Chapter 20: Infernal Dealings
The savage seven awoke in the nine hells and learned that the contract they had signed to join the forsaken company was in fact a devil's deal for their souls. For the last 3 months, the group was tortured by devils in a prison on the first layer of hell -- Avernus. The devils twisted their minds and showed them visions of heaven, only to peel back the curtain and reveal their infernal fate time and time again. They were shown visions of their failure, seeing the fall of Sundabar at the hands of Firble's shade enclave. Infernal runes were carved into their flesh, binding them to the nine hells. Every day they returned to cages suspended above the river styx, each cage descending towards the river an inch every hour. After 3 months, they witnessed Alton the thief's (who had died much earlier than them) submersion into the river, turning him into a lowly lemure devil.
Not long after witnessing Alton's transformation, demon barges splashed out of the river filled with demons that attacked the prison. One of the demons released the prisoners and lowered the anti magic field. Freed from their cages, the savage seven used Keladrien's magic to float safely down to a lower level of the prison. They navigated the corridors, climbing up the floors of the structure while the devils were occupied fighting demons. As they wandered, they encountered a group of demons fleeing with their gear. The group slew the demons and reclaimed their equipment. They continued upwards, eventually leading to the rooftop of the prison. From the roof, they looked upon the wastelands of Avernus beneath red clouds of noxious fumes, fiery storms and heat lightning. They chose to break for an hour to mend their wounds, and Keladrien conjured a familiar. To his surprise, he summoned an imp as a familiar. Pan also used the helm of comprehend languages to read the infernal runes carved into their flesh, which read:
The next day, lulu led them to a junkyard fortress called Fort Knucklebone ruled by a hag named Mad Maggie and her gang of creatures. Redcaps guarded the front gate and tried to prank the group (laughing wildly between jokes) before letting them in. Maggie introduced herself and her fiendish flesh golem Mickey, and the group also encountered a pair of Kenku mechanics working on infernal engines. Maggie offered a ritual to return Lulu's memories, and told the group she would need time to gather materials. While waiting, the savage seven visited the kenku and tried to help them fix the vehicle they were working on. Pan discovered the problem part, and Kathra deduced she might be able to fix it with a spell to remove the demonic energy from it. She promised to prepare the spell the next day and use it to help.
Keladrien then visited a flameskull named Barnabas and had a lovely conversation with him about intellect and proper conversations. He discovered barnabas was the target of bullying by the redcaps, who had knocked one of his teeth loose and stolen it after throwing something at him. Keladrien offered to find the tooth, and he and Nalzmyr set out to interrogate the fey creatures. They found the one that initially stole it, but he did not have it anymore. After threatening him, the redcap summoned more of his friends (who errupted from junk piles) and battle ensued. Kathra and Pan reluctantly joined the fray, and eventually 3 redcaps were slain (including the thief) before the remaining fled. A gaggle of madcaps (smaller redcaps whose caps were dipped in demon ichor rather than blood) gathered to watch, and scattered as soon as the battle ended. Maggie seemed amused by the fight, and cackled wildly as she gathered her materials.
“And after repayment for their sins, the underwritten shall wander the world in freedom until they reach a level of power deemed worthy by Archduchess Zariel or die, whichever may come first.”Looking out at the wasteland, the group witnessed devils in an infernal engine chasing down demonic stragglers as the battle ended. They chose to float down to the surface after the engine returned to the prison, and there stole the vehicle from the devils. Nalzmyr drove the thing out from the hangar, and they ventured out down the river styx towards a city floating above the ground in the distance (held down by massive chains). After several hours of driving, the vehicle stopped--apparently out of fuel. They studied the vehicle to learn its inner workings, but found no way to bring it back to life. So they left the thing behind and walked towards the city in the distance. Near the end of the day (or at least when they became tired of their journey, with avernus lacking a day and night cycle), they encountered a tiny golden elephant with wings weeping over a group of dead adventurers. She introduced herself as lulu, a one-time companion of the Angel Zariel (who later became the archduchess and leader of Avernus). After Zariel was betrayed by her hellriders, Zariel asked lulu to hide her sword. Lulu was helped by someone, but she didn't remember who. She couldn't remember much else about her time in the nine hells. But she came back with a group of adventurers trying to return the city of Elturel (whisked away to avernus and held by chains above the river styx) to the material plane. She believed the sword of zariel was the key to restoring the city, and asked the group to continue her quest. They agreed (hoping to find a way to break their bond to the nine hells), though Keladrien does not trust her.
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