Viper - Orochi Vipernox - Joining the Quest

So it begins

The past days have been a whirlwind of traveling and seeing people I haven’t seen in years or meeting new acquaintances. Now, I get to find solace in the ink and parchment as a means to untangle the threads of my racing thoughts.

Having taken the time to peruse Lirael’s journal again, I am granted a deeper understanding of the noble soul of my brother, who paved the way for the journey I now embark upon. Also I was reminded of the importance of maintaining a record of my exploits for those who follow. Now, let me recount the meandering path that led me to this juncture. A tale unfolds, and within its intricacies, I shall seek clarity for the uncharted chapters that await.

A Tale of Beginnings

According to the stories I was told, I was born into my family’s ancient bloodline and my mother died in childbirth, a nameless concubine, like my brothers. Though through my father, we traced our lineage back through eons to our creator - Merrshaulk. From the day of my birth, I was destined to walk the path of nobility, serpent-tongued and poised as a Yuan-ti Pureblood (though in reality there is no such thing)..

Raised amidst the serpentine court nestled within what the maps call Golem Mountains on Crannog. During those early years, I learned the art of manipulation and treachery. For in the courts of the scaled, survival is often contingent on one's ability to dance upon the subtle coils of deceit and words with multiple meanings. My father, Lord Vipernox, a patriarch steeped in serpentine traditions, guided my steps with a watchful eye, teaching me the ways of power and cunning as part of my daily lessons. I had no mother figure, just a series of concubines and others that Father kept around for his needs. Both personal and as the leader of our kingdom.

I had three older brothers, so I was not in the line of succession and found myself being trained in strange ways for those of our people. It seemed that I had a different destiny even as a youngling.

The Ceremony

In my tenth year as all Yuan-ti purebloods must, I attended a summoning ceremony to determine my future. Whether I would be given to the pits or remain what I was. One where my family was not allowed to attend, so as not to influence the outcome in any way. The demon that was summoned found a flaw in the circle and slaughtered everyone in the room except me. He told me that “I had another future than to be killed by him that day” and after feasting upon the bodies of the dead, making me watch, all while talking of prophecies that I barely remember. He then disappeared. From that day forth, I was gifted with minor Wizard abilities, but have had to deal with the many night terrors of that day. Much to the amusement of that Demon I’m sure. Though I only remember fragments of the prophecies he gave. I quickly learned to not talk about what happened that he spoke of.

Less than a month after that horrific experience my Father, with the concurrence of the Court’s remaining Shamans, decided that my path lay beyond the strictures of our Yuan-ti community. I would learn why later, but for now it was enough that I could leave many of the stares, whispers, and tales that had sprung from that dreadful day. It would be a chance to start fresh, in a place where no one knew who I was. A place where the fourth son was not the target for death around any corner. Arrangements were made for me to go to where I would receive training that no other of our enclave had ever received. That of a Ninja trained by the Fujiwara clan at one of their monasteries within the Forager mountains in Kalana.

Little did I know how different that my training would become.

The Monastery

The story goes at least that Kalana is a land of blades, dinosaurs, spirits, and tradition. A place where this Yuan-ti was initially looked upon as an evil spirit or demon because of my appearance and many abilities were very different from their own.

The first two years of training were, to put it mildly, brutal.

Initially most of the other students in my cohort viewed me as a demon and unfortunately, as did too many of the instructors. Which caused some very difficult moments for me, until the Headmaster stopped the worst of it. Though that attitude never completely went away and was simmering just below the surface on many occasions.

All new students must learn the skills of a Samurai for a period of one year. For some reason I was chosen for the Quandrix dorm as well, they didn’t have a Slytherin Hall there, much to my dismay.

Due to my foreign origins and appearance, the Samurai Masters were openly hostile. Claiming me to be descended from an Oni, much to the chagrin of the headmaster and other more enlightened instructors within Quandrix house. As the year passed, they had decided amongst themselves that I was not worthy of further training as a Fujiwara Samurai after what was required during the first year. Even the headmaster was not going to sway their choice, though I heard there were several long discussions that went late into the night. It was finally decided that I would not advance further as a Fujiwara Samurai, even if I passed the testing.

Which made me work even harder to prove how wrong they were.

Though the most difficult skill I learned that first year was the Kelani language beyond the Common tongue. It was good that I had been placed in Quandrix, they didn’t care as much about my past and focused more on what I did and what skills I brought to their Hall. Once I showed the willingness to attempt to learn Kalanese, I started to make friends with a few of the other students and not make new enemies of the instructors.

At least enough that I was able to survive the trials we all went through on a daily basis and to not be completely by myself. I was even nicknamed Orochi which in our language means big snake, by an instructor which eventually morphed into shortening my last name - Viper. That is what I went by for the rest of the time I was there and recently decided to use once I left my Cousin’s Court.

