Episode 53 - A Fistful of Dis

General Summary

The Guardians spent the week training, reflecting, and remembering.

• Telith wanted to improve his overall health and durability. He hired the former gladiator champion and current bodyguard of Clegg Zincher, the minotaur Dannic the Destroyer, to act as his personal trainer. It was a side job for Dannic since Clegg wasn’t doing much these days. Dannic enjoyed the training aspect. And the gold.
• Kuuro ordered a new magical quiver from the magical training department at the Cypher Lodge, and negotiated the price down with Elias Tammerhawk. During the evenings she disguised herself as Godric and parkoured around Riddleport waiting for it to be completed. One night, Kareshiel - the former leader of the Lantern Bearers and current elven vampire, appeared before her. He had tracked a Drow from the Celwynian Forest to Riddleport and asked if Kuuro had seen one during her nighttime escapades. She told him she hadn’t. Kareshiel thanked her anyway, wished her well and left.
• Hugo bought a colony of bats and kept them in his room so he could study them and learn echolocation. They seemed to actively avoid him, but he still succeeded in his goal. He also thought a great deal about his gauntlet and the dark urges he kept fighting off. He reflected on the fact that his uncle Jutrios was looking for the gauntlet and would probably try to kill him to get it. But now he didn’t fear it. He welcomed his uncle to try.
• Rooker discovered a Tile of Sending left in his gear by Rylvir. He also meditated a great deal with Jobu. During one of his meditations, Jobu appeared in his spirit form Bwon’jobu, a bearded dark-skinned elf with thick dreadlocks. Bwon’jobu explained that Rooker walked with spirits that were his own former lives. He had been walking this path because the gods felt it was important that he did so.
• Fred came to the Cypher Lodge with two Hellknight Signifiers. She said she had a lead on the devil who had placed the cursed gauntlet in Hugo’s family. But to get more answers they would have to go to one of the layers of hell, Dis.
• She said the devil was named Leventi. Leventi was a contract devil and he had been working his way up the infernal ranks for centuries. He was now up for promotion and a bone devil named Vetrivides was looking into his case.
• It was rumored that Leventi had cut corners and misused resources. Vetrivides wanted proof. The Hellfire contract was one of Leventi’s first, and the one that springboarded him up the ranks. There was a suspicion that the gauntlet used as a resource for the contract was not one of his own creations, as specified in the contract.
• Vetrivides gave Fred two writs, passes to enter Dis on a limited basis for 24 hours. He wanted to see the gauntlet for himself and see if it was a forgery or not.
• The Guardians, along with Fred, stepped through a portal that Fred was able to activate and emerged in Dis. Fred sent them to the Fallen Fastness, a massive library that was home to many of the evilest tomes in the multiverse. Vetrivides was at the Fallen Fastness and could offer them guidance. Fred had some leads she needed to check out. She gave the party a few scrolls of sending in case they needed to reach her.
• At the library, Vetrivides examined Hugo’s gauntlet, which had now extended up to his shoulder. He determined that the gauntlet was marked by the original creator of the gauntlet, It was not Leventi, but a devil named Destris. Leventi had passed it off as his own.
• Vetrivides told the party to examine the Hellfire contract and see if they could find anything in the wording that could be used against Leventi. He was bound by red tape and couldn’t check the contract on his own.
• It took a matter of hours of research, but in the wording, the Guardians found several embarrassing loopholes, as well as identifying examples of Leventi trading Hell’s resources for personal gain.
• Vetrivides conveyed that there was enough to make a case against Leventi. He told the Guardians to enter the scriptorium and arrest Leventi, destroying him if he resisted. After all, according to Vetrivides, “Why give Leventi the satisfaction of being arrested by a peer when sending mortals to do the job would convey the weight of his failures?
• The party called Fred and together they entered Leventi’s scriptorium. The contract devil tried to bargain with them, but Hugo wants justice. A fight ensued and Leventi was slain. But before he could be killed, he Planes Shifted Fred to another plane of reality.
• After he was killed, many of Leventi’s contracts fell to the ground. Souls he had entrapped drifted, lost. Two runes on Hugo’s gauntlet exploded, and after a moment Hugo felt better. The cursed contract of his ancestors had been destroyed. The Hellfire gauntlet, however, remained attached to him.
• Vetrivides thanked them but not really, and told them to leave. The writ was no longer necessary and their business had been concluded. Their pass into Dis had been revoked.
• The Guardians hurried back to the portal, which gradually developed into a chase when the skies seemed to fill with more and more devils pursuing them. They passed through the portal and two Hellknight Signifiers quickly closed it behind them. Fred appeared in the room shortly after, burned and beaten but alive. She thanked the Guardians for their help and sent them back to the Cypher Lodge with rewards of a small platinum bar.

Rewards Granted

XP

  119,867 + 5,333 = 125,200 XP!  

Loot

  Reward - One platinum bar worth 7000gp

Missions/Quests Completed

• The curse from Hugo's gauntlet was removed. The gauntlet, however, still remained attached to him.

Character(s) interacted with

1. Kareshiel - he's still doing his job, killing drow and defending Celwynvian Forest.
2. Dannic - seems to be more of a freelancer. Clegg is leaving his compound less and less. Dannic needs both gold and excitement.
3. Winifred Aldysh - the Hellknight Signifier has some steel in her step, and seems to be making the most of her Hellknight position.