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Enoch placed the Forever Blade into my hands as we escaped from Conscriptus.
The moment I touched it, something vast shifted its attention toward me.
For an instant I perceived a pale figure at the edge of awareness, indistinct and distant, yet undeniably present. The sensation vanished quickly, though not before the blade established a connection unlike anything I have previously experienced. Merely holding it sharpened my perception of the arcane weave to an almost painful degree.
The city had already fallen beyond recovery. Demons, collapsing wards, panicked civilians, and open combat between rival factions transformed the city center into a slaughter ground. Survival became the only coherent objective.
During our escape we encountered Celeste accompanied by an unfamiliar drow woman clad in dark leathers and carrying enough weaponry to outfit a small unit. Celeste appeared injured, exhausted, and covered in ash and blood, though still operational. The drow identified herself only as Vale and stated she had been tasked with extracting as many descendants of Xalithea as possible from the city.
I did not ask by whom.
A creature shadowed our movements from a distance throughout the evacuation. Its limbs appeared elongated beyond natural proportion, its movements inconsistent with physical anatomy. Vale seemed aware of it but unconcerned, which I found more unsettling than the creature itself.
She eventually guided us beyond the worst of the fighting and provided a map leading toward a secondary rendezvous point. Before departing, she informed Charles and myself that “the Captain” wished to speak with us personally before the night ended.
From there, Charles and I navigated the group through the Clay Warrens.
Pockets of unnatural darkness lingered between the stone passages in the canyon. At one point I dispelled one such veil and uncovered a demonic entity seated calmly within it, as though waiting for our arrival. It addressed me directly and demanded I relinquish the Forever Blade.
It named itself Jezelack, Fury of the Tanari. The ensuing fight was brutal and brief. The creature focused heavily on me once combat began, seemingly drawn to the blade itself. I was overwhelmed and brought down before Enoch intervened and stabilized the situation long enough for Charles to land the killing blow. Even dying, the creature remained fixated on the weapon.
Sal later recovered one of its fangs, which retained residual enchantment associated with magical darkness.
We eventually reached a concealed encampment hidden between two clay mesas far from the primary roads. The site appeared recently occupied despite its outward appearance: a partially collapsed church structure repurposed into a temporary refuge.
Inside we met a red-skinned tiefling carrying a firearm nearly identical to Malice.
He introduced himself as Blacktongue.
He claimed affiliation with Brightwater and spoke openly regarding Tasha of House Vorynth, and the events in Conscriptus. According to him, he only recently learned the extent of Tasha’s ambitions and her direct connection to the city’s fall. Whatever his motives, his hatred toward her appeared genuine.
He described her rule over Brightwater as fundamentally incompatible with his vision for the city. Tasha destroyed his house politically, harmed people close to him. His hostility toward her is ideological and also deeply personal. He denied any allegiance to Graz’ate.
Blacktongue also confirmed the existence of multiple Demonomicons.
Discussion eventually shifted toward Charles and Malice. Blacktongue claimed he had ceased researching variants of the weapon known as Malice (which he began to call The Precursor) decades ago after recognizing the nature of the pact surrounding them.
He offered Charles a trade. Gun for gun. The exchange would sever Charles’ direct connection to Orcus and transfer the pact’s brokerage to Blacktongue instead. A reassignment of ownership and obligation.
I could not determine whether the offer represented generosity, strategy, or a calculation whose consequences none of us yet fully understand.
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