Caja
Caja is born and raised in Elthurel. She was on her way to be a hellrider, but ran away before she was sworn in to Scornubel. Since Elthurel disappeared she does whatever she can to save her sister.
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Back again in Elturel (session 39&40 or 52&53)
Dear Nori,
I'm losing my mind. Where are you? I'm trying to not think about everything that might have happened to you, but believe me, it's getting harder and harder with every move we make.
You see, I'm in Elturel again. We ALL are! Not just me and Fenrir. Seeing Ron and Leo again was a happy reunion. It's a miracle they entered Elturel on the Dragon eye docks as well. And they brought a friend: Luna, a tiefling hell rider. Fenrir told us that we had a ‘ secret mission:’ killing the 2 erinyes and the 16 flying fuckers send to Elturel to kidnap people. Technically speaking, the secret mission given to Fenrir by the devils is to help with the kidnapping, but obviously Fenrir doesn’t want to do that. So we’ll just kill the devils.
Anyway, the happy reunion got interrupted by some shadows who wanted to join our fun. And take our life force. However, they were no match for our combined strength. After examining the bodies the shadows probably came from, we concluded they used to belong to the Zentharim. Luna saw some thieves cant on the walls, which pointed us to Symbrils house, where Edgar was. You know, before we brought his ass to justice in High Hall. Which might mean Edgar was also part of the Zentharim. Which explains his blackmailing and kidnapping ways. We searched the dock for a bit, hoping to find some more food, water or weapons. We couldn’t find anything actually useful, but we did find some nice shinies, including an eyepatch decorated with gemstones. Which I stuck on the Faun skull. (It looks so good right now!)
We decided our next step would be to visit you at Shiarra’s market. The market didn't look good when we arrived. There were a lot of dead bodies and burned ground and craters and stuff. I didn’t see any bodies I recognised, but I got kinda anxious. I think I hid it pretty well though. But where the fuck are you? I'm so scared you didn't survive the attack.
Anyway, after visiting the abandoned marketplace we decided to go to the assholes at the Keep of the Twin Suns. They were still assholes. Telling us the people at the marketplace got what they deserved and such. I mean, I still don’t like Clove Ikaya, but he’s at least trying to keep people safe. Instead of attacking refugees with meteors and such. They weren’t saying anything useful, so we left again. Quite honestly, if the devils are going to kidnap people, I hope they go to the Keep first. So they'll get what they deserve.
The next step was, of course, High Hall. To get there we went over the northern bridge and we saw someone made a statement there. By killing the devils who were guarding it and putting their heads on spikes. Not a nice view. But a clear statement. The road to High Hall seemed a bit more deserted and worn than before. High Hall itself seemed to be in shambles. And deserted as well. We assume it also got hit by the meteors. However, the way to the tunnels seemed to be intact. Which is a good thing considering how many people were waiting in front of the entrance. We were allowed inside though. So we went towards Ravenguard to ask what the fuck was going on. The guard let us in, although he wasn’t very keen on entering the room himself. It didn't take long for us to figure out why. Ravenguard and Ikaya were arguing very loudly. Apparently Ikaya brought a whole lot of vampires into High Hall. Which kinda makes sense, considering the food shortage. But Ravenguard didn't like it, which also kinda makes sense. According to Ikaya the food shortage is because Ravenguard didn't hold up his end of the deal. And after the attack on the market place he doesn't want to let the refugees in. I don't know what to think of this. Seriously, Elturel is in hell. Literally. Why can't they just focus on the problems at hand and help each other? Fucking morons. In the end we decided we would lead an attack on the Keep of the Twin Suns, making Elturel safer for the marketplace people. I assume that's still you, even though I can't find you here. We get to lead 40 hellriders, among whom Rhivaun. I do not like this. He's kinda like a dad to me. I don't want to be responsible for his death. But we also can't say no to this kind of back up, can we?
By the way, you're not the only person who's missing. We also couldn't find Ron's Grandmother. Ron likes to act like he's super though, but he does care a lot about the people around him. Anyway, Ron's Gran had been at High Hall for a while, so we decided to visit her. Thing is, her house was occupied by someone else. After a few words Leo commented that the guy might have killed Rons grandmother. Which got me into an argument and the guy tried to intimidate me (he failed miserably) and I gave him back a bit of his own medicine. Which worked a bit too well. Then I felt guilty so I gave him one of my weapons. I hoped he would be able to defend himself with it, but I don't think he has the skills. His little girl started playing with it though, so maybe she'll grow up to be a strong warrior.
We've been wandering High Hall for a little more and we heard a little more about what happened after we left. And no sign of the demons that are supposed to be here, so that's good. Unfortunately no sign of you either, which really got me worried. What if you're a vampire now, or worse, what if Ikaya keeps you as vampire food? He probably isn't that cruel, is he? You're probably at the wizard tower. Or at the graveyard, asking for Gideon's help. I should focus on tomorrow's battle. This just makes me anxious.
Please send a message so I know where you are.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Mission from the frontline (session 35-38 or 48-51)
Dear Nori,
I heard your message loud and clear. Elturel is in danger. You're in danger. And I want to help you. But I couldn't. Not right away at least.
Like I told you before, we were “caught” by a devil bounty hunter. Not that we did anything wrong and came with him willingly, hoping to talk ourselves out of this mess. But before we could do that we had to sit in his warmachine for days. I mean, the Orthan stopped once to show us Zariels bridge (I’m pretty sure I heard that name before, but I can’t quite remember where). Apparently it's built on the site of an important battle. The furthest the demons ever came and Zariel got promoted back to archdevil after defeating them there. But after that break it was just one long ride to the frontlines.
Once we reached the frontlines we hoped to explain our mistake to Lucille, but that wasn’t possible. She either wasn’t there, or wasn’t available to meet the “ runaways.” We got signed up for the 667th regiment, which has a lot of humanoids. Once again, no choice here. The devil-shield has been suspiciously silent by the way. I think it means this army is not on his side and wonder if it means they are our allies.
Anyway, after a few days Fenrir and I got selected for a “special mission.” Which sounds like we made it, but it was mostly because our devil companions didn’t want to touch this mission with a stick. There were two more humanoids picked, Karen the Aarakocha, who is also from Elturel. She said her kid is a hellrider. I don’t understand how she got in this mess, but I decided to let rest. The other humanoid is a fire genasi named Roksana. She talked even less about her reasons to fight in the blood war. One other person was added to the special mission: Richard the bearded devil. I think Richard got added to make sure we wouldn't run away and report about the mission (somehow I feel like the devils don't trust our words as much as a devils’ report). However, Belforag, our amnitzu boss told him ‘he knows what he did.’ Which makes me very curious, but I never got an answer. The other curious thing about Richard is Fenrir's reaction towards him. I mean, Fenrir didn't say anything, but his face said a lot. Mostly that he knew Richard. I'm pretty sure devils can't keep their memories from their mortal lives, and I don't want to give Richard the tools to torture Fenrir, so I haven't asked him yet.
Anyway, our special mission was to figure out what happened with the 669th regiment. Apparently they lost contact. They already sent a few more devils towards them, but those never returned. Their last known location was at this big hole filled with water. Luckily for us the water isn't Styx water, so we don't lose our memories if we touch it. That would have been a real problem.
Anyway, when we arrived at the hole, we saw the devils right away. At first, we moved very stealthily, making sure the devils wouldn't see us. But then we realised they weren't moving. We got less stealthy. They weren't moving. We stood in front of them. They weren't moving. Then Richard grappled one of them. They started moving. And attacking us, which somehow still got us by surprise. It was a pretty hard fight, mostly because we weren't as much fighting the devils as an apparition of an aboleth. Reileth, as the monster was called, mind controlled the devils. The only way we could wake them up was by hitting them until they regained their senses. Literally. Thing is, we didn't want to kill the devils, but wake them up since more allies means better chances. And we couldn't hit Reileth since it wasn't really there. It also made illusions of more enemies like we weren't attacked by half an army. And Richard got under its influence as well. Like I said, it was a tough fight, but in the end we woke up most devils.
Feeling hurt and not ready to face Reileth for real yet, we went to the devils’ base. We ate and slept there, although Reileth kept appearing out of a bucket of water. That's probably how it got the 669th under its spell in the first place. Richard told us the mission wasn't done until we killed Reileth. So, the next morning we went back to the hole.
We drank the potions of water breathing and dove into the water. The hole was pretty deep, but eventually we found a side cavern. The side cavern had an air pocket filled with devils and humanoids. I thought (and quite frankly, still think) it was the monster's pantry. However, we didn't see a big beast, so we went back into the water to find it. Deeper in the hole we found some kind of underwater lake (weird, right?) filled with some thick corrosive liquid. Not wanting to go through the thick muck, we went back to the air pocket, hoping to find some clues about where Reileth was. We didn't find any clues, but we did find the monster itself. I still don't understand how something that big can hide that well. The devils and humanoids were, of course, under its control so it was once again one massive battle. Except now we were actually fighting the monster. And the humanoids weren't humanoids but weird fish-tentacle people in humanoid disguise. Karen managed to banish Reileth at a certain point, but unfortunately the mind controlled devils kept attacking her so she had to drop it at a certain point, bringing Reileth back to our fight. Roksana had summoned a powerful elemental, but the devils made her lose control over it. Fenrir and Richard, who hadn't had the chance to get out of the water, kept being attacked by Reileth. Their stamina was being challenged, but they persevered. Despite the odds, we got Reileth to flee. After we awakened the devils and defeated the fish monsters we took some healing potions and started the pursuit. Actually, I feel a bit guilty about this. I kinda pushed the party to move on without realising how injured they were. We brought the devils as well, by the way. More targets for the monster.
The side cavern didn't have any other corridors or exits, so we went back to the underwater lake. Karen blessed Fenrir so the acid wouldn't hurt as much, and he dived into the muck. I sent a message to him, to figure out if he had seen Reileth. When I didn't get an answer I panicked and went in after him. I couldn't see in the muck, the water breathing didn't work and the muck hurt my skin. I think everyone else followed me, probably thinking Fenrir had found the monster. Which he technically speaking had. We just couldn't see it. So we had a hard fight in water that hurt our skin while we couldn't see. While we were in there all I could think was how we had to get out of that stuff. So I grabbed Reileth and dragged it out of the acid. It really did not like me dragging its ass out of the muck so it kept attacking me (which might have been a good thing considering my companions didn't feel so well). Once I could see what I was doing I grabbed the tentacle that was coming in for an attack and strangled him with it.
After we defeated the monster and tried to go out of the water we learned Karen and Richard were sick. They have to stay wet. It was really hard to not tell Karen she was basically a duck now, but that would be mean, especially considering she cured me from the same fate. Back at the 667th we didn't get a reward or anything. However, they did tell Fenrir and me we got a new mission. In Elturel! So I'm going to you! I imagine I'll be there fast too, considering all the war machines and magic they (probably) have.
Stay strong,
Your loving sister,
Caja
The modron tavern (session 31 or 44)
Dear Nori,
Life has taken an unexpected turn. I told you we were going to the modron tavern, right? It wasn't as bad as I expected, although I still think modrons don't eat or drink. I think the reason the tavern wasn't too bad is because the keep was a tabaxi, and she prefers to serve things that actually taste nice. Unlike the modron-brewn beer, which was kinda bland. The tavern was really well organised, by the way. All the chairs were perfectly placed by the tables and do on, in real modron style. The floor was made of modrons (as is the floor outside of the tavern) which is probably how they keep the outpost from falling in the lava.
Anyway, that's not what I was going to tell you. You see, when we walked in the tavern there were a lot of different people sitting there. Like a group of cambions, some imps, some humanoids and an arcanaloth relaxing with a mezzoloth. It took me about 3 seconds to realise this was the same arcanaloth who stole my dragon-sword. I probably shouldn't have done this, but considering I could still see my property hanging on his hip, I went in a straight line to him, demanding my sword back. The arcanaloth (he wanted me to call him precious, but there is no way in hell I'm gonna do that) made it clear the modrons won't like it if we use violence, which I wasn't going to do. We had a conversation. He's dealing in secrets, and offered to send us back to Faerûn if he could have a conversation with the shield. We could even stay in the corner. I made it pretty clear that we meant to go to hell. I should have let Fenrir talk to him, he's better with words and would have gotten my sword back so much faster (although I did succeed eventually).
At that point a BIG devil stepped into the tavern, calling out to Ron, Fenrir and me. The arcanaloth decided it was time to go while the tavernkeep tried her best to keep the peace. Apparently we are fugitives. From Lucille. It's an honest mistake, really. We thought we didn't have to join her ranks. Anyway, Ron panicked, cast a spell, and disappeared. I don't think he meant to disappear. He hasn’t done anything like that before, and I don’t think he was invisible. I think the magic went wrong (like what happens to you sometimes). I hope he's okay. Fenrir kinda wanted to run, but I just surrendered. I’m not sure if it was the right thing to do, but I’m pretty sure the devil is faster than we are. Anyway, after we surrendered the orthan (as the devil is called) was pretty nice. We were even allowed to finish our drinks. We talked a little bit, and were brought to his warmachine. We spent pretty much the whole day travelling and are almost there. I really hope Fenrir can explain to Lucille it was an honest mistake. I mean, considering we just came along with the orthan kinda proves it, right? Hopefully we only have to join the army for a short time.
During the long ride I couldn't help wondering what Leo is doing. I mean, his money must be gone by now, so he’s probably working for Mad Maggie. Maybe he’s friends with the kenku now. Who knows, he might have made a new friend. how about a tiefling, since the tiefling that made music at Fort Knucklebones wasn’t there last time, so she probably fulfilled her debt. She can probably use some friends, considering she’s in hell and all.
Anyway, the thing is, I don’t think Leo would be good at the kenkus work. He’s more about fire and nature, and less about machines. Maybe Maggie will think of something different for him to do. Like… I don’t know, a heist maybe? He’s good at sneaking! Yes. Let’s say he has to do a heist at a casino. Which sounds like fun. He will probably bring his new tiefling friend. Probably a whole new crew. A heist can’t be easy. It would be funny if Ron accidentally teleported and has to help. Maybe Lulu won’t join. She’s not really into the whole breaking the law thing, although I’m pretty sure she will forgive them anyway.
It would be funny, wouldn’t it? Can you imagne this being true?. I mean, how many casino’s does hell have? Leo is probably just maintaining a garden, growing herbs or tomatoes or something. Or worry we get into all kinds of trouble (which we kinda did, to be honest). I wonder if someone would tell him what happened to us. Let’s hope Ron can reach him before getting caught himself. Or that we can convince Lucille to let us go. I really hope for the last one. If Leo has to rescue us we’ll never hear the end of it.
Stay safe out there,
Your loving sister,
Caja
The bards last words and the modrons (session 30 or 43)
Dear Nori,
I can't believe this happened. I'm speechless. She died, Nori. Bertha died.