Despite passing all their tests even with the obstacles placed in front of me by the Samurai masters, I was sent with the other Samurai training failures to learn more basic fighting skills. Looking back, I now consider that their short sightedness was a blessing that they probably still wouldn’t understand.

At the end of my third year, I failed the Ninja entrance test for the third time and was not allowed to begin my training in Mudra and Ninjutsa. I won’t say that it wasn’t unexpected, some of the expectations and styles used to kill are not how I do things. Mostly it was because I wasn’t able to kill someone who was an innocent. I never did kill the target that they chose for me that caused my failure, though another student did.

Unexpectedly, but fortunately for me. One of my Quandrix Masters decided to keep me on, because she believed that I would be perfect for the ways of the Viper, a fighting style that was difficult to master. A Yuan-ti whose name was Vipernox and was known around the monastery as Viper, learning the ways of the Viper, seemed pretty appropriate to me. For the next eight years I trained diligently and learned the craft of how to fight using Viper style and stances, integrating it with the other skills I had learned.

Not all skills are taught easily or learned quickly. With my combination of Samurai and Viper abilities, I became a nightmare to strike or defend against in open battles. Even some of the Samurai masters and other students saw how my abilities gave me advantages in battle and would spar against me. Which would have been unheard of when I first arrived. I advanced to the Viper Serpent Shaman level a few weeks before I left, completing my training.

Going Home

I spent eleven long years at the Fujiwara monastery and hadn’t been home at all during that time. I would say they were the best years of my life and I would like to believe that I would be welcomed back to the large monastery where I trained, made friends, and honed my Viper abilities, since I honorably completed all of my training and left in good standing. Though I could not swear allegiance to the Fujiwara clan, as my allegiance was to my father and a different realm. If I had known what I know now, I would have gladly sworn that oath of fealty. Perhaps someday with all that has happened, I will be given that opportunity once more.

Though when I do think about it, I would like to go back someday and retrieve my Shiranui blade that I earned and was asked by the Shike to leave with him until I returned to the monastery. He told me that one day I was destined to return.

The day I left, it felt as though I was leaving the one place that I had come to think of as home. My Yuan-ti home is a strange place that I never fit in and knew that I would fit even less after an eleven year absence.

When I returned to our hidden kingdom, it was as a Viper and trained fighter. It didn’t take me long to realize that I no longer fit within the confines of being a fourth son of the Vipernox noble house. Especially, one with a sense of honor and worshiping a deity so different from my kin.

Yet, despite the secrets whispered by the venomous tongues of my kin and attempts to let me see the other side of death, just for being a Vipernox within hours of my arrival “home”. A daily game of life in our family and from the houses below ours. One I quickly tired of and stilled the lives of more than one who had thought I had forgotten how to play the games of the Yuan-ti.

The Past Revealed

I had been “home” for two days, when my father told me it was time to tell me his tale of my origins. Then once the tale was spun it would be time for me to leave the serpent’s realm - a place I no longer belonged. Just my presence within our estate was causing strife between him and my brothers. I can still see him that night, his gaze, laden with concern for our family's honor and name, as well as a sense of pity for what he must do to and for me. His stare bore into the depths of my conflicted soul.

On that fateful night, he unveiled the elusive strand of my destiny, telling me of a story of Redes, dark prophecies, and seducing to his bed a noble of the Behenny’s Elven line at the behest of his sire and shamans of the realm. Something that had not been done before or since in the known histories of the worlds had such a union produced an offspring - me. Then my father confessed the existence of a twin brother, another creature of both serpent and elf.

My mother, cloaked in the obscurity of her own choices and familial demands, made a pact that separated us at birth. She taking the more elvish appearing one. The unseen threads of fate bound my brother to a destiny to be known as Lirael. While I, the firstborn, became the favored scion, basked in the privileges of nobility. The other was to have a different life. One of poverty and deprivation - destined to become an orphan with no parents to help raise him. This revelation stirred within me a tempest of emotions - curiosity and somehow an inexplicable connection to a sibling I had never known.

Then he revealed to me the “Rede” that had governed my life from the start.

"Fate’s whispers weave the tale of one called the big snake, veiled in mystery, destined to dance with destiny's threads. Born of an unholy embrace of Elf and Yuan-ti, he will tread distant shores and mountain paths of spirit and stone. Another, will hold a torch in the light until his time comes. A harbinger against the looming darkness, embodied in the creator of the snake people and known also by other names, an ancient force awakening, desiring the rule of worlds. His steps, swift as the night’s shadows, shall help unravel the enigma, a key to the realm's harmony. In the dance of shadows, the silent guardian holds the power to mend the fractures and stand against the encroaching abyss."

