“So it has come to this? Am I to suffer the loss of operatives as well as resources?”

In the flat expanse of Cetheth’s Bog, a scarce three miles from the longest protrusion of Little Gleam, the terror know as Gray Scale stalked the fetid waters near his lair. He was talking to himself amongst his many heads for the most part.

“It is not enough that I labor under this blasted compulsion, but I have to have my power in the city weakened by slow-wits and dullards without enough will to hold their ground! I have toiled under this command from its first inkling and it beats upon my mind like the drone of a war drum. It has even begun to drive me to distraction…”

From the water the bubbling of something beneath the surface caught one of his eyes. With a sigh the body of the great beast shifted under the water. Erupting up came the form of a well-dressed man caked in mud and rotting vegetation. The man’s eyes goggled in terror as he tried to frantically swim back to the shore. With his claw poised above the man the entire time, Gray Scale never gave him the chance. With one swift stroke he pushed the man under the water and held him there, scraping the man against the mud at the bottom of the water as he continued to walk in this secluded part of his domain.

“Now, as I was saying. I can understand the need to leave. Truly I can. In fact I would have let you go if you had only asked. But you stole from me and my holdings in the city. You have weakened my position with your selfish greed. In a time like this I can afford no weakness! That is why you are being punished…”

From far away Gray Scale heard the pounding hoof beats that could only be the Master Strategist’s answer to the messenger’s news. Without a second thought Gray Scale plunged his heads beneath the surface of the water and waited for them to pass. When they had done so he rose slowly from the water, still dragging the man. With one flick of his claw he launched the man to the shore amidst sharp sticks and brambles that tore the man’s clothes and skin.

“You’re punishment will be to remain in this town. I will have my other agents bind you to a pole when you try to leave again. Since they will be your only source of food and water, pray that they last longer than you. In the meantime I want you to have Cynthia meet with me here. I’d very much like to hear what the little goblin kind had to say… And for all the gods’ sake clean yourself up, you look terrible.”

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Strangers, waitin’, up and down the boulevard, their shadows searchin’ in the night…
Streetlights, people, livin’ just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in the night!!!

-Don’t Stop Believing by Journey


My scroll