I told you in my last letter about a big blue devil approaching. We tried to get to our bikes, but we failed. The devil was with us before we could reach the bikes. She introduced herself as Lucille, Zariels second in command, warlord and commander of the 2nd and 5th legion. Lucille wanted to know why we were there. Bazelstein managed to convince her we were his slaves, until she smelled Bertha's soul. We tried to convince her Bertha belonged to us, which kinda seemed to work, until Bertha had enough of Lucille downtalking to us. Bertha is was pretty smart, but I don’t think she ever really understood that within the devil ranks they aren’t equals. And we are on the bottom. So she talked back to Lucille, like an equal. Even offending her. So Lucille did the only thing she could do without losing the respect of her troops. She struck Bertha down. We were lucky she didn’t kill us all. But still, Bertha shouldn’t die. Not here or now. She had no business being here. I still don’t understand why you would travel to actual literal hell, just to tell a story.
After Lucille struck Bertha down she moved her gaze to us, looking for more people needing a lesson in respect. Which we didn’t. So, she told us we could start working for her. Apparently they always need new or more people to fight the blood war. If you do well, you can get yourself promoted, as in, you won’t start your devil-life as a lemur but higher in rank. All you have to do is kill a couple of demons. Honestly, to me it felt like a good deal. I really don’t want to become a mindless pile of flesh. And I would be an amazing imp. I’ve been kinda wondering how to skip the lemur part once I die.
Anyway, we were told that once we figured out if that’s what we wanted to find Lucille at her ship. She mentioned something about Bazelstein getting demoted and left. When we got a good look at Bertha we realised we wouldn't be able to revive her. At least not with the resources we've got. Her body is too damaged. We were kinda at loss about what to do with her. I kinda felt like we should bring her back at Taxidor, considering he's her family. But I don't know how we could get back up at Elturel. And it would take a lot of time we simply don't have if we want to save the entire city. Eventually we decided to bury her among the ruins a little bit up the road. The ruins are still pretty and Ron carved a beautiful gravestone out of the table in “Bazelsteins house”. We had a small ceremony, but I didn't really grasp the fact that she's gone. I still don't. After we buried her Ron set up the dome and we rested close to her, although I feel like none of us slept well.
The next morning I had an argument with Fenrir. He trusts the devil shield way too much, even praising it out loud. I wanted him to get rid of it. Ron mediated, and eventually Fenrir agreed I would carry the shield. Which isn't a solution any of us like, but it's the only viable option, considering Ron hates the shield even more than I do. Thing is, I kinda understand why Fenrir is so attached to it. It talks a lot, giving me a lot of useful information. I don't trust it, but I can't don't want to ignore it.
Anyway, after our rest we drove on, looking for the modron ship. After an hour or so we did find a ship. The shield said it couldn't be a modron ship considering it had a few ornaments and modrons don't use (like?) anything ornamental, which Ron confirmed. After searching the ship (which was completely empty by the way. Although I did have the feeling of being watched) we found some logbooks which heavily implied the ship was a pirate ship. Owned by the actual plundering and enslaving kind of pirates, who also happen to be bug people. I think? They’re from Ravnika, so I wasn’t familiar with some of the words they use (and their calender. We assume they arrived some 2 years ago, but we can’t be that sure). We found a mirror which (we assume) turns people to stone, which also explains all the statues outside. There wasn’t much else, so we left again, kinda disappointed we hadn’t found the nirvanan cog box or modrons we came for.
We decided to keep looking for another ship (it’s weird how many beached ships there are in hell), until Fenrir realised something: There is an antenna coming out of the big volcano. Considering Leo told us there is a modron outpost in a volcano, we decided this would be our next move. After a half day drive we were too deep onto the volcano on a too steep hill to keep driving. So we hid the warmachines and continued on foot. It was a hard climb, but eventually we reached the top, only to be greeted by an invisible voice. After stating our names and intentions the voice revealed themself. It turned out the voice was a modron named B-52. B-52 guided us down a very long stairs into the volcano outpost. The outpost is something else. And quite honestly, it just rubs me the wrong way. It is all very blocky and monotonous sprinkled with a big handful of boring. It also kinda makes me wonder what modrons do for fun, although I’m afraid to ask. I asked B-52 one question, and he answered it with a very boring but factual story which lasted at least an hour. I don’t even remember what I asked! I just zoned out after the first few minutes. Do not ask modrons anything.
After the very boring story B-52 pointed us to the store. The store was manned by a different kind of modron, who kinda looked like a sea-star (B-52 looks more like a cube that’s spinning on its point). There was no room for negotiating, but we still bought the nirvanan cog box from them. I kinda got the feeling Mad Maggie would prefer it if we get the pitons out of a living modron, although I don’t think she would complain about a successful job.
Anyway, we're going to the tavern now. I’m kinda curious what a modron tavern looks like, although I fear it’s just some rectangles on the floor, and a second room which is just a kitchen. That can’t be right, can it? Do modrons even need to eat or sleep? I guess we’re gonna find out.
I hope you’re still safe and doing better than we are.
Take good care of the people around you, and give them a hug. We don’t know when we will lose those close to us.
Your loving sister,
Caja
P.s. It’s probably nothing, but B-52 mentioned something like they expect the demons to make a big attack very soon (because the blood war has been “ quiet” for a while). I don’t think they will attack Elturel, but maybe, just keep a lookout or something?
Working for Natasha and towards Bazelstein (session 28&29 or 41&42)
Dear Nori,
Quite a lot of interesting things have happened since my last letter. I think I ended it with the notion that we had to break Fenrirs curse. We had already bought the spell scroll and everything, but Ron still needed time to prepare it. So while we we’re thinking about our next move, a redcap came past us. We had a conversation with it, and it tried to get us to “prank” Mickey. Which sounded innocent enough, so we didn’t trust it. After a lot of talk we figured out he wanted to take one of Mickey's fingers. So we denied his request. We went back to the bar to ask Natasha for work, but before we could do that Mad Maggie came in and told Natasha to give Fenrir some of her Lugarian Brew, which turned his arms and legs back to their proper place. We told Mickey about the redcaps’ masterplan, but he already knew about it.
Ron and Bertha would visit the kenku to learn as much about the bikes as possible while Fenrir and me asked Natasha about doing a job for her. She told us her supply-runs are at night (like there is a proper night at hell). So I convinced Fenrir we could sleep right now, and work at night. I mean, we only made 25 gold, which is barely anything, but then again, the job wasn’t too hard. Although we did have to promise we wouldn’t run away. Which seemed odd to me, but that made it easier to promise. (Then again, with my track record, it is kinda a thing. Maybe she has a point.) Natasha opened a portal to another realm called Barovia. Barovia is a really dark place, but luckily the supplies were already in a cart and relatively close by. Fenrir and I brought it in, but then Natasha told us we were missing a crate. So we went back to look for it. I thought I saw something a bit off the path. So I went there to find it. It wasn’t a crate though. It was a really big ass wolf. With a lot of friends. They bit me a lot, but not so much that I couldn't handle it. However one bite did turn into a very nasty wound within a day. Anyway, we ran back through the portal and got back to the safety of Fort Knucklebone and left the wolves behind us.
Meanwhile the kenku had upgraded our bikes, so when Fenrir and me came back, we left, on our way to the Modron ship. However, on our way there we got attacked by a couple of humanoid beasts on warmachines. Well, they had two bikes like we have, and a bigger machine with 4 wheels. I kinda want the bigger machine. We all made some really cool moves while fighting them (it's hard to imagine we had never ridden these machines until a few days ago) and we were clearly the stronger party. So they used demon-iquor to speed up their machines and ran. It's unfortunate we didn't know you could use it like that, since Ron sold all the demon-iquor he had just a few days ago. Fenrir did seem to like the stuff (as a drink), so maybe he still has some?
After the not very satisfying fight we decided we would go to Bazelstein, since we will pass his house anyway and he might have some old war machine parts we need. But not before Ron bothered me about the wolf wound. I mean, it did look quite nasty and weirdly enough kinda hairy, but Ron isn't a healer. Is he? He did cast some magic on it (weirdly enough it does look a bit better) before we moved on. When we passed “dad's tower” we noticed there was a lot more activity than the previous time. There was a ship(?) being loaded and a lot of steam came out of it. First I thought it was Styx water turned into steam, but then I looked at our bikes and realized it was a burned soul coin. The steam from the ship had a LOT of faces in it, but that’s probably because it uses a lot of soul coins. I mean, it’s hard to describe how big it actually is. It must use a lot of fuel.
Anyway, Fenrir and me kinda wanted to re-enter the tower, finding out what the ship and the devils training actually meant. Ron and Bertha on the other hand really didn’t want to. And Fenrir and me kinda agreed it would probably be better to just let them be. So we continued to Bazelsteins house. When we got there, we couldn’t find him and concluded he must have been at the fort as well. Which gave us some time to investigate Bazelsteins house. Although, now we’ve seen it, I don’t actually think it’s Bazelsteins house. It is too small, everything is human-sized (instead of horned devil size) and the dust covered everything. Ron did really like the table though, “ a true masterpiece made of unique wood.” Sometimes I kinda wish I was more into woodwork. I don’t understand how Ron gets this excited about it. When we discussed whether to wait or to continue our journey, an imp appeared, claiming it works for the big boss, it would get a promotion for finding us and disappeared again. We weren't willing to meet the big boss, and tried to flee to our bikes. But we were too late, considering a big blue horned devil flew towards us, with Bazelstein and the rest of her army, on her heels.
I'm not sure what to do Nori. I'm pretty sure this devil is a lot stronger than we are.
I hope you are safe. And that I get to write you more letters after this one. Pray this devil has a good mood.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Back at fort Knucklebone (session 27 or 40)
Dear Nori,
I feel like it has been a long time since my last letter, but it has only been a few days. I guess I feel like it took so long because there didn’t happen that much, and boredom makes time move slowly.
Anyway, I ended my last letter with the note we weren’t sure how to get back. Everyone wanted to try to steer the ship. I still wasn’t a big fan, and tried to convince them it would be dangerous and we probably wouldn’t be able to communicate with the elemental and so on. But the others weren’t having any of it. So we went back to the upper deck, me carrying the poor crazy woman, since we found some notes that said she could bind the elemental to the ship. Ron released the elemental from the iron flask, and attacked Ron right away. Fortunately I was close to the steering wheel with the crazy lady, and once I pushed her hands on the wheel the elemental became dormant. Ron tried to command it, but it wouldn’t listen to him. Then Leo realised he had the control-elemental-crystal. So he commanded it just fine. We got the ship back in the water and sailed for a bit, until we realised we had to go to fort Knucklebone, which isn’t located near the water. So we ‘docked’ the ship and went back on land again. We spent an hour or so looking for the arcanaloth (considering it fled it must have been hurt pretty bad, so we better fight it today than tomorrow when it has its magic back) but we couldn’t find it. So we drove for an hour or 2 (so the arcanaloth wouldn’t be able to find and attack us at night) and took a rest. Nothing interesting happened on the way back.
Wait, that’s not true. Bertha has been very interested in the Kenku. In the same way a housecat is interested in garden birds. She knows she shouldn’t attack them (and doesn’t) but I think the Kenku don’t like this kind of attention. So I told Clunk he should take some feathers and make a toy out of it for her. You know, so her play-with-the-birds-instinct is calmed down a bit. Clunk thought that was a good idea and when Chugga slept he pulled out some feathers from him. They fought for a bit, calling each other names with imp and redcap voices (which was hilarious) and eventually made up and hugged each other.
Anyway, that was all that happened. Back at fort Knucklebone the Kenku told us about Lulu, who had lived with their grandparents(?) for a bit after Zariel lost the battle. Yet somehow she got lost again. The kenku didn’t know much else, or weren't able to tell us. So they redirected us to Mad Maggie. Fenrir got his eye back, although it took some convincing for her to put it back in his eye socket. Then we asked her to restore Lulu’s memory, but she can’t. Or at least, not directly. But she has a machine which would allow us to enter Lulu’s memories, and find the information we need there. But the machine doesn’t work yet, so now we need to get 4 parts for her. We need an Nirvanan Cog Box, which we should be able to find at an (other) beached ship guarded by Modrons. Secondly we need a Hearthstone, which is found by (or maybe in?) hags. Mad Maggie suggested we should kill her sister Red Ruth (who killed their other sister, Gaunt Gella) and frequents the travelling emporium. Then we need Flagatosian Sand which is some kind of obsidian sand. But Mad Maggie doesn’t know where to find it. Lastly, we need to find a set of Astral pistons, which can be found in old warmachines. Mad Maggie has 2 leads on who in Avernus still has these old war machines: Odrak the tinkerer who sets shop in the gigantic helmet in the planes of fire and Oni Melarganen who works for the forge master of Colosea, a local warlord. After hearing what we need to get we had a bit of a discussion about the pay (I say we, but it was mostly me. The others don’t quite realise yet nothing in hell is free. We shouldn’t just do stuff for anyone here) and eventually Mad Maggie agreed to restore the sight to Fenrirs eye (which is ridiculous if you think about it. The only reason he couldn’t see with it is because she cut it out in the first place), the bikes (which she was gonna give to us as a gift anyway) and enough rations for the mission. Then Mad Maggie invited us for a drink. We got to the bar and got proper shit-faced. Well, most of us anyway. Bertha doesn't drink, but Ron did decide to celebrate his comeback. Even Lulu joined. Fenrir passed out way faster than expected. I'm still kinda pissed I got beaten by Leo although I'm not surprised Ron got the better of me. I'm not sure how we got to the sleeping quarters, although I assume Bertha has something to do with it.
When everybody was hungover but awake again, we noticed something had happened to Fenrir in his sleep. His arms and legs switched places! I wonder if it had something to do with the booze, but Ron, Berta and Leo concluded it was a late side effect of the demon liquor he drank in Elturel. After some investigation they concluded we need a remove curse spell to fix him. So we went to the marketplace. Again. Technically speaking, we needed to go there anyway, since Leo resurrected Berta after the arcanaloth fight and we needed more diamonds. We bought diamonds and the spell scroll from some guy named Mordenkainen and sold some stuff we never used anyway. I asked if he had the stuff we need for Mad Maggie, which he does at his tower, which happens to be in Avernus as well (lucky us). We made an appointment to meet him at his tower in two weeks. I'm not sure how we're gonna pay him, since we're kinda broke right now. But not so broke we couldn't buy anything at the market anymore. We had enough money left to buy some candy from a candy witch (she even looked like candy). It is magical too, so this is gonna be fun.
Right now we have to wait ‘till tomorrow so Ron can break Fenrirs curse and then we'll get going. He will also try to break the curse of the captain of the elemental ship, hoping she will regain her wits. Yes, we brought her with us. This letter is a pretty good example of our relationship with her, considering I forgot about her until now. Leo thinks we should set her free, but I'm pretty sure that will kill her. We might need her later. There's definitely something going on with Leo. I can't quite put my finger on it, although I've heard him say a couple of things that don't seem right. Maybe it's because he's disconnected from nature for so long?
Anyway, I'm going to ask Natasha if she's got some work for me. The bar probably has some leads on that. It probably won't be much, but we do really need money.
I hope you're relatively safe.
