The Ingaran Adventures
Episode 56
“Rescue of Phaidon, Part III: Journey to Stygia”

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                  Lord Issic:  Half Human, Half Gold Dragon Warrior
                  Lady India: A gypsy Bard/Shadow Dancer
                  Lord Phaidon:  A Tamer of the Beasts
                  Lord Alexander Maximus: The Gauntlet of Athena
                  Roland: The Chaos Lord of Oard
                  Phoebe: Sorceress, Initiate of the Temple
                  Kaletor: Cousin to Lord Phaidon
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      Alexander and Roland stared at the horrible ship as it stopped upon the banks of the river Styx and lowered its anchor.  The ship's hull was hewn from stone, carved throughout with leering faces and horrific skulls.  As the gangplank was lowered, a groaning demonic murmur issued from the decks.
      Roland turned to his Xaositect guide.  "Is there a fee to board?"
      "No," said he.  "The ship don't need no jink."
      "Very well," said the Chaos Lord, turning back to his friends.  "Shall we?"
      "Let us proceed."
      "I don't suppose we have much of a choice," said Alexander.
      India nodded and stepped onto the plank with a heavy gait, and forlorn doom seemed to trail her like the hem of a tattered dress.
      Roland followed behind the heavy-hearted woman, wondering what terrible feelings fought within her.  He knew that she loved Phaidon, but doubtless she loved her father also, despite his wickedness.
      The rest of the group followed in silence, feeling as though they somehow blasphemed a damned world and would pay for their efforts.
      They stepped off the plank and onto the sterncastle.  When they were all boarded, the plank slid away from the shore as though guided by ghostly hands, and the ship set sail.
      Roland was no stranger to ships.  He looked about him with curiosity, but the ship upon which they sailed was like none he had ever before seen.  Not even the dreaded illithid nautiloids could compare to the vessel's gruesome aspect.  The sails were fashioned of human skin, the masts bone.  Ropes moved and sails positioned, but no hands were there to guide them.  Disembodied voices called out the orders, seeming to come first from the forecastle, then from the main deck.  The planks of the sterncastle were made of wood, but the wood appeared like cinders beneath his feet and in the patterns of the grain, dead faces appeared, tormented and frozen in unholy agony.
      The ship pulled away from the shore and began to sail a steady course down the four hundred foot wide black, polluted river, the edges of which were marked by a stark and rocky wasteland that stretched to the horizon.  The sky above roiled with brooding, red thunderclouds.
      "Interesting..." Roland muttered.
      "Oh, boy..." said Phoebe, feigning enthusiasm.
      Kaletor leaned over to India.  "This is quite disconcerting..."
      Alexander Maximus turned to the Xaositect.  "Does this ship have a captain?"
      "Aye, demonwing's high-up man is Ungurth."
      "What is the dark on him?"
      "I don't know the chant on his dark.  A demon of some sort, I would guess."
      Roland turned to India, curious to have some word from the dark woman.  "Have you been here before?"
      India shook her head then pointed to the sky where three chitinous, terrifying humanoids emerged from the blasted clouds.  They swooped low, making threatening gestures.  However, upon recognizing the ship, they turned quickly and fled.
      Roland attempted to walk the decks of the ship, but soon found that he could not leave the sterncastle.  He gave a dissatisfied frown, then sat down. 
      They sailed for some time, the hours growing long.  As they watched the ashen landscape course by, they saw vast herds of larvae driven on by devils and hell hounds.  They saw twisted wrecks of men groping on limbs without feet or hands, their faces wracked in eternal hunger.  They saw a galloping trio of nightmares racing along the terrain and up into the sky.  The horses disappeared into the clouds, their tails swishing about like fire.
      Roland, who was curious in nature, turned to his guide.  "Is there a way to the innards of the ship?"
      "I would not recommend that.  The sods who find their way there get lost."
      "How long do you think it will take us to reach Larbius' Citadel?" asked Alexander.
      "Three days," said the guide.  "No matter where you go in this ship, it takes a berk three days."
      Winged mephits bearing ill missives continued to fly back and forth from the ship as they talked.  Roland watched them with his usual indifference.
      "Is there a place on the ship we can call kip during that time?" asked Alexander.
      Roland turned to the mighty cleric of Athena and admired his wit and ability to pick up the Xaositect's slang so quickly.
      "Right here, blood," answered the guide.  "Right here."
      Roland leaned back against the railing and relaxed.  He looked up into the sails and saw that even though they billowed outward, there was no wind to fill them.  The air was as dead as the rest of the blasted world.
      He looked down and noticed a hatch in the floor, but taking his guide's advice, he did not open it.
