Events post #299: Strife's Gauntlet

5/8/2022 at 1:53
Anonymous
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Strife's Gauntlet

Unbeknownst to many, the Argent Legion had long been conducting a series of clandestine campaigns to root out and dispatch various Albedi cultists and worshippers of the so-named heretical Gods across Sapience. Corpses were left behind the ransacked towns and hamlets as a dire warning to those who came upon them, and as a consequence, the Legion swiftly worked through what intel it had gathered and disseminated through Danson, an Argent Legion Officer. Soon, reports dried up, and the leads became few and far between.

Until, that is, word began to filter out that a group of cultists loyal to Muadi were planning a showing en masse that would converge upon the Salma Settlement some time within Khepary of 502. The reach of the Argent Legion is wide and deep and it did not take long for this information to be picked up by various contacts of Danson, whispers from one person or another that built the picture of what was to come. Trusting no member of the Legion more, he contacted Mjoll Seirath, Ov de Rereti - First Warrior - and gave her forewarning that something was brewing, urging her to be on alert.

Hardly a quarter of a day had passed before he again reached out, having multiple confirmations that almost a dozen worshippers and cultists of Muadi had taken up residence in Salma and were actively proselytizing amongst the villagers and those who passed through. Needing no other information, Mjoll knew what was expected of her. Calling the might of the Argent Legion, the band of soldiers descended upon Salma in force.

It was a slaughter in the village; the Argent Legion's monsters tore through cultists with no hesitation. Bodies were maimed and left to sit amongst the streets and outlying areas of the settlement, and Mjoll herself rode through with the stench of death following everywhere she went.

Yet it was not Mjoll's presence that began to draw clamouring yells from the remaining villagers but the sight of a massive, battle-scarred Ursal warrior who stepped from the fringes of the Ithmia and began to walk through the town's streets.

"EXECUTIONER OF THE WARLORD," his voice rang out, mighty, powerful and altogether unknown to Sapience.

"LET US SEE HOW YOU FARE AGAINST SOMEONE THAT FIGHTS BACK," he challenged the Legionnaire.

They fought for a time and Mjoll could not make a dent on the massive cultist warrior, who taunted her loudly throughout.

"You think your pitiful strength is enough to best me?!" He taunted once.

"I have stared death in the face and it stared back! You are naught compared to those that serve Death!" He taunted another time.

Finally having grown bored of their attempts, Niroon, the Ursal cultist, advanced upon them with a swiftness and power beyond anything they had faced before. His pummeling fists caved their heads in - an irony not lost on the Grand Library for being similar to the Warlord's favored method of dispatching mouthy mortals. This was the last they saw of Mjoll for some time, whisked away elsewhere by the Warlord and given new life and, indeed, a new challenge. In Strife's Gauntlet she found herself, before a test of mettle aimed to judge her readiness to become the first Adherent of Strife.

Niroon took this time to espouse verses about his God, Muadi, the Gatekeeper. Though not a sermon in the traditional sense as it would be recognised by the followers of Sapient Divine, it was nonetheless a sermon in execution, delivered in feverish passion and zealous exultation. He took the time to speak with those who approached him and dispatched others who pitifully attempted to impose their will on him in any harming manner.

Mjoll faced three trials during her time in Strife's Gauntlet, though we know not the direct details of these tests. We are reliably informed that they dealt with overcoming exhaustion to a degree that nearly killed her, facing down those that were tantamount to her enemies, and a surprisingly difficult altercation with a rabbit. Other details have been mentioned but they are wildly outlandish and the Grand Library cannot condone committing them to record.

When Mjoll had completed all three challenges, the Warlord Himself brought her to a place sacred to Him - a vantage point high above Yggdrasil and His fortress, overlooking Sapience almost in full. Here He considered the Troll, whom He had always considered His right hand, and He spoke of her dedication to His cause. His appraising and intense gaze poured as molten silver across her, and in that way that Divine may look beyond the physical to truly measure the make of a mortal, searched for any sign that she was not ready to shatter the glass ceiling of mortality and ascend into Adherence as He Himself, in the guise of Lobyl, had done ages prior.

Finding none, a rumble of war drums began to overtake the continent, beating in lockstep rhythm. Silver coalesced in the skies above the World Tree, swirling in magnitudes of essence given form as Bamathis concentrated upon Mjoll, then thrust His hands forward to send it into her very core in a way that would irrevocably change her forever. The sky rippled into a singular arrow-head of silver that charged forward into the Commander, filling her to the brim with Divine might, suffusing her every facet with Strife.

The sound of piping horns and trumpets blared forth as the soldiers of the Argent Legion stood atop the Warlord's Keep and saluted skyward. The process was complete and the continent of Sapience came to know the victory that was the triumph of Ov De Rereti Mjoll Seirath, Adherent of Strife.

Few words passed between the Warlord and His Adherent in that moment save for a stern reminder that she had unfinished business. Back into Salma she strode, now guised in the visage of Strife Incarnate, and laid waste to Niroon's form while simultaneously withstanding volleys of ghostly arrows from those who would see her, and the Warlord's mission, fail.

With the cultist struck down, Mjoll Seirath returned home to great fanfare and celebration, promising to wreak strife wheresoever she walks.

Penned by my hand on Kinsday, the 12th of Khepary, in the year 502 MA.
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