Stay strong,
Your loving sister,
Caja
Jim Darkmagic and rescuing the kenku (session 25&26 or 38&39)
Dear Nori,
In my last letter I told you about the huge warmachine owned by Jiim Darkmagic approaching Fort Knucklebone. We were all standing outside, watching the machine. A slender man with sleek dark hair came rushing out of it, apparently meeting Mad Maggie. For a moment, we weren’t sure whether to follow the man, or go to the machine, but we decided the machine would probably be more interesting. We talked with Jerome, who is a bouncer for the show (I told you I expected a show, turns out I’m right). We tried to get tickets, but they aren’t playing at the moment, because the volunteers are used up. We’ve been talking to Jerome for a while, and then Jim came back. He got angry at Jerome because he wasn’t allowed to get outside the machine. After talking for a bit we got ourselves invited to a small preview of the show. Fenrir, Bertha and I wanted to go, Leo and Ron didn’t. “Fenrir and Caja get us into trouble again.” Like that happens that often. I don’t think me and Fenrir had done something together which got us in trouble. I mean, we’ve both done some stupid shit which got the group in trouble. But never at the same time. I think Ron and Leo just don’t want us to have fun.
Anyway, despite not wanting to go, Leo and Ron came with us into the warmachine. Before we entered Leo already warned us the theatre was filled with corpses. So we were a bit weary while walking around, and also started wondering about the ‘’real’ part in Jims name (you can use it to emphasise Jim or dark or magic, which all implies different things). Jim didn’t clarify and led us directly into the theatre, and pointed at some seats for us to take. Ron saw the seats had some kind of mechanism to trap and hold people, so we declined. Jim decided it wasn’t important for the preview anyway. He started the show with a lot of green flames (he got angry at Leo when Leo showed he could do that as well. Claiming it was copyrighted) and then turned all our heads into skulls. Which we didn’t like. After a lot of angry conversation, he turned us back to normal and sent us back to Fort Knucklebone.
At the fort we went back to Maggie and heard she had a reason to celebrate. Apparently Jim bought 16 new warmchines from her, which also meant she needs the Kenku back. Fenrir convinced her to lend us 3 bikes, although she did want some collateral to make sure we brought them back. At first she wanted an eye, but no one seemed too keen on losing it. I offered her a memory, remembering a devil in Elturel tried to convince me to bargain for it. She had to look inside my head to see if I had a memory worth it. Which I do. It is you, Nori. My memories of you are worth enough to serve as collateral. Then I started doubting myself. I don’t want to lose my memory of you. Slowly I was working out how this worked and what the consequences are but Fenrir saw my doubts and offered his eye instead. Maggie reacted way faster than I anticipated, and cut Fenrirs eye out before we had even realised he made a bargain. She did give one of her own eyes back though, so he isn’t half-blind. And to keep an eye on us. Then we went back to the marketplace again, to get more soul coins to power the bikes. We tried to convince the imp banker that Maggie told us we could get some coins for free, but unfortunately that didn’t work. So we bought some more soul coins. Then we continued shopping. I visited a fairy (the things she said kinda made her sound like a hooker, but she claimed she didn’t do that anymore) and bought some exploding flowers and a pretty one. They all came from the feywild, so that’s pretty cool. Fenrir bought a suit of armour from a metal machine-person without a head. However, the most interesting person at the marketplace was this fire-like woman, named Smolder, who sold all kinds of cool magic items. Me and Leo bought a satyr skull from her, Ron spell components and Bertha a magical lyre and some strings to fix her old one. Then there was this amazing magical bow, which had a prophecy and everything. Leo tried to convince Smolder to sell it to us, but he had to prove he was worthy. By shooting an arrow at a fireball she shot. He kinda failed. I tried to set Leo up with Smolder (with the fire and everything she does seem like his type), but she wasn’t interested. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but since Leo thinks he gets to decide who I sleep with, I should have a say in his dating life as well.
Anyway, after shopping we went on our way to save the kenku. Fenrir, Leo and I were driving. Leo shared his bike with Bertha, Fenrir with Lulu and I shared mine with Ron. Most of the road went smoothly, with the only exception when we just rode into the swamp. Fenrirs bike got stuck and it took a lot of effort to get it out again. After a day and a half of driving we reached our destination: a ship without sails which was beached at the Styx.
We approached the ship with the intent to ask the creatures on board (fly-like fiends called mezzoloths) if they had seen the Kenku. They answered in infernal that we had to leave and wouldn't tell us where they've seen them. We tried our best to have a conversation, but they really didn't want to talk. They attacked us. They had some magic, but Ron outdid them with his magic. Which attracted more mezzoloths. We were definitely besting them, which attracted another fiend, an arcanaloth. The arcanaloth was the boss of the others and ordered them to stop. And us as well, which we reluctantly did. He told us he had the kenku, but was willing to trade them for the devil shield. Which wasn't an option for us. So he came with a counter offer: my new dragon-sword. Which I didn’t really want to give up, but going for the peaceful option seemed like a good idea. So I put my sword in the ground, ready for them to pick up once the kenku were with us. The exchange seemed to go smoothly, but once we turned our back the arcanaloth attacked again. So we fought. In the end 1 mezzoloth escaped by jumping in the water (does that mean the water of the Styx doesn’t have the same effect on them as it has on humanoids? Is that the case for all fiends?) and the arcanaloth used magic to get the fuck out of there. The bastard is probably plotting his revenge right now. I really wish I had my sword back. I barely got to use it.
We talked a bit with the kenku, but they communicate with sounds and other peoples voices. It was pretty obvious they knew Lulu, since they said a lot of things she said. But before we heard the whole story we decided to check the ship for useful stuff. We found a few spell scrolls (which our wizard loved of course), some elemental gem, an iron flask and a lot of smut. We also found the actual captain of the ship, although she was driven mad by the fiends. I hope she comes to her senses again, and tells us some stuff. Especially since we found some notes about the ship and a Styx elemental, who can be used to steer the ship.
Now we are kinda stuck about our next move. Take the ship to mad Maggie, take the bikes to mad Maggie or find and destroy the arcanaloth. To be honest, I’m not too keen on sailing. I don’t think anyone has experience sailing, and I don’t want to get stuck in the middle of the Styx. That would just be a real sucky way to die.
Anyway, I hope you’re doing good, all things considered.
Keep safe, keep strong.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Fort Knucklebones (session 24 or 37)
Dear Nori,
We’ve travelled a lot and are finally in Fort Knucklebone. We made some powerful friends on the way. Like I told you in my last letter, we slew a red dragon. When we woke up the next morning, a fiendish figure dressed in all black approached us. He didn’t want to tell us his name, saying he was just a humble servant of Tiamat (you know, the evil dragon goddess, apparently living in Avernus at the moment). Tiamat had sent him to us with the promise of rewards if we kept up the good work. Which means killing her unloyal servants. Like we’ve done twice already. We were kinda confused about the twice, but apparently one of the fiends we fought in High Hall used to be a Tiamat follower as well. Not sure what Grimtooth did to make Tiamat angry though.
Anyway, after it stopped raining we continued our way to Fort Knucklebone. The first day of travel, not a lot happened. We saw the (beautiful) ruins of a building once built by Gargoth (or so he claims). At night during my watch I tried to make friends with Fenrirs horse (Fenrir hadn't told us his horse can talk telepathically) but he really isn't nice at all. I'm pretty sure he gave me nightmares. Next day we continued our path. At a certain point the landscape changed from fingernails to ash. Which is less gross, but a lot more dangerous since there are ash pits. We learned this the hard way, with Bertha and Fenrir falling in it. Ron threw a rope to Fenrir while I dived in after Bertha. I managed to get to her, but by then we were down quite deep. Leo had turned into a horse and did all he could to get us out, but pulling 4 people is hard, even for a horse (a very majestic horse, by the way. Not a nightmare like Fenrirs steed, but very dark black). When Bertha and I came back up she had drowned, so I took the rope Ron used to secure himself when he jumped towards Fenrir and pulled them back up while Leo turned back into his elf-self to revive Bertha. It was a disaster, but Leo brought Bertha back successfully so there weren't any permanent casualties. After this incident we tied everyone together with rope and no more disasters happened (although we did find a few more pits). At night we saw a dragon flying around, but they didn't see us (or didn't care about us enough to approach). The next day, after a few more hours of walking, we finally reached Fort Knucklebone.
I understand why it’s called Fort Knucklebone, since it's built against a hill which looks like a hand. In front of it is a wall of some sorts. The gate was guarded by some weird gnomes with a cruel and bad sense of humour (Mad Maggie calls them Redcaps). When they weren’t too busy insulting us or each other they asked for a password to get in. And a joke. And a riddle. And so on. After 10 minutes of getting really annoyed I realised they were just fucking with us. There was no password. So I just barged in. Luckily I was right and didn’t get shot (although that would have been more pleasant than listening to the gnomes).
Fort Knucklebones is very interesting. It has a bar named the Well which has the only clean fresh water well in Avernus (for only 4 gold a glass) and there is a marketplace with a lot of different stands. I think the stuff they sell comes from all over the planes, not just Avernus. We went into the bar first, hoping to find the Kenku. In the bar were a lot of interesting people, like a tiefling playing the flute while an imp played a different song alongside her on the drums, purposefully trying to turn her off. Bertha was immediately interested, and started playing with them. Somehow she managed to make them sound good together. There were a couple of imps playing cards. Lulu was very interested and after she got some money from Fenrir she joined them. I’m not sure if it is beginners luck or if she is a great player, but apparently she won quite some money. There were 3 people sitting at the bar: Barnabas, a flying skull covered in green flame with the funniest backstory I have ever heard (he was a lich who fell in his own trap in his own lair. No strong adventurers who killed him, not being unmade by uncontrollable magic. Just a trap. That he had set himself. In his own lair). Then there was Mad Maggie, who is a human woman (although I got weird vibes from her. Not sure how, what or why, but something’s off). She is the owner of Fort Knucklebones, and was quite nice and helpful, especially for someone living in Hell for this long. Then there is Mickey. I’m not sure what Mickey is. Mad Maggie said she made him herself, so maybe he is a golem? I don’t think he can talk since there is a pipe coming out of where his mouth should be. He is Mad Maggies guard, because the redcaps aren't doing a great job. Lastly there was the barmaid, who’s name is Natasha. Leo says Fenrir is into her, but I kinda doubt it. Gideon said Fenrir is a ladies man, but I haven’t seen anything of the like.
Anyway, despite the remarkable company in the Well, the Kenku weren’t there. Mad Maggie told us they are her top engineers, and out in Avernus. She doesn’t expect them to be back for another 3 days or so. Fenrir decided to play some dragonchess with Barnabas while Leo and I decided to check out the shops. One of the shops was run by an imp banker. He has safety deposit boxes and told us a soul coin is worth about 400 gold. Anyone can set up shop, if you pay a fee to Mad Maggie. I toyed with the idea of playing shop for a while, but I don’t have a lot to sell. And there aren’t many buyers around, so I would probably be bored pretty fast.
Leo and I had a weird conversation. He wants me to sleep with Fenrir. Something about an experiment. It probably has something to do with how many kids Leo thinks Fenrir has. I don’t understand why he thinks Fenrir would be into me. It's the second time Leo tries to set me up with someone. At least Fenrir is attractive. But still, I don’t like Leo interfering with my personal life. I should think of something to get back at him….
When we met the others again we weren’t too sure what to do. Then we saw a huge machine coming to Fort Knucklebone. It has a billboard on it which says ‘The real Jim Darkmagic.’ I’m not sure what this is, but I’m kinda expecting a show.
I hope you’re also doing ok, you know, despite being in Hell and everything. I hope you got to move to High hall. I still think it’s safer there than on the marketplace. Then again, you’ve been there for so long it must feel like home.
Stay safe, stay strong,
Your loving sister,
Caja
Grimtooth (session 23 or 36)
Dear Nori,
You won’t believe this! We fought a dragon! No, we killed a dragon! In Avurnus. Okay, let me backup for a bit.
In my last letter I told you we were going to fort Knucklebone, or a rock formation that looks like Knucklebones. Thing is, that rock formation is an 80 mile walk away. So we walked for a long time, until it started to rain. We didn’t want to keep walking, or camp for that matter, in the acid rain, but luckily Leo found a cavern. The cavern was quite hot but you know, no acid rain. We explored it a little bit, discovered it was so hot because of the lava flowing through it and found a nice little “room” which seemed perfect to sleep in, since it had just one entrance and not a lot of space for monsters, devils and the like to hide. The one entrance would be easy to defend since only so many things can enter at the same time, giving us the advantage.
So we went to sleep in this room and even though we had someone on guard, some HUGE mosquitoes came in without being seen. When I say huge, I mean as big as my arm huge. They sucked Leos, Fenrirs and my blood. But once we were awake, we beat them quite easily. Just imagine waking up and seeing this huge mosquito in your face. It is not a good way to wake up.
Anyway, the “fight” against the mosquitoes made enough noise for the Grimtooth, a red dragon, to check out what was going on. He talked with us for a bit, but it was pretty obvious he didn’t like us and would probably eat us. Leo and me sneaked behind him, so his fiery breath wouldn’t kill us all at once. Fenrir used all his charm and Bertha her music, trying to win the dragon over. But it didn’t matter, since he decided he was hungry and we looked like snacks. His first attack roasted Fenrir, Bertha and Ron. That’s when me and Leo sprung into action. I kept attacking the dragon while Leo made sure our friends didn’t stay down. Problem was, the damn dragon really wanted to roast Ron while staying away from me (it was so frustrating! I really need to become faster). With all our powers combined we managed to slay the beast, with Fenrir giving the final blow.
After that, we rested some more, hoping Ron would regrow his burnt away beard overnight (considering he’s a dwarf, it might very well be possible) but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Then we searched the cave for the dragon's hoard, but unfortunately this dragon had only 6 soul coins, a few gems Leos familiar fished out of the magma and a cool sword that’s now in my possession.
I hope you are still safe, not bothered by dragons or devils or vampires.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Dad and Bazelstein (session 22 or 35)
Dear Nori,
I have bad news. I found dad. I know you've fought him. Or a debook demon in his body. I found his soul. His essence? I saw a devil who had his face. It was in the watchtower I told you about in my last letter. He is Bumbos boss. I don't understand how he became a chain devil in just a few months time (Bumbo is a few centuries old, so it would make more sense if he would be higher ranking). I'm kinda wondering if that means he was a very good person as a human (and therefore "worth" more) or if he was a horrible person and that made it easier for him to climb the devil ladder. I guess the first, since I don’t remember him ever being cruel or unjust or evil. I’m not sure how to deal with this information. On one hand, I want to look him in the eyes and tell him I’m his daughter and he wasn’t a bad person and to take him somewhere safe. But I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember his past life. And he seemed content with his current state. He isn't gonna help us, assuming I could actually take such a high ranking devil somewhere. But doing nothing also doesn't feel right. I'm lost, Nori. I wish you were here and tell me what to do.