      Kaletor, who had been wandering the decks, turned to the others.  "Has anyone given any more thought to what we should do when we reach our destination?"
      "Well, Athena said to follow Roland and Phoebes' lead," said Alexander, looking in their direction.
      Roland frowns solemnly.  "We'll see when we get there."
      Kaletor shrugged.  "Very well."
      "I am open to suggestions, of course," added the Chaos Lord.
      "Well, using diplomacy was suggested," said the Gauntlet of Athena.  "So maybe someone should approach the guards and try to talk our way in."
      "I, myself, am not much for diplomacy," Kaletor smiled fiercely.  "However, if you need something tracked and taken out, I am the right person for the job."
      "Diplomacy is best," said Roland.  "Doubtless, if we wish to bring Phaidon out without trouble, however, we will have to leave something behind."
      "Or, we will have to perform some sort of service, no doubt," said Kaletor.
      Roland nodded.  He pulled a pipe from his pocket and filled it with tobacco.  Kaletor, being a man of action and the sword, continued to pace about the deck.
      "Maybe we can peel them and make them think they will get something for him," Alexander offered.
      "Excuse me?" asked Roland.
      "That language does not work on us, Alexander," said Kaletor.  "I assume, however, that you mean trick."
      "Sorry, the local lingo is wearing off on me I guess, to peel something means to play a trick."
      "I think our friend, here, is beginning to take rather a liking to Hell." Roland gave a sardonic smile.
      "Not a chance in Tartarus of that," said Alexander.
      "What sort of trick do you mean to play?" asked the Chaos Lord.
      "I really don't know yet."
      "From what I have garnered," said Kaletor.  "This 'person' we seek will not be easily fooled by anything or anyone."
      "Aye," said Roland.
      "We'll see," said Alexander.
      The conversation was dropped, then.  Hope was a luxury not afforded them in Hell and the group was beginning to feel the strain of it.  For three days it continued like this, the party wiling away the hours pacing, smoking, and talking only sparingly.  Then, upon the third day, the air turned sharply cold.  Frost appeared on the ship's decks and ice began to form on the masts.  Then, quite suddenly, Demonwing dropped anchor between two huge iceburgs.
      Two diving spheres were carried out from the holds by some intangible force and placed before the party.
      "It seems we are here," said Roland.
      "Athena, protect us from the dangers of this evil place."
      "Be peery," said the guide.  "The cold water is not the only laugh here.  This is still Styx, and can still bob you of your memories."
      "Indeed," said Kaletor.
      "Are these diving spheres?" asked Alexander.  "I have heard of them, but this is the first time I have ever seen one."
      "Right," said Roland.  He went to the railing, not wishing to be submerged in a pod, and waited for the plank.
      "I think we need to climb inside the spheres first, Roland," said Alexander.
      Roland turned to the guide.  "Is this so?"
      He shrugged.  "At this point, I am as clueless as you.  I've never been beneath the Styx.  Chant is that the Gelugons carve their cases in the ice."
      "I see.  And to reach our friend, we must pass through the ice caves?"
      "Larbius had an ice castle on the astral plane so I think this is the correct assumption," Alexander agreed.
      "Yes," nodded the guide.
      Roland walked over to the spheres and inspected them.  They seemed safe enough, he supposed, though he had never been in one.  He found the door to the pod and opened it just as lightning filled the sky and thunder seemed to boom and roar for eternity.
      "How about lets pull the diving spheres off the boat so we have them if we need them and then do some scouting."
      Roland shrugged, not understanding the priest.  He pulled the door wide and climbed into the sphere.  "We must proceed."
      Alexander Maximus nodded, then opened the door to the other pod and climbed in.  Phoebe joined Roland.  Kaletor, Issic, and India climbed in with Alexander.  The two panthers that had been trailing them throughout stood upon the deck, eyeing the pods warily.  After a moment, Kaletor coaxed the cats in and the pods were shut.  Moments later, the diving bells were lowered into the water.
      The guide watched as the intrepid group descended into the water and finally disappeared from view.  He shrugged to himself, then took a seat.  "Silly blighters," he muttered.

      The two bells sank beneath the waves and the light from above waned.  The bells popped as the iron stretched and creaked with the increasing pressure.  Several minutes passed before the crews of both pods began to see a great many sharks swimming around them. 
      "I hope these bells are sturdy," Kaletor remarked.
      India nodded.
      The sharks swam closer, propelled by short sweeps of their crescent tails.  Their mouths were open just enough to permit a rush of water over their gills as they swam.  They darted around the two bells, sensing prey, closing the distance with minute movements of their pectoral fins.  The movements became more agitated, angry, hungry.
