of Captain Stor. They will accompany us to the arena. Stor is well-known to me: captain of the Watch, older at about 40 years, handsome, soft-spoken with a gift for calming men and exciting women. His is a long and storied career. He is currently carrying two long swords and wearing heavy armor covered with layers of protection runes. Stor is anyone’s perfect embodiment of a hero and has certainly been helpful to my Lady Zinia in the past, so I am grateful enough that he is here. We all troop in to the arena, Stor clearing the way. “Hello, Tom. We need to get through here, a priest of Vecna is attempting to infect the populace with gods-knows-what,” and “Hey there, Venset. There some kind of cult leader in here causing mischief – we need to see what’s going on.” he says to Grey Wardens in front of him and they fall aside. His aim is to arrest Loris and Okaral. We find them readily enough: Okaral is chained at Loris’ feet. Unless this is a ruse, some of our work has been done for us already, as one of these men is clearly guilty of something. Loris clears this up in a moment. The captain has brought two lieutenants. His first one takes some men and goes through the secret door. The second one heads downstairs with a squad and myself, going down into the Village with the idea of rousting the warriors there. Officer Vereene would be the best person to do this but she is sticking with the captain. “Lo, here is the apostle you seek!” Loris is shouting as I descend. I hear madness in that voice. We have our man, and he is undefended. He will be swiftly taken, I am sure. But where is the cult leader? Halfway down to the Village I am almost knocked off my feet by an earthquake. A terrible buzzing – I feel it on my skin and inside my brain as much as in my ears. The scrolls … something unleashed … time is wrong, or right after being wrong. The men around me freeze into place, stopped in time, and then everything flies forward, time frantic, then … then normal. It has happened. It has been unleashed. I race down the rest of the way to the Village. “Heroes of Greyhawk! You are summoned to defend your city! Fly! Fly!!” [/QUOTE]
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