Anyway, "dad" didn't want us in the tower, distracting Bumbo and everything. It was at this moment I realised I saw dad, and didn't want to leave, but Ron used all his strength to pull me outside (I kinda let him win, but don't tell Ron). In the meantime Leo looked at a map in the hall, and figured out a few more locations where we could go. There's the Modron outpost (which is supposed to be a neutral place), the Circle of Flames (which sound like a place Leo is familiar with, if it wasn’t in hell) and Zariels bridge (which is probably raised in Zariels name after a great battle or something. Or built by someone kissing her ass. Maybe both?).
After we left the tower we met a horned devil named Bazelstein. Bazelstein needed some new guinea pigs for his project. We weren’t really sure what he was talking about, but he promised to give us information about Fort Knucklebone, he guaranteed it was safe and he would even toss a soul coin in. Not really having any better options, we reluctantly agreed to help him. Thing is, his project was a few miles down the Styx, or as Bazelstein put it, a half hour drive away. So he brought us to his workshop which was filled with machines, all of them the size of a horse or bigger. They don't have the same charm as horses, but I still thought riding them would be amazing. After figuring out how the machines worked (which took Fenrir and me longer than I'm willing to admit. However, it came very natural to Bertha and Ron) it was a relaxing ride to the project. Bazelstein hadn't told us what the project was just yet. You see, sometimes, souls flowing at the bottom of the Styx will get stuck. He wanted us to get in a glass bubble thing and use his devices to suck all the stuck souls away. Because we didn't look forward to getting our memories erased we asked for a contract. You know, to protect ourselves. Bazelstein was okay with this, but we had to make the contract ourselves (which Bertha did. It looked great! I'm pretty sure we get better at this with every contract! Who needs Garrix?). So we went into his boat on the Styx. Fenrir, Leo and Lulu went into the bubble, while Ron, Bertha and I stayed on the boat with Bazelstein. We played some cards while Bazelstein told us about how the afterlife works, or mostly, what happens to the souls in the Styx (If no god claims your soul you follow the Styx till the end and you become a brick in the wall of Kelemvor. Ron and Bertha thought it sounded very peaceful, but I think it sounds boring as fuck). After that lovely conversation, Ron had to use the bathroom and flew back to the shore. I think he saw or was looking for something. Anyway, while he was at the shore we saw two vroxes flying towards us. Bazelstein quickly started the machine to get Fenrir and Leo back up and then beat one of them to pieces. Ron hurried back, as quickly as the flying booties could carry him, forgetting vroxes have a stunning scream. Luckily the booties kept flying while he was stunned. Bertha kept the last vrox busy, while I decided I had to get Ron back in the boat (so he wouldn't lose his memories in the Styx). Only thing is, in the heat of the moment, I couldn't think of another way to get Ron than throwing the harpoon at him. I mean, I succeeded at getting him in the boat, it just wasn't without hurting him (which I feel very guilty about). Once I had the harpoon removed from Ron we managed to kill the last vrox before Leo, Fenrir and Lulu came back above the water.
In the bubble, Fenrir and Leo had a contest to see who could get the most souls (this sounds really bad written down like this, but according to Bazelstein we were helping because those souls were stuck, sometimes for years). Although both of them got more than 30, Leo was the clear winner. So Bazelstein got him a soul coin. I kept talking about the vroxes so Bazelstein gave me 2 soul coins to get me to shut up (I won the contest without even entering).
Before we left Bazelstein told us about a rock formation that looks like knuckle bones. He doesn’t know anything about a fort, but was pretty sure this is the place we are looking for. He also offered to give us the bikes IF Bertha promises her soul to him after she dies (he doesn’t have a soul quotum, but he likes collecting souls from people who helped him). It was kinda interesting since the bikes are worth 40 soul coins each. I guess that means that not all souls are equal. Or it is a matter of pride, which is not impossible since we’re talking about a high ranking devil. Bertha was seriously considering his offer, since Bazelstein is quite nice for a devil and he won’t enslave her (us) or do some other tricky devil shit, but eventually denied his offer.
So, we are on our way to Fort Knucklebone.
I hope you are still okay, despite the bad news about dad.
Hopefully your days are less eventful.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Descent into Avernus (session 21 or 34)
Dear Nori,
I’m sorry I had to leave you again. I mean, I know Clove Ikaya and Ravenguard were still negotiating, but everyone was getting restless. And that last earthquake made us feel like we have to hurry. You know, so there is an Elturel left to be saved. And not at the bottom of the Styx. I'm glad I got to say goodbye to you. I'm sure I'll be back, but it feels kinda nice to have said a proper goodbye. Once Elturel is saved I'll stay at your side, assuming you still want me to.
While walking to the edge of the city I realised none of the others said goodbye. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it kinda felt like they didn't realise we would go into actual Avernus. And that we have no clue for how long, or where we actually have to go. I mean, the demon shield tried to manipulate us into bringing it to the Bells forge ("if you happen to pass Bells forge you can just leave me there." As if it wouldn't lead us directly to it) but Fenrir denied the request.
Anyway, once we reached the edge, we could have (our) first look at the metal towers holding Elturel in place. Originally we wanted to climb down over them, but since they are covered in spikes we decided we would jump down. Usually, Ron has feather fall prepared, but he already used it on me with the cannon, so unfortunately that was off the table. But we made a new plan. Lulu could fly one person down so paired up with Leo who would turn into a cat to make sure the weight wouldn't be too much for her. Fenrir would team up with Ron and use his flying booties to not get crushed at the ground. I would pair up with Bertha and she would take us to safety with her dimension door once we were close enough. It seemed like a solid plan. There were just a few things we didn't expect. Like the administration building, just floating around below Elturel. Lulu passed it just fine. Fenrir and Ron managed to land on it safely, before continuing their way down. But me and Bertha had a bit of a problem. We panicked, and Bertha used dimension door to get to the other side of the building (which must have looked pretty cool) but that left us without a safe means of landing. Then all of us got attacked by Varguls. I've seen them before but hadn't realised how deadly those damn heads are. I got to slip Bertha my potion of gaseous form, which meant she could land safely while I tried to fight the things. I killed one. Ron managed to make me fall a bit more controlled, but I think I've never been this fast. Actually, I did kinda enjoy it, until the landing. I tried to focus on my magic, hoping I would teleport myself to safety, but unfortunately my magic is too chaotic and didn't work. I did manage to make a perfect hero landing for a second, but my knees didn't like it (especially after those vicious Vargul attacks) and broke a few seconds afterwards. But Leo, who was already downstairs, healed me up just fine.
While we were waiting for Bertha (I didn't realise that potion would make our usually fast tabaxi quite slow) we saw we landed in a deserted harbour. We have a map of Avernus, which marked it as the dock of fallen cities (that map is really cool. Apparently, whenever we visit a named place in Avernus it just burns a little bit to show where we are and adds the name. I would love a map like this for every place we visit). We could see some remnants of those fallen cities in the Styx underneath the souls which were floating in it. When Bertha landed we decided to explore one of the buildings. The door didn't like it when we pushed it open, but it couldn't do anything but whine about it since it wasn't locked. Turns out the building was an administrative building, and had ledgers full of different “products” which had come through it in some other time. It wasn't as interesting as we expected it to be, although I think it's important to note that some “products” had names and that everything was human-sized. I wonder if that means all devil's are human sized, or if there aren't any important devils working in the dock.
The only living thing in the dock was an imp, who had stayed invisible most of the time. Once it showed itself it wanted us to pay it. We tried to get it to give us some directions, or other help, but it was inclined to get paid without doing anything. When it started threatening to get its superior we left.
Anyway, we weren't too sure where to go next (the demon shield doesn't know where Fort Knucklebone is), but during our jump down Ron had seen a piece of hellmetal the size of a building flying from another dock. So we decided to go there and hopefully get some directions. Next to the dock was a lot of open space and a road which seemed to go kinda the right way. So we decided to follow it for what seemed like forever. Avernus isn’t a beautiful place. Not that I expected it to be beautiful, but I did expect it to be less dull. It’s just an endless wasteland filled with toenails. The only exciting thing to happen was that Fenrir summoned a horse which turned out to be a hell horse. When Leo turned into a mouse (I’ll come to that later) he was also fire-y, so I assume the hell horse is because of Avernus and not because of Fenrir. I still like the horse though. The horse seems to be fine with Fenrir, but doesn’t really like me. However, it is obsessed with Leo for some reason. Maybe it feels his druidic energies?
After walking for an eternity we finally saw the new dock, which also has a watchtower. Our map marked it as the Styxian docks, but we didn’t enter until we had a night's rest. Leo turned into a mouse and scouted into it. Although he couldn’t get very far, he did see there were too many devils inside to fight our way through. We walked into it, hoping to talk. We were taken in by Bumbo, a bearded devil. He offered us food and a bottle of whiskey from his personal stash (the Abyssal chicken was okay, the whiskey was the best I ever had. And yes, I checked, it was actually free. He just “ hoped you will think of me when you die” . So I guess he thinks our damned souls will give him a promotion or something). He didn’t know where Fort Knucklebones is, although he did mention some place called the Purple city, where are supposed to be a lot of humanoids. He didn’t advise us to go there though, since most or all of them are necromancers. The demon shield does want us to go there. I think everyone trusts that shield way too much. Then again, we have no clue where else to go.
That’s where we are now. Not sure where to go. Not being able to trust anyone. It’s kinda depressing actually. But we will find a way out. We were able to find Elturel, which is ridiculous if you think about it (it was in a different plane of existence) so why wouldn’t we be able to work this out?
I hope you are safe, and the deal between Ikaya and Ravenguard will work out. I don’t know about Ikaya, but Ravenguard seemed to want to make a deal and actually trust the vampire. I hope that when we return we won’t find a city full of vampires…
Stay strong, and keep an eye on Trystane for me, I’m afraid I might do something stupid, like asking the vampire for “ a way out” .
Your loving sister,
Caja
To Shiara's market and back again (session 20 or 33)
Dear Trystane,
I heard you asked for me.
I don’t know what to say. And quite frankly, I’m scared to face you. I did a lot of stupid things . I climbed into a cannon on the way from High hall to Shiara’s market for example. We were going to Shiara’s market because we negotiated with Uldur Ravenguard to send food and water your way at least once a week. As you’ve probably heard by now, we brought the first shipment.
Anyway, the bridge connecting east and west Elturel was still broken. On our way there we saw a gnome tinkering with a cannon. He suggested someone should climb into it and he would shoot that person (me) to the other side. Which he almost did. Luckily Ron flew right beside me and caught me before I actually fell down into the Styx. With a rope and some help from Fenrir I got back onto the ground. The gnome then continued to study Rons flying boots and managed to make some gloves which makes the carts with supplies float. That is how we eventually managed to cross the bridge. There were still some devils on the other side, but we had a deal with them so we could pass the bridge chasm twice. They said we did that when Ron went back and forth for the second cart (I don’t agree, none of us do) but we decided to not make a big deal out of it and continued to the market.
Once we arrived at the market we were greeted by Melina, who was kinda angry we “didn’t fulfil the mission”. I thought the important part was to get you guys food and water, but apparently she thinks it more important that the supplies don’t come from High hall. Someone (I can’t remember who) told us she was at High hall during the descent, and that must have been traumatising, but starving to death can’t be much better.
Melina also said both you and Nori asked for me. I was kinda scared to see the both of you, but decided I would see Nori first. You know, since she’s family. She was quite pissed at me when she saw me when I first came to Avernus. But she was the reason I came here. I want her to get back. To make up for running away. And I’ve written to her. A lot. And she managed to forgive me (although it did take her quite some time). You see, I’m scared you’re disappointed with me too. And unlike Nori, I’ve never spoken with you since I ran away. I don’t understand why you would forgive me for not being there. And when I saw you, under the rumble in the warehouse, I felt like I was 16 again. And we were best friends. And I was secretly in love with you. Do you even remember we made out, the night before you were sworn in? I know I haven’t spoken to you in 7 years (which is probably why I am so scared to talk to you), but what if I’m still into you? What if you’re married? What if you’re not? This kind of thing scares me so much. I really wanted to talk to you, but I was also kinda glad Clove Ikaya (who ordered us to see him when I talked to Nori) said we should ride with him and 40 hellriders to High hall to seal the deal we made (I actually thought it already was sealed, but what do I know?)
Anway, Nori fixed the bridge magically, so we didn’t have to use the cannon again. Or probably so the horses could pass easily. We weren’t supposed to be part of the negotiation, so everyone decided this was the best time to descend down into Avernus while they were still talking. I got to say goodbye to Nori and Rhivaun (it seems so weird he’s here as well. Is your old mentor still around? Do you still see him?) but I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to you. I really wanted to, but I didn’t want to bother everyone else. And now I feel guilty. I kinda think none of the others realise we go into actual hell. We might very well die out there. And who knows how long we will be there? It might take forever to find that damn sword. And none of them bothered to say goodbye to their family. I just didn't get to say goodbye to you.
Anyway, I got kinda distracted while writing this. I wanted to tell you I still care about you. And that I’m sorry I couldn’t see you. Once we find this damn sword and save all of Elturel I’ll talk to you. If I saved Elturel talking to you can’t be this scary anymore, now can it?
I’ll see you, hopefully very soon,
Caja
Back at High Hall (session 19 or 32)
Dear Nori,
I hope you are still doing ok. We’re back at the Maze and things seem to work out here. I would invite you (and everyone at Shiara’s market) to come and live here, but I’m pretty sure Clove Ikaya wouldn’t want you to. I can’t imagine him wanting to lose more hellriders (or just innocent victims). If everyone tries to leave it will probably be a massacre. And we convinced Ravenguard to send food and water to the market at least once a week, so everyone should be fine. When Ravenguard agreed, I tried to hug him but his guards didn’t waste any time to stand between us. He really doesn’t like hugs. Must be a fun guy to live with. However, he did make us honorary Flaming fist. So he's not too bad. He just doesn't want to show it.
When I said things seem to be working out, I mean everything. I already told you they brought Lulu back in my previous letter. Freya Jinx also prepared the ritual to bring Fenrir back. Everyone of us had a task to do. Leo had to read from the Creed, concentrating on it and not stop. No matter what happened. Ron had to hold the sword, and I assume it had something to do with spellcasting. Bertha supported the ritual, infusing it with magic by playing music. I had to make sure Fenrir (and the rest of us) were safe by destroying whatever came out of him. Which sounds weird enough, yet somehow I didn’t expect him to start hovering. We were standing on a pentagram and I wasn’t sure whether or not I could leave my spot. I kinda fucked up the protecting job. The glowing orbs that left Fenrir were fast and I was kinda distracted by Fenrir, so I don’t think I actually killed any. But we all survived, so it didn’t really matter. Next time I should ask what to expect and if I can leave my spot. Yes, I say next time because I’m pretty sure Fenrir would do it again if it’s necessary (or if he thinks it maybe might be necessary). He seems pretty determined to become a martyr. I hope he will soon realise he doesn’t have to die to be a hero.
