The party travels to a spooky tower, rumoured to be teeming with dark magic, and a new/old friend appears out of nowhere.
Kharduum Steepmine (Hill Dwarf Cleric)
Roza (Tiefling Sorcerer)
Koronus (Human Rogue)
Con'nor (Half Elf Paladin)
Growbeck (Mountain Dwarf Fighter)
Vas (Human Sorcerer) Appears later
The party were journeying to the Spectres Scroll on Radhu's map. Prior to boarding, Roza and I had collected correspondence from the local post office, and Koronus had spent some of his "findings" to start establishing a faster communication system.
Roza had received a letter from her Mother, Holly, informing her that they'd finally found a match for an arranged marriage for her, she seems very troubled by the news. I have received a letter from my mentor, Lodrom. It doesn't sound like him, he talks of hidden meanings in the roots of stone and shining light on the darkness, there's something else here, he calls me "Son of Stone", SOS maybe?
By the time we make our approach, we're the only ones left on the train, everyone is talking to the driver, he saw plenty of the Cannith stormtroopers carrying a lot of equipment, accompanied by a large man, his face covered in bandages, he seemed to be in charge.
Growbeck convinces the driver to let him drive the train, he's a natural, and after a short while we say our goodbyes and head back to our carriage to prepare to disembark, Growbeck finds a handwritten train drivers certificate sat atop a small pile of vomit, where in the nine hells did that come from? Roza cleans up with prestidigitation and Growbeck seems very happy to claim it.
We leave the train just before midday, there's desert as far as the eye can see, with the exception of a tall grey mountain in the distance, Con'nor sees the tracks from the Cannith troops and their equipment, along with soom inert black goop. It takes the rest of the day to travel through the dunes, but we soon find ourselves at the edge of a camp surrounding a stone entrance, we can make out over 100 people, Cannith troops and artificers running and buzzing about.
I borrow Roza's gem of seeing and cast Clairvoyance, my vision reforming at the edge of the stone entrance, I can see artificers stood in front of a floating sigil, it's a wall of force, but something has made it more powerful, looking around I see symbols at the bottom of the entrance, carved into stone, is this what Lodrom was referring to "hidden meanings in the roots of stone"?, I recognise them from my youth, when I was first learning infernal, I started reading obscure texts in my Temples library, the inscriptions matched an obscure ritual for opening a gateway to the nine hells, it came back to my brain with a flash, like it was burned deep in there long ago.
This inscription is specific for Avernus, the first of the nine, a constant battle ground between Devils and Demons, the Blood War, and unfortunately I know that getting there will involve a literal deal with a devil, no one enters for free.
We decide to try and get to the tower first, maybe we can find a way in there, or one of the Artificers might know something more. We take the Cannith armour we recovered last time and don it, there are only four sets, so Roza goes invisible.
We try to act as though we're a patrolling unit and make our way through the camp, we're approached by three sentries, they're skeptical as they weren't aware of any patrols, but Connor expertly bluffs his way through the conversation, rattling off a valid employee number in the process. He insist we've found something of use to the head artificer out in the desert and they let us through. The guard tells us to go find Oleg in the camp.
We make our way to the stone entrance and see the Artificers from before when I cast clairvoyance, they're still trying to get past, they try a heavily altered version of dispel magic to no avail.
As we approach Oleg, he asks us why we're here, Connor explains that he found a manuscript in the desert with inscriptions that seem similar to what we've seen here, upon hearing this Oleg is overcome with excitement, he insists that this must be one of Balthazars Journals, he immediately wants to go and see them, maybe we can use him to help open the Gateway inside the mountain. We accompany him acting as an entourage, he asks for three more guards to come, fortunately Growbeck has managed to blend in amongst them, so only two Cannith troops are with us, we'll have to ditch them somewhere.
We're approaching the edge of the camp, when a colossal man steps out of the shadows, bandages covering his face, suddenly the atmosphere changes, the fear is palpable, he chastises Oleg, but Connor tries to explain one we're doing, much to our horror, he insist on going with us, there's an aura of power surrounding him, this isn't looking good.
As we march around the side of the mountain, looking to find something we know we can't find, Koronus and I drop back as far as we can without being suspicious, he is going to try and use his forgery skills to make some paperwork that looks vaguely in keeping, at least enough to buy us sometime, I spell out the infernal inscription, changing enough so it won't work, but not enough to arouse suspicion. We're just planting it when out of the corner of my eye, I see Growbeck readying his axe, his patience has grown thin and he's about to strike this strange man, I exclaim in surprise, feigning the discovery of the manuscript, hoping to draw everyone's attention, Growbeck seems to consider this for barely a second, then shrugs and swings his axe anyway.
