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Quest for the Nether Scroll |
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Otter Malik chuckled confidently. He'd always considered it something of a ripoff that his uncanny powers of displacement seemed to do so little for him, but here they were finally paying off. He'd flown right past legions of undead warriors on the way to his target and had even picked up a crowd of impressed-looking phase spiders who watched his continued exploits with interest. This dungeon was a breeze, and best of all, he wouldn't have to deal with any adventurers showing up just in the nick of time. Finally, there it was. Snatching the Nether Scroll from its pedestal greedily, the mad prophet wasted no time in reading it aloud as Edwin had instructed. --- Now for a quick update on the Athkatlan balance of power. The so-called Order of Mother, whose origins we just observed, came into the public light a scant few days later, having taken over the hideout of the newly-recruited vampire remnants and formed a rather considerable force of spiders as well, with phase spiders nearest of all to the much-rumored leader herself. Already, the Shadow Thieves were finding themselves hard-pressed by the aggressive intruders, which seemed to target this clan specifically in its acts of wanton violence for reasons that remained unclear. The worst part was that most of the Thieves sent to assassinate the shadowy "Mother" seemed to wind up in her employ; it seemed she had most effective methods of both elusion and persuasion. Little was known yet of the woman who now represented the greatest single threat to the city since the infamous Bodhi, except that she was a tall, attractive blond woman in wizard's robes who seemed impossible to hit for even the most enchanted of blades. A few witnesses of questionable authenticity had reported her to mutter about the "glory of Mother" in demented tones, hence her widely-used nickname. She herself was rumored to deal with her subordinates only one at a time; along with the large number of vampires and spiders in her retinue, this served to keep the entire operation as obscure as possible. Needless to say, by now damage control was in order. The Watchers of Helm sent no less than Keldorn Firecam. The DL police sent Aya Brea and Fuse, since Katsuya was already on a mission at the time. The Red Wizards of Thay sent Edwin Odesseiron to clean up his own damn mess and not return until he'd done so. The city lay imperiled, but most residents remained calm. It happened every so often that some mad prophet would finally snap, assume some alter-ego, and make a bid for domination. It had been dealt with before, and, so they hoped, it could be dealt with again. Malik Succeeds: 42 Malik Fails: 19 |