After these happy moments Ron kept to himself in his room. He said it was because he had to study some spells, but I’m pretty sure he also didn’t want to show his emotions. Kinda weird, since we all know he was happy to see Lulu and Fenrir in good health once again. I wonder why he doesn’t want us to know he has emotions, but at the same time I feel like I’ll offend him if I ask. Maybe his grandmother knows. She didn’t seem ashamed of showing love and pride towards him. I should ask her some time.
Do you remember I wrote about the bandits in Symbrils house? Back when we met them we didn’t want to deal with them. Or rather, we thought it would be better if we didn’t deal with them. I’m not sure how or why, but somewhere between reaching High hall and returning to it everyone's opinion about it changed. Well, technically speaking, my opinion didn’t change, but for some reason, everyone now agreed with me. So we brought justice to the bandits, brought their leader back to the maze and we found Onthar Vroem (who we’ve been for since Shiara’s market, the saddlebag had a delivery for him) in the basement.
In the maze we also went back to the guy who drew the barely readable map. We promised him some magic mushroom for his (shitty) services, but apparently we brought the wrong ones. I’d say that would be a fair price, but for some reason Leo offered his (good!) tobacco as a thank you. Maybe Leo really doesn’t know how bad the map was. Anyway, I think that tobacco is way more valuable than whatever this guy can offer us, and I convinced him the tobacco was bad and that I should take it instead. Then he offered me to do shrooms together. Leo would babysit us because "you always need a sober friend". I bailed as soon as he was too high to notice. I kinda feel like Leo thought I am into this guy although I’m not sure why he would care. He didn't seem that interested in my life before.
Fenrir spent a few days with his uncle and I joined Ron on another trip to the wizard tower. Then we all went to the southern bridge, since the food and water should pass the cliffs somewhere. It was broken, but not so broken it couldn't be fixed. I assume we will go to Shiara's market soon. Hopefully you've had enough time to process things and we can make up for a bit.
We've seen Taxidorm again! He planeshifted back to Avurnus! And he brought some more hellriders. It did take them quite a while to get here again, but then again, he had to find a new piece of hellmetal since he lost the piece Lulu gave him. That can not have been easy. But now he's here he can start evacuating people. I'm not sure how often he can planeshift, and I assume he can't bring everyone back before Elturel sinks into the Styx, but starting to evacuate can't hurt, right? Maybe he can also bring supplies, if necessary. Yes, seeing Taxidorm makes me quite hopeful.
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about the visions! Like I wrote before, Thorms helmet is supposed to give the wearer visions. So while he was unconscious, Fenrir has seen things. Most of it was of Zariels charge into Avernus. Which is interesting, but I’m not sure how knowing her generals were called lord Olianthus, lord Aruman and lady Yael is gonna help us. The useful thing he learned is that Zariels sword can sever the chains holding Elturel. And that it is the key to her heart. Lulu is the only one who knew where it is. But she has (probably) forgotten it. Luckily the voice he heard also told him the Kenku at Fort Knucklebone could help her remember. And for some reason, the devil's also want to know where the sword is (maybe to win Zariels favour? It probably can’t hurt to have the key to your boss’s heart).
I think that's everything.
Hopefully I’ll see you soon,
As always, stay safe and stay strong,
Your loving sister,
Caja
Wearing the helmet (session 18 or 31)
Dear Nori,
I hope you are still doing okay.
There is a lot to tell you, so I'm starting right away.
In my last letter I told you we went onto the tombs beneath the graveyard, to get Thorms helmet and that it wasn't where Gideon said it was supposed to be. We rushed to another room and we're just in time to see a goat-like demon throw the helmet in a basin of water. It started chanting and opened a portal to the demonlord Baphomet and its army. At that moment, all I could think about was getting the helmet back so the demon couldn’t use it anymore. Which worked well, I jumped in the basin, and after a struggle with the demon I got it in my possession. Meanwhile, Ron was doing amazing, dispelling the portal and making sure no other demons could get through. Well, technically speaking, some demons came through before Ron could close it, but compared to the HUGE army waiting on the other side, it was nothing. The demon tried REALLY hard to open it again, but it wasn’t nearly as strong as Ron is. After obtaining the helmet Leo teleported me back to the balcony and Bertha was giving everyone the support they needed. Gideon told me to give the helmet to him or Fenrir, before it was too late. So I gave the helmet to Fenrir. Big mistake. Fenrir put it on and lost conscience right away (Gideon already said Fenrir wasn't dedicated enough to use the helmet). I'm not sure what Gideon was going to do with it, since he isn't a follower of Thorm either. Gideon took Fenrir and brought him back to his house while the rest of us dealt with the remaining demons.
There was still some dimensional residue left in the tomb, but we couldn't do anything about it. So after we slayed the demons we went back to Gideon's cabin. Gideon had put Fenrir in his bed, but there wasn't a lot he could do considering he wasn't dead. Gideon suggested we would bring Fenrir back to High Hall, hoping someone over there would know what to do with him. Fenrir did mumble something in his "sleep", but I didn't understand it. Some of the things kinda sounded like what demons say, but not all of it. Because of the demon speech Uldur Ravenguard didn't want us in the maze. "He might be possessed". Asshole even mentioned it might be better to kill Fenrir. I want to point out the only reason Fenrir "might be possessed" is because he's wearing Thorms helmet. Which Uldur Ravenguard asked us to retrieve. First we do his dirty work and then he wants to kill us for it. I might have gotten a bit defensive, and might have threatened him a bit. Which his guards didn't like. But we didn't get into an actual fight, and Ravenguard suggested we put Fenrir in High Hall instead. Which wasn't a bad idea, considering high hall is a holy place and used to be dedicated to Thorm, before the Companion. He also sent for some clerics, hoping to bring Fenrir back.
Ron wanted to take another look at the Creed resolute. He thinks something's off with it. There was only 1 guard left, so we could easily take another look at it. Guard is a bit of an exaggeration. She was more of an intern. Also a big fan of Thavius Kreeg, who we expect to be a traitor. While Ron looked at the book I had a talk with the intern. I didn't tell her about the traitor part, but somehow I still managed to offend her by talking about the wrong horse. It didn't matter though, because Ron got what he was looking for. When we had some privacy he revealed to us he managed to get something out of the Creed: the actual devil contract. Apparently the one we got from the puzzle was a decoy.
The next morning we got some good news. They managed to bring Lulu back! I didn’t really expect it anymore, the poor thing had so many bad things happen to her. But she’s a lot stronger than she looks. I just hope her memory didn’t get any worse. She already had some trauma before the devil killed her. While she’s resting we’re going to Fenrir. Hopefully they figured out how to get the stupid helmet from his head.
I hope you are safe.
May the gods look over you,
Your loving sister,
Caja
The search for the helmet (session 17 or 30)
Dear Nori,
I hope you’re doing well. Or at least better than we’re doing.
Yesterday night (was it night? Without the sun I have a hard time telling day and night apart) everything was still fine. I mean, Fenrir had an almost dead experience (which he denies by the way. I wonder if he really doesn't know or just wants to forget it ever happened. Maybe he isn't ready to face his mortality yet. Which would be understandable considering his age, if his uncle who raised him wasn't the grave cleric everyone knows) but he still made holy water and hollowed the ground just fine. Gideon sent two corpses back to their grave after Fenrir finished, which is kinda weird since they are still undead and just lay there with their eyes open. At least they're home, I guess. Gideon also explained to us that he isn't a necromancer, like I wrote before, but the dead rose because of the Companion (like all over Elturel) and he found some docile ones who now guard the sacred ground. Which seems like a good deal.
Anyway, we could use some sleep after the fight. Gideon doesn't have the space to house us all, so we camped outside. It wasn't as nice in the maze, but still a good rest.
The next morning we went into the chapel to find Thorms helmet. We went in through the family room but we didn’t see the spirits that were hiding in there. They attacked us when we passed them, but they proved to not be too much of a problem. They did snack on Fenrirs and Bertha's strength before we kicked their asses though. Fenrir did actually seem less strong. I wanted to lend him my gloves of ogre power (I don’t think I ever told you, but I got them in Scornubell after my first mission. They kinda symbolize me being good enough for the company so they mean a lot to me. It is kinda a big deal I trust Fenrir enough to borrow them. I could have lent them to Bertha as well, but she doesn’t really need the extra strength they give.) but after we took a breather, he seemed like his old self again, so it wasn’t necessary. Bertha and Gideon also seemed better. Gideon had kinda lost his connection to the Weave this morning, and I was kinda afraid it meant he lost his connection to God. Thank Kelemvor that wasn’t the case.
Before going into the tombs, I wanted to pay respect to the gods the chapel is dedicated to. Gideon and Ron joined me while the others waited at the entry to the tombs. I think the chapel used to be beautiful, but the descent put it into ruins. Of the four stained glass windows only one was still intact (it displayed Thorm blessing a hero). Not that we had time to enjoy it, since we got attacked by skeletal minotaurs when we entered the room. I called for help and the skeletons were destroyed in no time. Somewhere, I feel like we wasted our energy on them, but at least they couldn’t sneak up on us and attack us from the back.
After that fight everyone watched me paying my respects. Which made me kinda nervous. I dropped one of the candles and almost set the altar on fire. It was a kind of a shitshow, although it could have been worse. Then I tried to move Fenrir to pray as well. I thought he wanted to prove to his uncle he is dedicated to Thorm and will be able to use the helmet. But he “ didn't feel very religious” so he didn’t. Honestly, I’m starting to doubt how devoted he really is. Which might be a problem once we have the helmet.
After paying my respect we went down into the tombs. The tombs are big and confusing, but we had Gideon to show us the way. He knew exactly where we needed to go. Or were supposed to go. When we arrived at the supposed place there was no helmet to be seen. Gideon, who hadn’t been there since before the descent, seemed a little panicky, and rushed us to the other room. Hopefully the helmet is there. I don't really understand how he would confuse the rooms (he is the one person I expect to know every inch of the graveyard and tombs after all), but he was sure the helmet was there when he went down last time.
Stay safe, stay strong, and may the gods look over you.
Your loving sister,
Caja
The wizards tower and proving ourselves (session 15&16 or 28&29)
Dear Nori,
In my last letter I told you we were in an abandoned apothecary on the way to the graveyard. When we left the apothecary building we saw 3 people in the building on the other side of the road. Remembering how nice Mildred was, we went over to say hi. They quickly told us to get inside (they were afraid of fiends and such, which seemed logical despite the third person just leaving their company). When we were inside we realized something was wrong. One of the women turned her head 360 degrees, while the other bent backwards way too far and proceeded to walk like that. They turned out to be debook demons. It must have been so fucked up to see this kind of thing in someone you know. I mean, it was fucked up enough for Leo to get the fuck out of there and to be honest, I don’t blame him. Once we kicked the first one out of its host it grabbed me with its tentacle. I wish I had run away. Seriously, why do all those disgusting, slimy tentacle monsters grab me?
Anyway, We did beat the fiends, although they were too fast for us to kill them. The third one came back for a little bit, but when it saw it was alone it left again quite fast. So we moved on to the wizards tower. The area around the wizard tower was littered with corpses. Well, most of the area. The surroundings directly next to the tower were empty. No corpses, no magical residue. It creeped me out. After some simple spell casting we figured out it was an anti-magic circle of some sorts. Fenrir, tired of carefully observing an invisible wall, walked into it. When nothing happened, the rest of us followed. The door to the tower was locked, but there were strange letters above it. Ron said it was a riddle in celestial. It was something like “time existed before me but history behind me”. Our first answer, “language” was wrong (and Ron got zapped) but our second guess, “writing” got us inside.
Have you ever been in a wizards tower? Because believe me, it’s weird (kinda like Candlekeep, but just one house instead of an entire keep). I don’t understand how they can concentrate on their spells and studies in there at all. Why would you fill your house (where you live) with traps and riddles and other dangerous stuff? Just imagine coming home after a night at the tavern and you have to remember the answer to a fucking riddle in fucking celestial to get inside. While you're drunk! I think I’m starting to understand why Bear Normol never goes outside…
Anyway, inside the tower we came into a big room. There were four statues inside, four different color lights, 5 different kinds of mushrooms and an altar. We inspected the room for a bit, not touching the altar. Despite searching every nook and cranny of this room, we didn’t find a way out. So, eventually we decided to step on the altar. Our instincts to steer away from the altar proved right, because when we did a magical darkness set in (once again, imagine doing this while you're drunk) and we heard moving from the statues. Luckily Ron was fast to dispel the darkness, and the statues, which were going to attack us, became statues once again. However, the magical darkness did show us the “eye color” of the statues. Which we tried to match with the lights by dragging the statues to the right place. It was an exhausting job, but we succeeded. A new riddle became apparent. It was once again in celestial and had something to do with night and falling and moving on or something. Anyway, the answer was “stars” and we got to the next room.
Once again, the room had no apparent door. However, there was some furniture, a big ornamental egg with the constellations and 3 big mirrors with strange symbols on the edges. It didn’t take long until we realized that the symbols were mirrored letters, and these were once again riddles. The first riddle was in infernal, and was something like “call me a king, I have eyes, hiss and fangs of a snake but I'm not a snake” to which the answer is cat. The second riddle was in celestial again, and was something like “I have towns, forests and rivers but no people, trees or water” and the answer was “map”. The last riddle was in common and went like this: “I am the beginning of the end and the end of before”. The answer is “E”. The letter. You probably didn’t guess that. Or you might have. You have always been good at this kind of thing.
Anyway, this was only half of the riddle, since we said the words, but nothing happened. So we raided the cabinets hoping to find some clues. Which didn’t work. They were all empty, except one which had a homunculus named Bully in it. Bully didn’t want to help (or rather, isn’t allowed to), and when he thought it took too long he flew away. To be fair, it took ridiculously long before we figured out we had to write it down on the altar to get further.
The next level was a living quarter. No ridiculous puzzle, but just a room with ordinary stairs (and a bed and some other “normal” stuff). On the roof was a telescope, and if you used the stairs to go down you came into the room we saw in the mirrors. Which apparently wasn’t a mirror image. In these ‘normal’ rooms we found the diary of Wemba Oshrat, the apprentice of Bear Normol (apparently they divined something bad going to happen as far as a year back, and a portal around Elturel a few days before the descent), a couple of spell books and some high quality ink. Ron couldn’t have been happier, and spent a couple of hours studying them (it’s Candlekeep all over again, with books and boredom).
Now our wizard was happy, we continued to the graveyard. When we arrived there we saw hordes of undead walking around. While discussing what to do (Fenrir was very keen on smiting them all, while the rest of us wanted a plan to not get overwhelmed) someone snuck up on us. It turned out to Fenrirs uncle, Gideon. He seemed happy to see Fenrir. We talked for a bit and told him about Thorms helmet. Gideon, who is a follower of Kelemvor, told Fenrir he isn’t dedicated enough to use the helmet. But slaying the fiends on the graveyard would be a good start to show his dedication. The undead walking on the hallowed grounds weren’t a problem, Gideon raised them to protect the hallowed grounds (I’m wondering if Fenrir knew his uncle is a necromancer, or if he became one because of hell).
