Dramatis Personae
Alfaren “Alfred” Eredel – Elf transmuter
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) evoker
Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin
Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Oathday, 16 Calistril, 4709 A.R.
Jancen accepts the gargoyles’ offer and samples the tender, raw hearts. Alas, his unpracticed palate is unable to discern an appreciable difference in the flavour of virgin’s vs. trollop’s heart. Nonetheless, the seemingly verbose gargoyles are impressed by his effort. Jancen trades words with the creatures for a time, then offers the group a drink of his waterskin, which he claims holds the finest of hell’s nectars. The lead gargoyle takes a cup of the dark liquid with gusto, downs it in one mighty quaff. The Stygian water takes effect immediately, and the gargoyle doubles over in pain as the vile liquid sends its tendrils into the deepest recesses of the gargoyle’s mind, erasing memory and knowledge. The party springs to the attack at this, eventually bringing the group of gargoyles to defeat.
Once the gargoyles have been dealt with, a cursory investigation reveals the cityscape of Dis to be an elaborate illusion – a mirage created to comfort the pit fiend imprisoned in the Nessian Spiral, according to Vheed’s scrawls earlier in the complex.
The Returners venture deeper into the Spiral, winding ever downward in a clockwise corkscrew pattern. They pass through a long hall of mirrors reflecting terrible hellscapes; avoiding looking directly at any of the mirrors as they do so. Alizander, unfortunately, becomes mesmerized by a vision he witnesses in one of the mirrors. Before the group can tear him away, the Varisian sorcerer’s eyes grow wide in terror and he collapses into a heap, still breathing, but comatose. Unable to rouse the sorcerer, the group sits him in a corner of the room and promises to return for him.
Continuing on, each successive room in the Nessian Spiral represents some sort of hellish environment: a fire-blasted desert marked by long lines of fresh souls newly arrived in Hell; a vast underground mine patrolled by blue-tinged drake-like behirs and burning devils wielding glittering barbed whips; and finally a wide garden of metallic trees bearing brass-coloured fruit, where gaps in the densely packed trees reveal glimpses of bestial couplings between devils and the damned.
The Returners face challenges in each of these rooms: massive black-feathered bird-head creatures in the Avernus desert; a slave-master behir that compels Tavo, Jancen, Carlos, and Alfred to take up heavy picks and get to work; and finally a towering stone statue of a minotaur wreathed in flames. The minotaur blocks the only exit from the grove of metallic trees. Taking a defensive posture, the minotaur announces in a rumbling voice that none may pass without the iron ring. Guessing that the hall of mirrors they bypassed earlier is the only area they haven’t searched closely, the Returners head back in an effort to find the iron ring demanded by the burning guardian.
Boecca faces each mirror in turn, viewing images of his own torture in different hellish landscapes – reflections of the various layers of Hell - at the hands of a towering pit fiend with a horribly scarred belly. Boecca resists the feelings of despair, hopelessness, nausea, lethargy, bloodlust, greed, homesickness, oppression, insignificance, and greed that threaten to overcome him as he gazes into each frightening visage to retrieve an object revealed behind each of the mirrors. In one, he finds an iron ring, etched with infernal runes. In another, he finds a heavy adamantine talisman – the Talisman of the Twin mentioned by Crosael.
Treasure
· From Nessian Spiral – The Hall of Toil
o +2 Heavy picks (5) (worth 20,770 gp)
· From Nessian Spiral – The Route to Hell
o Talisman of the Twin (value unknown)
o Rune-etched iron ring (non-magical, value unknown)
o Rod of Splendour (worth 12,500 gp)
o Bag of Holding type IV (worth 5000 gp)
o Staff of Swarming Insects (worth 11,400 gp)
o +2 Returning mithral trident (worth 10,000 gp)
o Minor ring of cold resistance (worth 6000 gp)
o Rope of entanglement (worth 10,500 gp)
o 30,000 sp (worth 3,000 gp)
o 19,400 gp
o 1360 pp (worth 13,600 gp)
Experience Awards
· Gargoyles (6) – 7200 xp
· Achaierais (4) – 6400 xp
· Behir – 4800 xp
· Total – 18,400 xp
· Per PC (5) – 3680 xp
Current XP Total per PC
· Carlos, Slavé – 60,615 xp each
· Alfred – 58,080 xp
· Boecca – 57,860 xp
· Alizander – 56,935 xp
· Tavo – 56,870 xp
· Total Current Fame Points – 18
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