A Rede that shook me to my core.

My father, a stalwart guardian of our family's kingdom, sensed the danger I brought to his realm beyond the Rede, just by being who I was, was enough to change the very fabric of the society within which he lived. To him, the fulfillment of the Rede threatened the carefully woven tapestry of our noble lineage, jeopardizing the very foundations of our place within our society.

In the moonlit gardens of our ancestral estate, I was given a purse filled with coins and jewels and told that I had an hour to be on my way to the outside world. After that my father stated flatly he could not guarantee my safety. With a quick embrace that carried the weight of a father's love and the gravity of an unspoken connection, he bid me farewell. We both knew that it was the only path where I might still live. For if I stayed, I had only hours left of life in this realm, for forces had already aligned against me.

I wondered if I would see him again on this side of the veil.

The Search for Lirael

The quest to find my brother and my own beliefs became a tapestry woven with encounters both perilous and poignant. I faced challenges that tested the mettle of my serpentine spirit, yet my training bore witness to my determination. Through bustling cities and forgotten villages, I sought the threads of destiny that would lead me to the one who shared my birth.

Then I arrived in the city of Inverness and knowing that Magic Academy’s often hold the answers to difficult riddles. I asked for some information regarding one named Lirael, the person I spoke with quickly summoned a page, and I was immediately taken to the Headmaster of the Academy. Who I learned on our way to his office was an Owlin. As I walked past students and others, I was looked upon strangely by many who saw me being escorted within the Academy. When I walked through the door of the Headmaster’s office, The Owlin, looked at me askance. He was speechless and I stood there waiting for him to speak, remembering the ways of the Shike at the monastery.

Learning of Lirael’s Demise

Then suddenly an old bearded elf suddenly appeared in a corner of the office. He looked at me in shock and surprise. The old elf said “Lirael you survived!”

I looked him over, he was dressed for battle, while also carrying a suit of armor and other belongings. I said, “That is my brother’s name. What do you mean when you say survived? My name is Sokhassa Vipernox and I have come here searching for a brother that I have never met.”

He looked at the Owlin and then over at me and asked in a voice accustomed to being followed “Tell me your story, I have a feeling that the fates of many may lay upon what you tell us over the next few minutes, as well as your own. Know that the Headmaster is casting a truth spell around us, so that you and the two of us will know we are all speaking truths. There is too much at stake to not know the truth of what we say.”

I told them my tale, as truthfully as I dared. I shared the “Rede” with them as well.

After which the one called Thornandir said, “I believe that this journal of Lirael’s should be read by you. We cannot give it to you, because it has information that we will be needing in our battle against one named Natasha. Unfortunately, it is true that Lirael your brother is dead, I saw his body with my own eyes. Since the story you have told us rings mostly true with only a few embellishments, you need to read his journal.”

I sat at a nearby table and read the journal while the other two talked quietly, I didn’t hear anything they were saying. I was too focused on reading my brother’s thoughts and hopes. I felt a sense of kinship with the words he wrote in that journal. I felt a flaring in my heart and mind to avenge the brother that I would now never meet. I finished reading the last passage and looked up, wiped a tear away from my face, and told them “Someday I will go to that hill outside of Silvaa to honor Lirael.” Thornandir looked at me and said “I would go there with you as well, Lirael showed honor and attempted something that few would and I believe his spirit needs to be honored as best we can.”

Choices to be Made

My life had changed drastically in the course of an hour.

I reluctantly handed the book back to the Owlin. Who reverently laid it upon his desk and made an incantation and two others appeared beside it. He started to hand the original back to me and then stopped and said, “Unfortunately, I cannot give you any of Lirael’s things until we talk to King Garland.

The Owlin looked at the Elf who nodded. He went to the door and spoke to someone and asked “Sokhassa, would you come with us to King Garland’s palace to discuss what has happened, who you are, and what might come next.” Not trusting myself to speak too much, I nodded yes.

He directed the Harengon, one called Fiverr, to return within fifteen minutes ready for battle and a trip to the Palace. When he returned, Thornandir handed the Harengon the armor and other things, then they came over to us. The Owlin reached out and touched our shoulders and suddenly we were on a teleportation ring inside a large courtyard.

A voice called down to us “Good day to you Lord Garland and you as well Headmaster. Thornandir looked up, chuckled and said “Thank you Donovan.” “We need to be escorted to see the King as we have news that must be shared immediately.” He responded “Someone will be right out to escort you all to the King.”

Departure and Disruptions

After that things were a blur, I was presented to King Garland, who heard Thornandir’s story and my own including the Rede. Thornandir then went with three knights to free Merlin and returned shortly with him, but without the three knights.