Because of the description Gideon gave, we assumed the fiends were minotaurs (or maybe spiked devils). We were wrong. They were Balgura’s (we defeated one at the Antlers), although they did look different. Also, defeating one was doable. Defeating 3 at the same time was a lot harder. It didn't help that once we defeated 2 of them, their blood fused into a new, worse, fiend. It was some kind of crab demon who can also casts spells. It stunned me the moment it appeared. I couldn't do anything, but I did see how the crab demon got a hold onto Fenrir, and dragged him all over the graveyard, with Ron running after him, doing whatever he could to free Fenrir. Bertha and Leo were having a though time defeating the last Balgura, especially since those things do turn invisible every now and then. But with their combined efforts they did get him down. However, the three of us were too late to help Fenrir, since the fiend knocked him unconscious, and was still hammering into him. When I finally was able to do something I stormed to fiend, hacking my way into it, believing Fenrir to be dead. I killed the demon, and Leo was able to heal Fenrir back to life without the use of the diamond. Me and Fenrir chopped the corpse (which was slowly turning into a black liquid) to tiny pieces to make sure it wouldn't hurt us again.
I hope your day has been better than mine, with fewer no demon attacks and almost dead friends.
Hopefully the gods watch over you.
Stay strong, stay safe,
Your loving sister,
Caja
Wandering the maze (session 14 or 27)
Dear Nori,
I feel like a lot has happened in very little time. It has been 2 days since I left the marketplace. In those days we've cleared out undead at the Unity square, met 3 (or 4 if you count the bandits at Symbrils house) new groups of survivors, had a conversation with a demon, secured High Hall and got send on a quest as a group of adventurers. I wonder how mom and dad would feel about that. Their daughter becoming an adventurer instead of a hellrider. Would they like that better or worse than a mercenary? I guess they wanted me to be happy. Both of us. Now I think about it, I never asked if you are happy with your life. I always assumed you were, considering you have magic and are a hellrider and seem perfect. But the one thing I've learned in Avernus (technically speaking, I've learned a couple of things, but that isn't where I was going with this) is that not everything is what it seems. Once we get out of this mess, I want you to be happy. Even if that means I never see you again.
Anyway, despite the nice safe feeling the maze gives us, we needed to leave it again to find Thorms helmet. We figured traveling through the maze would be safer than above ground, and after Ron got some directions from a shady guy with an appetite for magic mushrooms, we went on our way. I'm not sure if the shady guy is bad at giving directions, or Ron is bad at following them, but we got kinda lost. I tried to be subtle while helping him (I think I'm the only one who noticed we walked past the same rock formation multiple times) but we still ended up at the chasm. At that moment we realized we weren't alone. You see, in the maze are a couple of deep holes to nowhere and something came floating out of it. It kinda looked like a beholder, but not quite. It gave us visions, of what I assume happened to it (caught by mind-flayers, tortured and experimented on, transported to hell, hunted down and eventually it started to hunt humanoids), and then it attacked us. It paralyzed Ron and Bertha before grabbing me and making it's way to the whole it came from. It was, by far, the worst experience I ever had. I hate being the damsel in distress (thank god neither Bertha or the guys saw the link. Or maybe they did see it but didn't say anything about it), the beholder thing itself was nasty and it made me fight with my brain instead of my fists. I was incredible lucky to get out of its grasp and even more so to jump into Fenrirs arms instead of the hole. I don't praise Thymora a lot (unlike my Scornubel friends) but I truly feel like Lady Luck was helping me escape the monster.
After I was freed from the beholder things tentacles it "spoke" to us again. If we would stop attacking it, it would stop as well. After we agreed it went back into the hole. I'm not sure if we did the right thing here. It probably started hunting again right after we left. Hopefully no one else will wonder this deep into the maze.
It took some time, but eventually we found the apothecary. It was a mess, and there was not a lot of stuff to find except for some minor alchemical components, some old (when I say old I mean OLD. The were probably made before Leo) potions and some of the darkest stones I have ever seen. They are so black you can't even see their shape. Ron said I can use one for a necklace.
I hope you're safe.
Stay strong,
Your loving sister,
Caja
High Hall (session 12&13 or 25&26)
Dear Nori,
I hope you are still doing okay.
I feel like a lot is going on, but we also found a safe place to stay. I feel better or rather, safer in the maze than I've felt in Avernus so far. The maze is probably the best organised place in Elthurel at the moment. I should probably tell you how we got here.
In my last letter I wrote we were making a plan to bring the bandits in Symbrils house to justice. I wasn't quite right about that. There are very few devils, demons and erruptions in Westerly. The party thinks that might be because of the bandits, and we don't want to bring those things into Westerly, so we let them be (for now). Honestly, I feel like we should beat the crap out of them, but doing that against the parties wishes is wrong. I hope they survive 'till we bring Elthurel back to Faerûn, so we can give them what they deserve.
We made our way to High Hall. From outside the building everything seemed deserted, but we still tried (and failed) to enter silently. The courtyard looked impressive, but we didn't have time to enjoy it, since 2 hellhounds (I assume) charged into us, followed by their master, some kind of devil with a golden mask. Beating them wasn't a problem. However, I noticed the doggos attacked us because they were more afraid of the devil than us. I wonder if we find a litter of hellhounds we can raise them to be good pets.
Entering High Hall was an experience. It's hard to explain it's grandeur. Although I'm pretty sure I don't have to explain it to you, you have probably been there yourself. We still had to be quiet though, since we weren't the only people inside. A couple of devils were torturing a hellrider on the altar. We tried to be sneaky about it, and not fight them all at once, but it was a long and hard fight, which Lulu didn't survive. Leo tried to resurrect her, but unfortunately wasn't able to do so.
I have a hard time processing her loss. We all do, even Ron, who claimed he didn't like her. She was too pure for Avernus, but chose to come back here to fight for her friends.
After the fight, one of the "bodies"(I forgot to mention this, but when we entered High Hall there were a lot of bodies laying around. I think there was a big fight with casualties on both the devils and humans side before we entered) asked us if the fight was over. This guy played dead during the torture of the hellriders and our fight. It was probably for the best since he is quite old. Although I have to admit I would have preferred it if he was slain instead of Lulu. While we were talking to him, Ron inspected the statue of the fist. Usually the fist is closed, like Thorms symbol. But it was open. Ron figured out you can push some of the stones on the wall to make the fist open and close, which is also connected to the door to the maze.
The not-really-dead-guy (I forgot to ask his name) lead us and the traitor hellrider through (a bit of) the maze to where people are living. We got introduced to Uldur Ravenguard, grand duke of Baldurs Gate and leader of the defense of the underground. I'm not quite sure why an outsider is leading the defense instead of a hellrider. But he has like 40 Flaming fist guards which probably count for something. And he does seem to do a good job. He didn't like the traitor hellrider though. In fact, he disliked him so much he killed him on the spot, not giving us a chance to interrogate him. I understand with everything going on Ravenguard doesn't want traitor mouths to feed, but striking a guy in chains like that just feels wrong. Ravenguard also ordered for the dead guy to be removed out of fear of debook demons (I'm assuming I don't have to tell you debook demons are some kind of demon that takes control of a corpse and corrupts their essence. It's probably the reason you had to kill our parents twice).
After we talked for a bit Ravenguard decided we had to meet the 'actual leaders' of the maze and escorted us to them. We met 3 people: Wilber Tryl, who is the secretary of state (promoted because Kreeg isn't in Eltharel right now) and the most boring guy I have ever met (this changed for a few seconds when he mentioned he knew about Kreegs betrayal and possible other secrets, but went back to boring as fuck when he refused to tell them). We also met Lore Ricon who used to be an ambassador of Eriabor but acts as quartermaster right now and Freya Jinx who is the leader of the clergy of the Companion. Freya almost worships poor dead Lulu (held in Fenrirs arms the entire time). At the end of the conversation she promised they would try to revive Lulu, and brought her to a room with a statue of her.
During the conversation, we talked about a lot of different topics. The leaders told us what happened to Elthurel since the descent in great detail (I think I got a better understanding of the shit you went through because of this. I am truly sorry you had to go through all of that by yourself), we told them about the contract with Zariel and that we want to save Elthurel by throwing it in the Styx (they mentioned punching Zariel is definitely not a good idea, she will seek vengeance on our loved ones and make an example out of it), we mentioned Edgar and Symbrils house, they don't know who we were talking about. I almost got in a fight with Freya when we were talking about the keep of the Twin Suns (she's the leader of the cult of the Companion, but for some reason she doesn't want to send a magical message to the keep to tell them there isn't an ascension waiting for them at the Companion. I don't understand why she wouldn't. At all). They also told us they haven't found the package from Taxidor, which is a shame, and the last thing they told us was about Thorms helmet, which is buried at the graveyard. It is supposed to give you visions, and therefor help us with the contract. I think it's only usable by worshipers of Thorm, but luckily we have Fenrir.
We got a bed and had an actual good nights rest for the first time since arriving in hell. At some point during the night I woke up because someone was standing over me. It was Rhivaun, the guy I was a squire for. I figured I was dreaming, so I asked him if we could meet for breakfast. When I met him the next morning he actually seemed happy to see me. First time I met someone from my past here that didn't make me feel like shit (not trying to make you feel bad, but our relation is complicated at the moment).
I wasn't the only one who saw a familiar face though. While standing in line for breakfast a dwarf woman passed by. She was Rons grandmother! She seemed really nice and proud of him. She wanted us (mostly Ron though) to sit with her and Rons 6 aunts (and Leo says humans get a lot of children). Ron declined, telling us they are a bit much, which is interesting since Ron isn't a man of many words.
After breakfast we asked for some supplies. They are making some healing potions for us. The search for diamonds was less successful, Lore Ricon said he didn't have any. However, mentioned some clerics might have a private stash. He doesn't want us to steal them, even though he thinks we have a greater use for them. I'm pretty sure he is hinting we should steal them, but isn't allowed to say so. Ron also needs high quality ink for wizard stuff, but Lore Ricon doesn't have any. But he thinks we can get some from ancarnists either in the maze or Westerly. If we can't find it, there is also the wizards tower of Bear Normul, which we will pass on the graveyard anyway.
After visiting Lulu (seeing the statue of Lulu with her lying next to it was super weird) and being told they might resurrect her if her soul is willing we went to see the Creed resolute. Somehow I forgot how holy the book is to hellriders. While Ron got to read it, I focused on the magical energies and felt not only that it's highly magical, but that everyone (or at least the hellriders) are connected to it. Ron said that when he got the book handed, he felt it vibrating and saw some metallic sheen coming through the pages, although he can't reach it without breaking it. Combining that with the 2 different versions of the Creed he read makes us wonder if the Creed resolute is the devils copy of the contract, especially since every hellrider signs it (one of the two versions also pledges "my blood" which apparently means "my descendants". We were both fucked just because our parents were hellriders).
I'm sorry I brought this bad news to you, although I try to stay hopeful, focusing on the goals on hand and hoping we actually find a solution.
I almost forgot, but something else happened. Ever since the marketplace, Fenrir has been standing up for Ikaya ("he does the best he can" kind of bullshit). Ron does not like that at all. He got suspicious of it, and decided to use dispel on Fenrir. Which worked. I mean, Fenrir claims nothing changed, but he doesn't say the people are safe with the vampire anymore.
I hope everyone at the marketplace can come here. It's safe, homely and vampire free. The gods know you all deserve a rest.
Stay safe, stay strong,
Your sister,
Caja
The west side of town (session 11 or 24)
Nori,
I hope you're still doing fine on the marketplace. Or as fine as things can be, considering everything. I know everyone is in good hands with you, but I fear the worst because of the vampire. Just because he seems to do the right thing doesn't make him good. Which is something I have to remember while working for him.
In my last letter I told you we crossed the bridge and are at the west part of town now. I had to clean my wounds a bit after the fight, so we started looking for a shelter. You were so unlucky to be in the eastern side of town during the descent! I mean, it was bad luck to be in town during the descent, but the eastern side is so much worse than the western side. The first building we saw was in relatively good shape (like most of the buildings here). After carefully checking it out with Rons rat we decided it was safe to enter. The building was an almost abandoned orphanage. I say almost because there was still some 1 child inside, named Billie. It took a while for us to find him since he's really good at hide-and-seek. We talked with him for a bit (remind me to keep Leo away from kids. He's REALLY bad with them, saying the exact wrong things all the time). I don't think he had any contact with people since the descent except maybe miss Thistlewood, the caretaker. We found her upstairs, dead and turning into dust. He also talked about his sister Rose (and his imaginary friend Jeffrey, poor kid must be really lonely). I assumed Rose was a human, like Billie, until he mentioned Rose has blue feathers. Then I thought Rose was an aarakocra or a kenku, serving as an adopted sister. I was so wrong. When Rose returned, we saw she's the demon that flew away at the Antlers. It didn't recognize us (all humanoids look the same). It talked to us (and Billie) through telepathy. It saw actual Rose fall into the Styx, but it seemed to like Billie who gives it "feelings" (it couldn't tell us what feelings since the concept is unnatural to it). It seemed to take care of Billie, although it feeds him demon-iquer, which cannot be healthy. Fenrir took a sip of it and his eyes turned black, but he did like it. We should keep our eyes on Fenrir, this plane is not good for him.
Anyway, Rose was way nicer to us than expected from a demon. It allowed us to rest here, if we answered one question: How long would it take until Eltharel would sink into the Styx? So Bertha, Ron and Leo started calculating and concluded it would take 100-150 normal days. This pleased the demon enough to give us a rest, but Fenrir didn't trust the demon (I think? Maybe there was something else going on?) and decided to attack it. I'm pretty sure we would have beaten it, and I think Rose agreed since it didn't fight back, but grabbed Billie and flew away faster than we could handle.
After the battle I got into a fight with Fenrir. I think he shouldn't have attacked Rose. Fenrir, Leo and Ron say it's a demon and it's dangerous for Billie. They kinda have a point. But, it still escaped with Billie! If we had just coordinated the attack we might have killed it! Although that might still been bad considering Billie actually likes Rose. Killing it right in front of him might cause serious harm and trust issues. Bertha agrees with me. The fight upset Lulu, who flew away and didn't return 'till the next day. Come to think of it, I haven't apologized yet. I should probably do that. Even if I don't agree with Fenrir, I shouldn't get angry with him for doing what he thinks is right.
After we got some sleep we went into town. It felt really weird since everything looked so normal. People were on the streets, talking and stuff. Some woman named Mildred invited us into her house for tea and cookies (which didn't taste ashy). She told us there have been very few eruptions and attacks. Although most of the men have been summoned to high hall. But her husband had been home for a few days, so it's not like they disappear or something. We left with 2 unanswered questions: Why are we the first people from the east side passing through and what exactly happens at high hall?
After the lovely conversation with Mildred we left for Symbrils house. The upper part of the city looks a lot worse than the western part. No people walking around, more houses boarded up, that kind of thing. We didn't get into any trouble on the way. Since this part of the city feels weirdly dangerous, we were careful to enter the tavern. Checked out the courtyard and windows, Bertha checked out a room, and when we were confident there were no fiends inside we walked in through the front door.
