The Natural Disasters #5: The Road to Hell

General Summary

The group spend some time to offload their equipment so they can travel minus a horse. After this, they race off. After an hour of racing down the road, they spot a man sitting in the middle with a table in front of him. He calls Remington Mr Taylor and says if Remington would sign some papers, he could help the group in catching up with "the Hellrider." Remington refuses, and the party continues riding. 
Next, they see another small hamlet with a number of militiamen surrounding it. The group continues travelling while Hope and Kriv stop to check it out. They talk and the militiamen practically beg them to help as they don't have any idea how to investigate what is inside. Inside, Hope and Kriv find a dead body of a thief in a file room with a knife stabbed through one hand and a card with lipstick on it impaling the other. Hope finds old Lord's Alliance documents speaking of leaders and forces under Dreus' control.
Hope and Kriv then rush forward and return to their allies while rushing forward. Finally, they come across the last hamlet around for a while before they stop to rest. Here, they find two corpses and convince some guards that it isn't them. Remington turns down an offer to save a man from a fish in a lake, but soon realizes his mistake when he realizes the man has his father's gun. He then fails to find the lake himself. 
The group then continues and runs off, continuing to have hijinks ensue, including running into a hellish party of individuals who claim they recently fought a demonic cult. They find Rosé's body, wrapped in a tent in a cart. On the fourth night, they are attacked by nine wolves and Remington barely survives.
Then, on the fifth day, they run into the corpse of Magic Hands. Kriv talks to him and learns that Arnold killed Rosé, and he doesn't know who killed him. Additionally, he says that he killed noone and everyone else also said they didn't. Later in the day, the party encounters a woman and five men fighting a massive reptilian creature with a big head and little arms. As they rush at it, they find it is actually an illusion. A difficult fight ensues where, upon the deaths of the men, they turn into jackals, whereas when the spellcasting woman is finally killed, she turns into a part woman part cat creature that drops a symbol of a demon lord Graz'zt. Bear strips her of her jewelry, and the group travel on.
A few hours later they see a large aura of fog behind which is a castle built into the side of a mountain. The road continues towards the castle, as do the tracks. They follow, heading through the fog and seeing the ruined first wall with it fallen apart. They continue to the inner wall, entering an area prior to heading to the castle. In here, they see skeletons and tents.
Two skeletons hold each other. One skeleton lies with flowers and grass growing around it despite the dead earth everywhere else. Near another tent is a set of crushed bones. Then, they see a source of light streaking through the fog in their direction. When it arrives the group watches as a figure in full black armor rides a black horse with a fiery mane and tail. Hope defiantly stood against the figure, but it moved the face plate of the helm up, revealing Arnold.
Arnold said that they hadn't stopped them, and they joined them. He had to watch the murders and told them who it was all along, and they continued to leave him alone as he went to stop them because they didn't believe him. Ariel attempts to convince him to get off his horse who he has called Lilith, but this only succeeds in showing his confusion. Finally, Arnold says he can't let those who bear the mark of the Lotus continue with their corruption in the world. He lowered his helm, with tears in his eyes, revealing that he was the Hellrider with his nightmares realized before him.

Rewards Granted

Jewelry
Symbol of Graz'zt

Missions/Quests Completed

Found Arnold

Character(s) interacted with

Todd, the gravedigging bard
Elidyr Siltral, the anxious drow
Zane, the charred celestial
Magic Hands, the fallen Magician
Arnold, The Hellrider

Report Date

24 Jul 2020