While he was gone, the King perused Lirael's journal, chuckling a few times in one section. Then in the wake of somber exchanges, a copy of Lirael’s journal was given to me by the King. The original he stated needed to be studied further, but gave me one of the copies so that I could get to know the person that Lirael was. Thornandir claimed Lirael’s sword and shield, telling me that there would come a time when he would yield them to me, while the bag of holding was meant for Fiver. The armor, still the only known portal to the King’s knights, imprisoned comrades, remained in the custody of the King.

Then after a lengthy discussion of which I only heard bits and pieces as I was re-reading the copy of Lireal’s journal that I had been given. Thornandir, The Headmaster, Merlin, and Fiver left to return to the Academy and eventually Seasonal. The King decided that I was to remain at the Palace as an honored guest, and to keep sharp - to train with his Knights. It seemed as if my future was part of the solution to the problem that Natasha would become. It was a question of when I would be needed and the King had decided to keep me close to ensure I was ready when the time came.

Now comes the waiting to see what happens next, and I will learn more about Crannog as a guest of King Garland, until they decide how to best utilize my skills and where I will be needed.

Two Days Later

I was summoned to the King’s private office. Once there, The King, an obvious wizard and another in odd robes were waiting for me. The being in the robes ignored what everyone else was saying and locked eyes with me. She looked deep into my soul. I felt as if I was being judged and after what felt like an eternity, in my mind the words came to me “You have been chosen.” I was passed a card. I heard her say to the others quietly, “Fear not, for in his soul and heart the beliefs of Karsumi reside and he is blood of the blood. Though he will be needed in a different time and place.” Without explanation or anything, she touched my shoulder and we appeared in a strange place. One where I was led to a chamber and where I slept for far too long.

Crannog

A lot has happened on Crannog since I wrote this last entry. I was awakened and taken back to the King’s palace. Where I learned all that had happened once I was taken from there during the times of trouble. So many deaths: Lirael, King Garland, Thornandir, Fiverr and too many others. I learned that my mother is Scathach’s sister and she is now in Dalazon. However, none had heard from my mother for several years, even before the disruption there. After the game of thrones and subsequent war of succession, my cousin now rules the moon called Crannog and while I was welcome in Gabranth’s court as a Behenny. Though I didn’t fit, the bastard child of an Elf and a Yuan-ti. After a few months I grew weary of the comments, insinuations, and insults, it was time for me to leave.

Leaving

I decided to first stop to see my aunt Scathach, who now lives in Dalazon. Who has done well, since she left Crannog. She is married to Anwel Majini. Who is the Crowned Prince to the Throne of Dalozon and will reign that kingdom if anything happens to his mother.

She did get Jeanine back and now has a son with Anwel as well. Scathach’s marriage to Anwel established a strong relation between Crannog and Dalozon. Seeing as Gabranth, the current king of Crannog is her cousin who married Varrin, another hero from the times of trouble..

I did learn that my mother did die at Gantz’s hand and is buried in Doppiot. We sat one afternoon, while she told me as much of my mother’s life story as she could remember, for which I will always be grateful. My mother had her issues, but according to her sister she was a good person at heart and wouldn’t compromise her principles to help Gantz achieve his schemes. Scathach has offered to take me to her grave to pay my respects to the mother I would never know.

While Scathach has treated me well, I’ll not overstay my welcome. Though the tales she tells me of my brother and his heroic efforts to save her and Jeanine’s lives when they were most vulnerable, make me glad that I stopped to see her. Yes, my brother had great friends and the memories that he left with others are mostly ones that people enjoy recounting. I would have loved to have met him.

I’m not sure what I will do next. Perhaps I will search for an adventuring party needing another. Then again, I am certain that my travels will include a return to Kalana at some point. It was where I felt the most at home during my final years at the monastery. It certainly is the place that I’ve spent the biggest part of my life awake. I will stop at the Fujiwara monastery and talk to those who I still know there, of the old times. Update the headmaster on goings on in Crannog and Dalazon. He loves to be kept abreast of the doings of other kingdoms and who the people of note are within them. Yes, I will even ask of my Shiranui blade but I feel that the connection has been lost and that another now wields it.

I think that is what I search for and, yes, long for more than anything else. A place where I belong and am accepted for who I am, not the people I am related to. A place I can call my home.

Though I have stopped using the name Sokhassa Vipernox. There are too many memories, connections, and negative connotations attached to it. From hereon, I will simply go by Viper or Orochi, if Viper seems too casual for the company that I am keeping. Besides, the memories are better.

Though I wonder if I should join Gradient Company or Historia to get access to the things they offer. I’m just not sure the direction I need to go. Perhaps I will talk to Aunt Scathach before leave and see what her recommendation would be?

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