The masked man doesn't seem surprised in the slightest, he barely registers Growbecks attack, he whispers some quiet words and Growbeck entire demeanour and body language changes, we've seen this before, he's under a compulsion spell. The guards around him slow to a crawl, like they're hit by an unknown slow spell, Con'nor draws his blade and smashes the strange man with two mighty divine smites, but he shrugs them off. I grab Oleg and drag him away, pulling him away from the fray, protecting him and maintaining my disguise.
Roza crackles with energy and blasts out a lightning bolt in an enormous line, catching the first guard, who is reaching out with their hands, slowed, but trying to use their telekinetic powers, the bolt reaches the bandaged man and splinters around him, an aura protects him from magic, it warps around him and catches the other guard.
Growbeck swings out, attacking Con'nor, but he manages to deflect the blows with his shield. Koronus seemingly appears from nowhere, burying his rapiers into the man, his concentration flickers for a moment and Growbeck is freed from his spell,
Out of nowhere the mountain behind us explodes, I pull Oleg clear, as Con'nor misty steps to safety, Growbeck in an act of redemption, bravely grabs the bandaged man and using him as a shield, holding him directly in the path of the avalanche, we watch in horror as he's buried by boulders. I immediately run over and pulling out my pickaxe, start heaving and levering them out of the way, the others are worried about the masked man escaping and try to message Growbeck, he's still conscious but struggling to breath, he says the man isn't moving, but he can't see properly.
My pickaxe breaks under the furious excavation, but I grab a spare from the bag of holding. I manage to free the top part of Growbecks body, we can see that the bandaged man is no longer there, Growbecks is holding the remaining husk of his armour, we pull Growbeck from the rubble, and I detect magic on the armour, there's something weird about it, but I'm not sure what.
We get Oleg under control and interrogate him, they're desperately looking for Balthazar on his sisters orders, Isabella seems certain he's hiding in one of his hidden workshops.
Oleg is insistent that we won't be able to get back to the camp as they'll be on high alert, the ritual will be the only way. I don't really want to deal with any devils, but it seems we don't have a choice. Koronus says that Devils deal in legalese and could ask for anything, not just souls.
I begin setting up the ritual and read out the Infernal words, the world flickers and a Bone Devil appears, a bit of peculiar small talk out of the way, we ask if we can be take to Balthazar, but it says that this is beyond its power.
Our memories then turn fuzzy, a figure appears, a human sorcerer dressed as a cowboy appears, he explains that his name is Vas, that he know us, and traveled here with us, he explains that he asked the Bone Devil if we could at least know Balthazars location, it said yes, but in exchange no would recall be able to recall their existence, the memory of them would be gone, it turns out Vas had a number of people they were on the run from, and was more than happy to be forgotten, so quickly accepted the deal. Koronus used the ring of truth and Vas's story rang true, he explained that he threw up on the train and drew up the certificate, that he cast a fireball that caused the avalanche, he also says that the Bone Devil told him that Balthazar was deep in Avernus, the first level of Hell.
We cast the ritual again and Growbeck offers the bandaged mans armour for passage into the mountain, beyond the wall of force. It quickly agrees, and we appear in a strange empty room, in the centre is a woman, pale, bald, with glowing eyes and great bladed wings, she is surrounded by a ring of salt. She is Zariel, one of the Lords of Hell, she leads Hells legions in the blood wars.
She asks us why we're here, Roza says that we're seeking Balthazar, she says that he is on an errand for her, he is searching for her lost sword, that with it, she can return to power, we ask if we can go to Balthazar, she says that if he isn't actively searching for it, his soul will be forfeit, she remains trapped her in the meantime.
Vas offers his allegiance to take Zariel as his patron and be granted an audience with Balthazar, Zariel says the power of patronage is enough, but he's willing to have it, Vas accepts. I can't believe what I'm seeing, I'm tolerant of other beliefs, but this is going very far at this stage, I hope we don't start losing Guild members to darkness.
Growbeck offers his services as a warrior in a blood war upon his death, in exchange for help getting to Balthazar, she acccepts, honestly I think Growbeck would do this without any incentive, he'd love nothing more than to spend eternity fighting endless battle. With their affirmation, a large putrid creature appears, the contract signed onto its skin, Growbeck signs with an X using his axe and it disappears in an explosion of blood. Zariels visage appearing in the centre of his axe, different than the others, its eyes continually bleeding, unnerving to look at.
As we leave and head to the train, we know we'll have to await Zariels word to meet Balthazar, I'm worried that Growbeck and Vas may have damned their souls, hopefully this is for the greater good. While I know a little of this Zariel from my temple education, I pledge to find out everything else I can about her.
As we travel back by train, I reread the letter from Lodrom, it hits me, I should have seen it before, there is a hidden message "CANNITHS HAVE ME, SEEK BALTHAZAR".
HIdden messages mwahaha
Ooooh this was so much fun!! Well done Karl!