[Recap] MoM’s Intrepid Living Fable #17

Last time on MoM’s Intrepid Living Fable…
 
On their way to WoodWhisper, our heroes had just been stopped by the Knights of Helm, a fanatical order dedicated to protecting the prime material from otherworldly intrusion. This seemed to make Trystan mildly nervous. Why? …No reason.
 
To obtain permission to venture further into the Neverwinter Woods, they went to speak with Arelon Cromelon, The Watcher, at Helm’s Hold. The leader of the Knights of Helm agreed to give them a letter of passage, in exchange for investigating the fate of one of her scouting parties.
 
She also suggested that the group arm themselves with silver weapons from a vendor within Helm’s Hold. Trystan was surprisingly unwilling to take even a meager loan to purchase a silver sword, but eventually relented to have one gifted to him by Ai. He seemed reluctant about the whole silver weapons business. Why? ...No reason.
 
The group arrived at Ai’s hometown and she headed immediately to her family home, which she found abandoned. She learned that her parents, who were former adventurers, had left to search for her instead, leaving little to no clue of where they went. This was, to put it mildly, bad news.
 
She then tried to locate her former bandmates and friends, and found out they also weren’t in town. Nobody seemed too concerned about it, because, after all, this was the kind of town young people leave at their earliest opportunity. But, also, nobody really seemed to know where they’d gone. This was, to put it mildly, bad news.
 
The group eventually did hear that Portia and Latice had, perhaps, headed northwest, and, separately, that there was some sort of hidden ‘Elven El Dorado’ ruins around. Ren’s eyes might or might not have, at that point, flashed in the shape of gold piece signs.
 
In an attempt to find Ai’s friends, the group went first into a rumored haunted clearing in the woods, and there found signs of otherworldly corruption, which they followed to a big ominous hole in the ground, which they eventually realized led directly to the Nine Hells. This was, to put it mildly, bad news.
 
A bunch of gnolls came out of the hellhole and our heroes quickly dispatched them, but not before learning they were all fleeing something much worse down there. Trystan seemed exceptionally on-board with killing gnolls, but insisted on not trying to close the hole until they knew more about why it was there. Why? ...No reason.
 
After a day of trying to head northwest and being blocked by magical disorienting trickery, the group headed back to Ai’s home to rest for the night. Where Ren had a bit of a nightmare that kept her from sleeping, and Ai rummaged through her parent’s bedroom drawers to find a map marking the possible location of the elven ruins.
 
The next day, they met the cause of Ren’s lack of sleep: a night hag. Trystan rushed towards the hag and tried asking her what she was up to, in Infernal, where others couldn’t hear her. He made sure to listen to her answer before fighting. Why? ...No reason.
 
The hag kept a diary, in Infernal, that Ai could use magic to read and Trystan kept peeking over her shoulder to glance at, despite saying he had only basic knowledge of the language. The info in this diary revealed that Tiamat was fighting the Archdevils in the Nine Hells for control of Avernus, and apparently winning. Trystan seemed singularly disturbed about this. Why? ...No reason.
 
Eventually, the group arrived at an ancient tower, where a bunch of members of the Cult of the Dragon seemed to be engaged in a strange ritual. There was a big long and epic fight, in which Endry one v. oned their chief spellcaster for a while, there was a lot of cold and lightning thrown around, and eventually our heroes emerged victorious, with a prisoner in their hands.
 
Before Ai could process the events of the last two days via therapeutic war crimes, the group began searching the tower. Kurin got a pretty damn nice axe, everyone else got healing potions, and there was some magic walkie-talkie going to the Red Wizards. Also, there was a note. It read, and I quote:
 
“Here is my evil plan. Love

Tiamat”.

Turns out the plan was unleashing a portal to hell at Helm’s Hold in a couple hours. This was, to put it mildly, bad news.
 
Seeing as how the note removed the need for interrogating the prisoner, Trystan asked the group: “Um, so… are you using that?” And the group replied: “No, but it’s real weird you are asking…”
 
“Why do you need him?”
 
“... No reason”
 
After the flimsiest of excuses, Trystan took the captured cultists to the forest, fumbled through his human sacrifice ritual, and had a chat with his boss: maybe Satan. He asked if it was true that Tiamat was taking over Avernus and what to do about the stuff going on this side, and noted that he was genuinely in over his head. He got his orders: to prevent the portal at Helm’s Hold from opening, and was given some renewed strength to do it.
 
When Trystan turned around, he found Endry grinning at him, and after a brief conversation, and some reassurance that the fairy wasn’t about to rat him out for being a Hellknight, Trystan decided there were more important things to worry about. For example, the world might be about to end in a few hours.
 
This was, to put it mildly, bad news.