A Summoner's Journal- G. R. Linden

A Summoner’s Journal- G. R. Linden (Part Four)

Day 50

               Spider-man approached me today about a job. It appears one of his partners has gone missing. A costumed vigilante calling himself Moon Knight. Normally it’s not my practice to accept work for hire in the Battlerealm, but the party has exhausted its funds and we could use the units to stock up on supplies before we begin our journey to face Maestro. I took the job. We set out tomorrow.  

Day 53

               We found Moon Knight face down in a booth at the back of one of Joe Fixit’s clubs. Empty bottles surrounded him. I don’t know what drove him to this or if this is just his usual self. Not that it matters, we were paid to find him and that’s what we did. He tried to fight us, of course, because this is the Battlerealm and talking things out seems to be a completely foreign concept here. In his stupor he wasn’t difficult to deal with. Namor punched him, hard. And that was that.

Day 54

               We are as ready as we are going to get. I’m sure we could spend months scouring the battle realm for resources and grinding out small victories to increase our pool of resources, but time is of the essence and I will have to make do with what I have. Tomorrow we set out on our long and dangerous journey to find and defeat Maestro. I don’t know what perils lie ahead. But I have found powerful allies and I trust them to see us through this ordeal.

Day 55

               I should never have taken the Moon Knight job. I have enemies enough already without making more. That is a lesson I will long remember after today. We had barely set out on our expedition to face Maestro, when a now sober Moon Knight ambushed us. Having easily handled the mercenary only a few days previous we were cocky and heedlessly rushed forward to meet him in battle. But Moon Knight was prepared for us and unleashed some sort of toxic gas that quickly subdued the party. With my last effort, I used some of our medical supplies to revive Namor. The Sub-Mariner’s rage was enough to claim victory with this second effort. But we must now carry forward, with the majority of the party severely incapacitated. Words cannot express nor can ink retain the hatred I hold in my heat for Moon Knight.  

Day 56

               We are getting closer to our goal. But even as we do, the challenges we face are becoming much more difficult. Today we almost fell to a man calling himself “The Juggernaut”. He was a massive man as large as any Hulk we had encountered here in the Battlerealm. When he charged at us, there was not one amongst us who could slow him down, he was unstoppable. He wore some kind of armor that protected him against Psylocke’s psychic attacks and Archangel could not get close enough to him to apply his deadly cocktail of neurotoxins. Namor too was ineffective. The two traded mighty blows, and Ruler of Atlantis drew blood, but this Juggernaut was able to back him into a corner and pummel him into submission. It was only when Doom stepped in and used his mystical energies to drain the behemoth of his power did The Juggernaut finally fall. Everyone is sleeping now. Recovering from the savage battle we endured. Our struggles today do not bode well for our eventual confrontation with Maestro.

Day 57

               We heard rumors of a shortcut to Maestro, that would save us the grueling effort of a long and winding trail through the Battlerealm. We were warned that this shortcut was guarded, but with time running short we decided we had little option but to risk it. We reached the hidden pass and found the way littered with bones. The path narrowed to the point where we were forced to advance single file. That is when it attacked. Archangel was walking point and was the first to fall, from my position at the rear of the group all I could hear were his screams. Doom filled the path with light and illuminated our foe, a slimy black mass in the form of a man with sharp pointed teeth and a long slobbering tongue. It was suspended above us in a large spider’s web, whose interlaced webbing formed a sort of canopy over us all. Black tendrils extended forth from the monster striking at all of us simultaneously. I called for us to regroup and fight together but Namor disregarded my orders and charged.  Fending off the beast’s black tendrils with his trident, Namor grabbed its tongue and pulled. Darkened blood went everywhere. The beast fell to the ground, its form still twitching as it bled out. For as long as I live, that gruesome sight will haunt me. Namor was unfazed. After a long minute of admiring his handywork, he turned around and strolled through the pass without looking back. The rest of us followed, all the while trying to wipe black blood of our clothes.

Day 58

               I was a fool. Today we struck at Maestro. Doom and Namor took him together. Surviving an onslaught of power beam launched from Maestro’s gauntlets; Doom whittled away at Maestro’s strength with his own beams of energy. With Maestro weakened it was easy for Namor to overpower him. My companions and I were hailed as conquerors. I thought that I would finally be going home. But yet again The Collector has yanked the ground from beneath me. Now he says that to achieve true victory it is him I must defeat. First Kang, then Thanos, then Maestro, and now The Collector. Every victory begets another challenge. One more difficult than the last. I no longer believe that this Contest will ever end, and yet I have no choice but to continue playing. I am already planning The Collector’s downfall. Maybe then this long nightmare will finally end.