Twitch lay once more on a cot in the home of a necromancer, pondering a dizzying day on the path that The Traveler had laid out for her. It wasn't just that they had made common cause with a being with power over life, death, and undeath. And it wasn't just that they had fought and slain a celestial being sworn to destroying the undead--under other circumstances, perhaps, a noble cause. No. It was the revelation, all along, that Twitch and her companions had unknowingly been serving an aboleth--an ancient tyrannical being bent on conquest and domination. I thought Your path was one of freedom! Twitch thought in her meditation. How can it serve Your purposes to have your servants serve this being of domination? Envy and the Outcasts had taken the directions of the necromancer Hallis Cost to follow the river to "the rock," and there follow the river underground through a cavern. Legion, the warforged without need for air, led the way through the submerged tunnel. On the far side lived an unnaturally ferocious giant crocodile that lived in a shallow pool at the base of an underground cave. Within the cave, cult worshipers appeared to be summoning a demon. The group engaged in combat but Twitch quickly found herself incapacitated by a devastating lightning bolt from an invisible spellcaster. When Twitch came to--the second time, after being knocked out and saved by her companions again--the group hunted down and destroyed spellcaster, demon, and crocodile alike. That was when the apparent lord of the cavern appeared. An abomination from another age--tentacles and appendages like some sailor's nightmare, but viciously intelligent--the aboleth Neglith invited the group to serve him directly in exchange for rich rewards. Although Twitch immediately felt uneasy at this unholy bargain, several of her companions seemed eager to agree. For Sh'Nezz'Tar, Neglith pledged aid in locating "Leliana's Promise," a magical weapon forged by the elves for the giants of Xen'Drik to destroy aberrations. For Lukar, Neglith promised telepathic aid in magical transcriptions and the location of the Dragon Prince. For Legion, Neglith claimed to be able to bond the warforged with the Docet She-Ra. For Envy, Neglith assured that he would assist her in a previously unspoken obligation to gather worshipers for the being that aided in bringing her back to life. Surely, Twitch's companions would be richly rewarded; all they had to do, Neglith told them, would be to serve him to usurp the Storm Lords of Stormreach in order to impose his will--order, he called it--upon the city. Such was the charge of the Jade Vipers, whose leader, Lady Olivera, Neglith claimed as one of his vassals. And then what? Twitch wondered. Power craves only more power; dominion, only greater dominion. Would it serve Stormreach, Xen'Drik, or Eberron if this creature cemented its power base? As Haliss Cost has claimed, within Neglith's temple was an Amulet of the Devout devoted to the Devourer, a deity of the Dark Six reputed to be worshiped by the sahuagin. And so, even without asking her, Neglith had delivered to Twitch that which she desired. But Twitch had no desire to aid this being impose its will--call it order, call it tyranny--on anyone. Only freedom! Twitch thought, her face twisting with frustration. That is Your True Path. To achieve freedom--or die trying. Twitch clenched her paws tightly around the Amulet of the Traveler that hung around her neck and silently repeated her vow. Freedom--or death. There is no other path.