Apparently, Symbrils house is occupied by people who don't want someone ordering them around. They seemed willing to help setting up a humanitarian route to east-Elthurel, but we had to do something for them as well. You see, they closed off the underground because there are things down there. It took me way too long to realize they didn't mean we had to clear out the maze but steal supplies from the town. Those people are not the good guys. So, right now we're making a plan to bring them to justice.
I haven't checked this yet, but I hope we can relocate everyone from the marketplace to this side of town. Then, the hellriders don't have to take orders from the vampire anymore. Ikaya probably won't like it, so we have to hide it from him. But there are enough supplies here for everyone. And it's safe. Or at least safer than the marketplace.
I hope I can hear your thoughts about this. Or talk.
Please stay away from the vampire.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Two kinds of undead, idiots and devils (session 10 or 23)
Dear Nori,
Today was something.
It started with the talk with Clove Ikaya. Honestly, I don't really understand why he wanted to talk. He didn't ask any important questions. He did recognize Ron. Kinda. When he asked Ron about it Ron had a panic attack and went outside. Ikaya smiled maliciously when Ron left, so I am pretty sure he does remember. I followed Ron outside and tried to distract him. I don't trust the vampire, Nori. I think I understand why you're here, and let him "lead", but please, don't trust him.
After Ikaya we had our talk (I won't bore you with it again) while Leo, Fenrir and Bertha tried to get some more diamonds. Which was harder than expected, since Mattis (a cleric from the order of the companion) took them all and left for the keep of the twin suns. Since we were already kinda going that way (our new mission is to secure Symbrils house, a tavern on the west side of the city), we decided to take a detour to the keep. However, the walk to the keep wasn't easy either. We had to cross unity square, where a big pile of humanoids was burning with green flame. When we came closer we found it made skeletons walk the hard way. Although they didn't really hurt us, they kept coming and would have overwhelmed us if Ron hadn't dispelled it. Unfortunately the fire managed to summon a minotaur skeleton before going out. While the others made sure no "normal" walking skeleton would keep walking I fought the minotaur.
After making sure no resource was left behind (I kinda wanted the minotaur skull, but it is too big to keep carrying around so I didn't take it) we continued to the keep.
Oh Nori, this keep, these people. Like I said before, I don't like or trust Ikaya, but I probably prefer him over these fanatics! These fucking idiots believe the companion send Elthurel here to punish the sinners. But despite believing this, they still worship the devil device! What god would send all their followers to literal hell? Just because of a few sinners? An evil one. And like worshiping a "god"who sends their followers to hell because of a few sins isn't dumb enough, these fuckers go on pilgrimages to "god" and assume no one is returning is a good positive sign. They could have acted as normal paladins and heal the sick and protect the innocent (like Fenrir) but no, these fucking idiots steal the only healer in camp, blaming the people for trusting the vampire. I mean, these people are desperate. They picked the less horrible thing. And instead of doing whatever they can to save these poor people, the order of dimwits leaves.
Anyway, we got to talk to Mattis (who "couldn't stand taking orders from this creature", so left defenseless sick people behind with the vampire) and made a deal. We would bring a book from high hall to these idiots and we get the diamonds. On our way out, one of the hellriders secretly told us they don't have the resources. And they are not all fanatics (yeah, right). Also, they really don't like me (because I told them they're worshiping a devil-device) or Fenrir (because he said Ikaya is doing his best. Although it might also have something to do with the fact he actually behaves like a paladin).
After the disappointment that was the keep we set off to Thorms reach. I didn't expect to find a familiar face there. The devil who was fighting against the minotaurs at the antlers (which is burned down, by the way) had set up a toll. He asked 1 innocent soul per person to pass the bridge. Which apparently is a discount. Obviously, we didn't want to pay. While we were discussing what to do (kill them was high on the list) I noticed the spiked devils' new bearded servants wore hellrider armor. I asked if I could expect them, to see if I knew them as humans, which I actually did. It was a guy I used to spar with. Being a devil now, he didn't recognize me. I told him who he was and that I used to kick his ass (honestly, I'm not really sure if that's true) and he wanted a rematch. Spikey was angry I was kinda making a deal with his servant, and offered us a deal with 4 free passages per person if I could still beat him. We made the deal by carving it in a lemur (at least I didn't have to kiss a creepy doll like Leo with our previous deal). I won, and we crossed the bridge (which is still some 700 ft. above the Styx, lucky us).
I hope you're safe.
Please stay away from the vampire.
We will talk when I'm back.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Schroothoop and Trystane (session 9 or 22)
Nori,
I really hope we can put our differences aside and make up. Arguing isn't our style, and not talking to each other even less so. Even if you're not ready to forgive me yet, we should work together as long as we're in hell. You can fight me once we're back in Faerûn. There are too many fiends here to fight among ourselves. Especially against family.
Anyway, like I told you in my last letter (which was quite hostile, I'm sorry about that), we got to the warehouse, found a barrel of booze and a mimic. Mimic didn't survive us. After we caught our breath we found a mechanical horse. Leo pushed all the buttons (not at once) and after getting steamed and poked got it working.
Fenrir convinced me to ride it, which was easier than the unicorn (the mechanical horse didn't try to kill me). I named it Schroothoop. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes of learning how it works, Schroothoop decided it was enough and broke down. So we decided to find what else was in the warehouse. We found some money, gems, books, and a magical sword which we all brought and an arm eating bag which we left. Then, Bertha fell down a hole (on a cannon). Luckily she wasn't hurt too bad, and could continue. She found multiple barrels of water, which made us successful at this task, and kinda forgot we were supposed to find Trystane. Luckily Ron heard some moaning, and upon inspection found Trysthane. He moaned because his last breath just left him. Fortunately, Leo knows a way to bring people back from the death, as long as they died within a few minutes. The first try didn't work out, Leo missed a 'personal connection'. But I was there. Somehow I got group pressured into kissing him, and the spell worked. (Add here something about some fairy-tale like bullshit and I will barf.) When he woke up he said your name. It kinda hurts.
There were 2 more bodies in that room, beside Trystane. Some weird kind of Abyssal chicken tried to eat the bodies. Killing it wasn't hard. The bodies used to belong to some hellriders and have been dead for some time. Too long for Leo to bring them back. Not that it mattered, since we didn't have the diamonds anymore anyway.
It took us some effort and some magic, but we managed to get all the barrels of water, some booze and a few ballista's onto the carts Trystane brought (Schroothoop still didn't work so unfortunately we couldn't bring it since it's so heavy). We also brought the dead hellriders, so they could have a proper burial, if nothing else. On the way back, Trystane mentioned he wanted to talk, but I managed to postpone it so far. I don't know how I feel about him. The party is convinced it's true love. Even if it was a thing (which I doubt) he might be married! I haven't seen him in 7 years!
When we got back to the camp people were excited about the stuff we brought. So excited Clove Ikaya wants to speak to us. We managed to postpone that till tomorrow, since we are to tired from the trip.
We got tents next to Miriam, the woman we saved when we got here. Leo got a bit too curious about her children (implying she had gotten more in 3 days) but I managed to distract him by asking where half elves come from.
I hope you are doing well and we can make up.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Quarantine and the rescue mission (session 8 or 21)
Nori,
I hope you noticed I didn't as you as 'dear Nori' as I usually do. But the stuff you said this morning did upset me quite a lot. I went to hell for you! I would have traded my soul if it meant yours was free. I expected you to be happy to see me. I didn't expect anything like this. I'm gonna be generous, and tell myself it's because you're in hell (let's face it, no one is their normal happy self here) and you're upset right now. I also have to fight for my life. Let's be fair, it can't have been easy being in hell for 2 months. And losing mom and dad. Still, you shouldn't lash out at me.
The guard that replaced you was pretty nice. I'm not sure if you know, but we got a half orc called Alburt.
Once we got out of quarantine we got some supplies and directions to rescue Trystane. I still don't want to, there probably is another horrible conversation I don't want to participate in, but the group thought it's the best course of action. They're probably right, the hellriders wanted us to do this in exchange for their trust, but I don't like it. At least Leo promised me Fenrir would play my partner (with the selling point that Fenrir is super fertile, "which is important to humans". I honestly wonder how much shit I can tell Leo about humans before he starts doubting the things I say). I'm not even sure why I care this much. I haven't thought about him in years. Yet, I do want him to think I'm amazing and doing great.
Anyway, Urbane Justine told us Trystane was supposed to be at the eastern docks, trying to find supplies, or mostly water. If you ignore the earthquakes nothing weird happened on the way to the dock. Once we got there we found a very hungry (cannibalistic?) horse, which kinda proved we were at the right place.
Fenrir wanted to scout the warehouse, but didn't realize the lava would cook him in his metal armor. Combined with the poisonous gas it almost killed him! We still had to go inside though, so Bertha climbed onto the roof. When she couldn't find an entrance she tried to make one herself. The roof was a lot sturdier than expected, so she asked my help to remove the last tiles. The gas blew away through the hole in the roof, and once it was cleared out we could put a ladder through the new entrance so everyone could enter safely.
Inside we found two barrels of booze. Or at least, that's what we thought. Turned out one of them was a mimic. It wasn't so bad though, since it gave me an outlet for all the anger and disappointment you gave me. Way better way of dealing with it than lashing out at your sister who came to hell for you. But like I said, I'm generous and I really want us to make up, so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. But seriously, use the anger or whatever you're feeling to attack the demons. Way more productive.
Looking forward to your apology,
Your sister,
Caja
The Antlers and the market (session 6&7 or 19&20)
Dear Nori,
I'll probably see you very soon. We're in hell now. You can't be that far away. I hope you're somewhere safe, although considering what I've seen so far it's not very likely.
In my previous letter I told you we made a deal with some devils to get a safe place (among other things). The safe place we got is the pair of black Antlers. What the devils "forgot" to mention is that the Antlers were kinda occupied of the moment.
When we arrived there we found two bearded devils and a spiky one in combat with 3 minotaurs. There were also a lot of small winged devils on the roofs, but they didn't do anything. We figured we should help the devils, since we're kinda in their home, there are a lot more of them here, and we can make deals with them (also, Volo told us so). We defeated the minotaurs but the bearded devils didn't make it. We tried to get some stuff or information from the porcupine, but he wasn't willing to give any. He also wasn’t willing to stay to see if the tavern was free of more demons and fight if it wasn't. So after he left we took a careful look inside. There was a gorilla-like demon behind the counter, and 3 knocked out, probably drunk minotaurs on the ground. We made a plan which was supposed to give us the advantage with spiked vines to the door, magic users out of reach and a fireball to their face. But it didn't really worked out as we planned since the minotaurs decided to rush through the window instead of the door. Fireball to the face did work though. A bit too well, actually since it also woke up the bird-like demon who was sleeping upstairs. It was a hard fought battle, but we won without any casualties. The bird flew away though.
After the battle Ron investigated the Antlers while I checked the bodies of the bearded devils (weirdly enough the devils' bodies don't disappear like the minotaurs’ and gorilla's bodies did) and one of them looked kinda familiar to me. He looked a lot like the kid who died during my training as hellrider. It might be I'm imagining things, you know, hell is getting in my head or something, but I don't think I am. I think it really is him. Which means my soul is also forfeit. I didn’t want to tell you, because you won't like it, but I figured that if things got REALLY bad, like no-way-of-saving-you-bad, I would make a deal to trade my soul for yours. So you would be safe. Have a life. Not that it matters anymore, since the soul in my possession is already promised to Zariel. It scares me, Nori. I thought I had a fail save. At least for you.
While searching the bodies (the devils didn't have anything useful on them) hellriders arrived. They wanted us to come with them to the safety of the market. I don't really see how an open marketplace can be safer than a tavern (assuming said tavern isn't falling apart because of multiple spells inside it), but I didn't want to argue. Also, something about safety in numbers. Ron (who had found 3 bottles of wine and a lot of silver weapons) didn't want to go, but didn't want to be alone more, so he came with us reluctantly.
The area around the marketplace is barricaded. I guess that's why it's considered a safe zone. When we wanted to get in Rocus Pont (the hellrider who we met at the Antlers) told us Leo, Ron And Fenrir had to be quarantined. Apparently hellriders have been turning into devils randomly. That's why all the hellriders we've seen so far are young. Bertha, Volo, Garrix and myself are "safe". Volo wanted to see what shops had survived (he also mentioned a brothel, but I can not imagine why you would want to visit a brothel in HELL. Seriously, the sex has to be ridiculously good for it to be worth your soul. And I don't even want to imagine what devil sex looks like considering the biology of some of them) and he took Garrix with him. I hope he buys Garrix some nice sturdy armor, because believe me, the guy can use it. I think he has been in a constant state of panic since we arrived.
Anyway, Bertha and me joined our hellriders in quarantine. The cells are pretty nice, actually. Once we were alone I asked Ron why he has been acting weird. Apparently, the guy who “rules” the marketplace, Clove Ikaya, is the vampire who ruled Elthurel before the companion came. Ron knows this because he was manipulated by him. There is a lot of trauma here. It also explains a lot. However, it makes this place feel a lot less safe. I wish I could do something to make Ron feel better.
After Rons confession we slept up a bit (no-one turned into a devil yet) and Leo tried to grow a potato plant (we helped). I'm doing whatever I can to keep my mind off tomorrow. You see, Rocus Pont told us when he found us that he expected to find another group lead by Trystane. Do you remember the name? I was so much in love with him, back before I ran away. I haven't thought about him in years. And now the group decided we're gonna rescue him once we get out of quarantine. Honestly, I don't even know what to think or how to feel. I don't even know if I hope he died or not. I am not ready to face him my past.
Maybe I should quit the quarantine. Since I'm not a hellrider I'm not obliged to stay in anyway. Maybe Bertha and me can find out something more about the vampire. Or find you. I kinda think (and hope) you're also here. But I'm also afraid to ask. What if you're one of the hellriders that turned? What if you haven’t been here? I can't search every house in Elthurel! There's no time! Elturel is slowly falling into the Styx! If I haven't found you before that happens we will forget each other. I can't let that happen!
May the gods watch over you.
Stay safe, stay strong.
Your loving sister,
Caja
Crisis Conclave, Lulu and into hell (session 4&5 or 17&18)
Dear Nori,
I hope you're still doing well. Or at least as well as one can be considering all things.
In my last letter I told you we found out about Eltharels contract with Zariel, fallen angel turned archduchess. Silvera also told us there are 3 ways to undo a devil contract. The first 2 (make sure the devil doesn't fulfill it's part or talk to it's superior) aren't really viable for Eltharel, but the third one (get both contracts and submerge it in the Styx) is. So I'm slightly optimistic about that.
Silvera also called for the crisis conclave of Candlekeep, which was to be held in a couple of days. A lot of high readers were invited (all of them?) and we were invited as well, like we could provide additional information. I'm still not sure what they expected from us.
There was a lot of talk, but they were basicly trying to form a party to go to hell and get Eltharel back. They also said they wanted to do it because it's the right thing (yes, I asked. Living in Scornubell made me suspicious of these kind of things). They just didn't really know how to get in the right spot in Hell. Myrriim however, does (remember the name, I will get back to her). When they were fighting over who should talk to Myrriim something weird happened. The puzzlebox summoned a giant devil, and Silvera ordered us to get a book from her library.
When we got to her room had some problems finding the book. While the rest searched for it, I tried to get the quasit to get it for me (Pipjap was drunk and asleep) by bribing it with our good dwarven whiskey. Apparently quasits don't have taste since she grabbed the bottle from my hands and breaking it after a few sips. At least it woke Pipjap, who was slightly more helpful (but not a lot).
When Bertha found the book a portal opened. Both me and Pipjap couldn't resist. He reacted faster by pushing Bertha in, but I was already on my way to grab him and jump. The others followed us.
We found ourselves in a dark room. I used my new spell to light up Pipjaps pants (that way I'm sure he's useful) which he didn't like for some reason. It didn't matter anyway since it didn't give enough light to see who was talking to us. Yes there was talking, and a lot of it. But friendly. Honestly, I prepared myself for a fight. When I asked the voice to light up the room we could see we've been talking to a ghost dragon! She said her name was Myrriim. She was really nice although clearly very lonely. She told us a lot of things, and quite frankly, I think the Candlekeepians refuse to release her, in a way storing her knowledge like the books (When I told Silvera this days later, she said they don't know the magic to release her. For now I give them the benefit of the doubt, but once we free you from hell I really think we, or rather you, should look into it).
Anyway, after a while we could finally ask her if she knows where the portal to hell where the hellriders originally charged through is (apparently it was never actually sealed off, but only hidden). Which she knew, and she teleported us there right away.
We arrived in a swamp in the fields of the dead. Immediately we heard a voice telling us to leave. Which we of course didn't. Then, the guardian "of the grove", an unicorn, attacked us. I tried to keep the unicorn busy (I rode it! It was amazing, although a lot harder than riding a horse. Then again, most horses don't try to kill me) while the others searched for the portal. There was no portal visible, but there was a gigantic dead tree which had magic residue. It took a while to figure out, but once we destroyed it we was the portal (the unicorn fainted upon destroying the tree). It was a lot smaller than expected and frankly, none of us wanted or could get through. Then we heard a pop, and a small winged, golden elephant got through., This cost the last of the portals magical energy, after which it closed.
The elephant was unconscious. Ron tried to wake up the unicorn (we assumed it would be friendly now since the thing it was supposed to protect, the portal, was destroyed), but instead of being grateful for setting it free it attacked Ron. Kinda. So we left before it could do some actual damage.
When the elephant woke up she told us her name is Lulu. Lulu is one of the most adorable creatures I've ever seen. Bertha agrees with me and tries to keep her close. Lulu herself seems to be very fond of Leo and Fenrir. Ron on the other hand, doesn't seem impressed. At all.
Lulus's memory seems a bit cloudy, but she knows one thing: She lost her best friend. However, her memory seems to improve a bit every day. At first she didn't remember where she came from, but later seemed to remember she had, indeed, been in hell. After some questioning a few days later we found out her best friend is Zariel! The guys insisted to tell her Zariel is an archdevil now, which broke her heart. Silvera told Ron (I assume she used the same spell as you used to do) she is a holliphant, and holliphants sometimes are used as mounts for angels.
The walk through the fields of dad wasn't very interesting. It took a few days to get to Baldurs gate. In Baldurs gate we reported to Portyr (the person who send us to Candlekeep). Portyr was happy to see us, although disappointed we didn't have any evidence against Vanthampur (I didn't even know we were supposed to gather it). However, Fenrir would testify against her the next day which would help a bit. We went to the market for new whiskey which we didn't buy, and after the testimony we wanted to leave. But before we did, a kid snuck up on us. The kid turned out to be Fenrirs! I'm not sure how it's even possible since the kid seems to be 12-ish and Fenrir is younger than I am! He must have been 12 at the latest when he got him! Maybe tieflings age different? I don't think so. Also, did you get laid during your first years of training? I know I didn't, and haven't heard about anyone who did. Maybe later, but definitely not those years. It really doesn't make any sense. Leo is convinced this is normal for humans by the way, and that we all get like 20 kids (that's why there are so many humans). I think that's hilarious, and I'm definitely not telling him that's not how it works.
Anyway, the kid tried to shiv Fenrir, at which he failed, then tried to steal his money, at which he also failed, then yelled something about how Fenrir didn't return and the kingpin took care of him, and then he ran away. Actually, it was kinda sad. Maybe we should help Fenrir reconnect with his kid, if we ever get back. Family is important, after all.
The road to Candlekeep was uneventful. We didn't have to pay with expensive books to get in this time. We reported back to Silvera, and I asked her to testify against Vanthampur as well (I'm not sure why, but it seems important) to which she agreed even though she didn't have much on Vanthampur. She and Taxidor were working on the spell to get to hell. They also found some more hellriders to come. They are coming themselves as well, as does Volothamp Geddarm (who was at the conclave as well) and Garrix, who is a lawyer and priest of Tyr, brought specifically to find problems in contracts.
Taxidor can only bring 8 people at a time. So the first trip will be the 5 of us, Taxidor, Volo and Garrix. After a day or 2 (the spell wasn't ready at our arrival) we went to actual hell. Or Eltharel, which is the same at the moment. We had some trouble orienting at first. Then we heard a woman scream. We looked were the scream was coming from and saw a woman with a child in her arms being chased by 3 bearded devils. We came at the womans aid (we doesn't include Taxidor who teleported away or Volo and Garrix, who hid). We bested them pretty fast. Weirdly enough they didn't fight to death, but surrendered. Asked us to make a deal. Ron and Fenrir didn't want to, but Leo and me did (not sure how Bertha feels about it). Eventually we agreed to one soul coin for us, and they would bring us to a relatively safe house, and we wouldn't kill them, and they would leave us alone for 90 days. I feel like we made a good deal, but I am not 100% sure. Garrix checked the contract though, so we shouldn't get fucked to badly.
We're here now, Nori. The last time we were in the same city was when I ran away. I promise you I won't leave the city without you. Or at least your soul intact. I'll also try to keep my companions (soul) safe (as hellriders they lost their soul as well). If it's possible, we'll save all of Elthurel. Right now, we're in hell anyway, things can only get better.
Stay strong,
Love,
Caja
Candlekeep (sessie 3 or 16)
Dear Nori,
I can't believe what we just found out.
I mean, Ron already said he saw Elthurel being transported to hell. I just didn't want to believe it. Maybe I should back up a little.
I already told you we arrived at Candlekeep and got summoned by an imp. I thought that the imp, called Pipjap, was supposed to bring us to Silvera. He brought us through a portal, told us we had to be at the 13th floor, and flew away (it's kinda a miracle he can fly considering he is kinda fat. Which is also weird since imps don't really eat).
I told you I think Candleleep is boring but I was wrong about that. The visitor part of Candlekeep is boring, but the inside, where visitors aren't supposed to be, is weird and interesting and exciting. I like that part of Candlekeep, and you would definitely love it.
To get to the 13th floor we defied gravity and walked on bookcases (vertically, mind you), had a door ask us a question and went through another portal to some kind of garden. In the garden Leo made a flower bloom, which was kind of a big deal, and they had to register it. So I made it a different colour which fucked up all their research. It took a second colour for them to realise what I was doing.
After the garden we got into Silveras office, where we were joined by Bertha and her mentor Taxidor, a speaking otter! (Here I wonder if they put the furry researchers together on purpose, or if they found each other naturally). First, there was a discussion of the shield, and related to it about a lot of devils/demons (long story short, it was created by an old ruler of hell, Gargoth, who can probably still talk through the shield. Gargoth lost Avernus, which is now ruled by fallen angel Zariel, and has been searching to gain power on the material plane). After that Bertha presented the puzzlebox. Silvera could tell us right away that these puzzles are meant to keep contracts safe, and are used by devils. They are very dangerous. Luckily there are ways to open them, although it takes a lot of research (puzzling?) to do so.
Silvera said we could stay at Candlekeep until they opened the puzzlebox (like we didn't pay with expensive books to stay a tenday). She also said that our escort would find books for us, since we are (still!) not allowed in the library ourselves. I asked for eye-witness accounts from hellriders who went to hell (just to prove the devil shield wrong) which is a really boring book. I just can't stay focused on it. I also asked for some information about the light spell. If I focus my magic right I can do it. After a day or two I went to our escort, disguised myself into one of the fiends we fought on the way here and asked about a book about those. Weird thing is, the second people saw what I did I got counterspelled. I mean, we saw a DRAGON get into the library, and every wizard seems to have an imp or quasit but cambions aren't allowed?
Anyway, Parmak got what I was going for and got me a book on half-outsiders.
After 4 nights we got summoned by Silvera again. (Which is a good thing since most of us seemed to get restless.) She unlocked the puzzlebox, and seemed quite shocked. The contract was between Zariel and Naja Balandi. You probably know more about her than I do, but I'm pretty sure you didn't know she sold Eltharel and the Hellriders to Zariel in exchange for the Companion. Well, you probably have known it for a couple of months now since, you know, you have been sucked into hell and all.
I do think it's hilariously ironic that I’M the fuck up for running away from a devilworshipping cult. All that talk about being righteous while they were devil worshippers. I know you (and mom and dad) didn't know it, but I did the right thing. It's hilarious, although it would be funnier if you weren't stuck in hell.
I understand now why I haven't gotten any messages since Elthurel disappeared. But there must be a way out, right? I'm sure you can find it. I will do what I can to help you. Hopefully my new party will help as well (most of them are hellriders, so they kinda have to to save their own souls, if nothing else).
Promise you will leave some devil-butt to kick for me.
Your loving sister,
Caja
May the gods watch over and protect you.
The party meets (session 1&2 or 14&15)
Dear Nori,
It has been a long time since we spoke.
I miss you.
In my last letter I told you I would go to Baldurs Gate, hoping to find some answers. I hoped some of my friends in Scornubel would come with me, but they didn't think it was worth the while. They probably didn't expect me to actually go. Kinda like the hellriders.
When I arrived at Baldurs Gate I found out how bad everything is. There are so many refugees. Most of them are unable to get into the city. I did get in, but somehow it isn't better inside the walls. People were (or are? I am not sure)
disappearing. An entire city block is walled in. Apparently there is a giant killing spree.
Anyway, I heard there was something going on in the Poisoned Poseidon (which is a giant ship on top of a building). At first glance it was a butchery, but when I looked deeper into it I got taken and tortured. After A long time (I don't know how long but it must have been multiple days, maybe weeks) I got rescued by a hellrider. Her name was Rhea. I liked her, she's though. Although not though enough since she died while we tried to get out.
After that dumpster fire. I tried to join the Flaming fists. They are mercenaries, but also run the place. But they aren't looking for new members. Kinda weird, since they don't have enough people to deal with everything. They were able to give me a bit of work though. Had mostly to do with the walled in block (beating cultists, rescuing non-cultists) and the refugees (bringing food and water and keep them out of the city). I kept asking about Elthurel, and if they are investigating. I think they were too busy sorting out their own shit to actually look into it. That is, until a few days ago, when they managed to arrest Vanthampur (who was ruling the city before the flaming fists, but did such a bad job that they had to arrest her) and her son. They had enough evidence to hang the son, the mother is still locked up.
Anyway after that happened I got summoned by Liara Portyr, current ruler of the flaming fists and Baldurs gate. I wasn't the only one who was summoned. There were 3 other people, 2 of which hellriders. You have Fenrir, who looks quite young. I think he was sworn in last year or the year before. He got rescued from Vanthampurs basement, so Vanthampur must have something to do with Eltharel, right?
The other hellrider is called Ron. He is A magic user like you. And a dwarf, so I think he has been a hellrider for a long time. You probably know him. I should ask him sometime.
The last person I met there is Bertha, a cat person from Candlekeep. She is kinda bookish, and doesn't seem to like violence that much. I think you would like her.
So we got summoned because Portyr found a puzzle at Vanthampurs place. People disappear when they fail to solve it. She wants us to bring it to an expert, Silvera Sevikos, in Candlekeep (I wonder if she's an expert puzzle solver or an expert of magical items).
In that room was a shield hanging on the wall. Which is nothing new, but the fact that it talks in my head is. Considering what you've told me about talking and cursed items I ignored it (which it didn't like) and asked about it. Portyr said items don't talk and people who think so are locked up (she clearly isn't a magic user). I said the shield feels magical and she decided we should bring it to Silvera as well. I'm not touching it, but that doesn't matter since Fenrir wants to carry it. I think he likes talking items since he also has a bag that talks, which I mind a lot less since it also spits out money.
Anyway, we bought some supplies, had dinner, drinks and a barfight with a couple of goblins (nothing too bad) and left the next day at dawn.
When we rode away (we also bought horses) a 5th person joined us. Leo was supposed to be at the meeting with Portyr, but the teleportation circle misfired and landed him on the wrong side of the river (he's quite lucky he didn't land in the river if you ask me). Leo is an elvish druid, who likes fire a lot. I haven't met a druid like that before, but he knows many. I hope one day I can meet them as well.
On the coast way we met a family who were leaving Baldurs gate as well. Their cart was stuck in the mud, and I put it back on the road (yes, I had to show my strength to my new companions. It's the best way to impress them. And it was actually helpful). They were heading to Amn, and asked to travel together (strength in numbers). We agreed, which was a shame since it turned out they were fiends trying to steal the shield while we were asleep. Luckily Leo was keeping watch and saw them. We kicked their asses and still hold the shield.
Aside from that very little happened on the road.
You will be surprised to hear I bought a book. Apparently you can't enter Candlekeep without it. I don't like Candlekeep at all. They have a lot of rules but simply said you are not allowed to have any fun. Once we agreed we wouldn't break the rules we got an escort (not the fun kind of escort). I don't understand why Bertha can't be our escort since she's from Candlekeep as well.
We checked in at the inn and met an intelligent ogre named Little One. He was quite an interesting guy, although once again, not a lot of fun. Just before I actually bored myself to death we got summoned by an Imp. Fenrir had asked for Silvera, but we couldn't go to her right away. I'm glad he did manage to pull us through.
That's what happened to us so far. I hope you're safe. Ron says he saw what happened to Elthurel. That you got transported to hell. I hope he was mistaken, although I guess it's better than the whole city getting burned down by copper dragons.
Oh, the shield also said another thing. After almost being stolen it told us the story of the hellriders. The one mom and dad always told us before we went to sleep, with 2 exceptions. It said it was the shield of the angel. Which doesn't seem impossible. And it said that the hellriders and the angel lost the battle. Idiot shield. Everyone knows we won.
I hope you had a laugh about it.
I can't wait to hear from you again. Hopefully not from hell.
Stay safe, stay strong. May the companions light shine over you.
Your Sister,
Caja
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