      Roland, sensing danger, focused and split his mind into two equally operating functions.  Light flashed as he summoned the power of his mind and momentarily lit the water around them.
      The bells began to bob as the water became more and more restless with the tossing of the sharks.  Then, above them, lurking like a great shadow, a shark as large as a sperm whale appeared. 
      Phoebe stood up and summoned her magic to her, purposing to conjure a maze in which the shark would be trapped.  But the spell, due to the peculiarities of Hell, was made impotent.
      Roland focused his mind upon the shark and dominated its will.  With his telepathic link, he ordered the shark not to attack and to attempt to keep the other sharks away from the bells.
      The shark attacked the other sharks savagely, killing two, but there were too many.  One rammed into Alexander's pod, shivering the glass.
      The Chaos Lord summoned another psionic power and blasted eight of the sharks to death.  The other sharks, frenzied by the blood, fell upon their fellows.  The water clouded red around them.
      Another shark slammed into Alexander's bell.  The glass cracked like a chaotic spider web, groaning inwardly.
      Issic, half-dragon, half-man, summoned some power and pushed one of the sharks away. 
      The sharks ripped into their fellows even as the bells sank, and before too long, the bells had descended far below where the sharks remained.
      Alexander, the Gauntlet of Athena, summoned his power to him and quickly mended the glass of his own sphere.  Moments later, Roland's sphere struck the side of an ice wall, tipping sideways as it slid down the slope of it.  As he slid, Roland saw the agonized face of an arch-angel in the ice.  He had been frozen there and trapped for a time that none dared to estimate.
      Alexander, seeing the angel, sent a telepathic message to the Xaositect above to stop the bells.  Moments later, the bells stopped.
      "Can you help the angel?" Alexander asked Roland via telepathy.
      "I can," he answered.
      Together, Roland and Alexander Maximus began to agitate the ice around the angel, causing the ice to melt.  Water from the river Styx began to seep through the cracks, seeking out the angel's memories.
      Roland and Alexander ceased, fearing they would ruin the angel's mind.
      The priest of Athena reached out and attempted to contact the angel's thoughts, to tell it of his intentions, but as his mind connected with that of the angel, searing pain and anger and fear and frustration washed over him and he quickly ceased the contact.
      "What is it?" asked India.
      "The angel," said Alexander.  "His mind has been twisted.  He has been trapped here so long that he hates everything now.  We dare not release him," he shook his head.  "Never have I felt such hatred and anger."
      The Chaos Lord and the Gauntlet of Athena contemplated freeing the angel into the water, anyway, to relieve the poor creature of its horrible memories, but before they could, the shark that Roland had dominated, suddenly swam upward, searching for prey.  Danger was on its way.
      "What do you think we should do, This might have been some sort of trap," Alexander asked the Chaos Lord.
      Sahuagin swam near.  They raised up their tridents.
      "Start the descent!" Roland missived empathically.
      "Get us moving again!" roared Kaletor.
      Alexander sent his message to the guide on the ship above.  The bells began to move, but the Sahuagin only repositioned themselves and swam closer.
      Phoebe lashed out with a sonic orb and killed one of the Sahuagin.  It's limp form drifted away on the current.
      Roland dominated two more, but several others were on their way.  Their lidless, staring eyes stared at the two bells as they swam fast to attack. 
      Issic, using his power, forced on to float away.
      Alexander attempted to reach out to Athena, purposing to summon her aid, but deep within the bowels of Hell, he found that his connection had been broken.  He shook his head, feeling empty and suddenly alone.  And still the water pulsed around them and the Sahuagin swam near and beat at the bells with their tridents.  The bells continued to descend, but it was not fast enough.  One trident smashed into the glass of Alexander's sphere and nearly shattered it completely.  Below them, in the murk, another three hundred Sahuagin appeared.  Their eyes stared, their mouths gaped like those of catfish as they swam in attack formations.  Three of the giant sharks swam with them, their hulking forms slipping through the water with ease.
      Roland became somewhat desperate as he saw the Sahuagin approaching and striking the pods.  He sent a telepathic message to the ship to raise them, but the bells continued to descend.  For the first time, he thought perhaps they had been tricked.  A trident slammed into the glass of the Chaos Lord's sphere, spidering it badly.
      Phoebe responded immediately by encasing the sphere in a magical protective globe that could not be penetrated by the Sahuagin's tridents.
      Roland sought to contact the shark above, but found that it had been slain.  He looked up to see what might be coming down on them from above, but the water was too dark to see.  Roland felt momentarily like bait for large fish.
      Together with Alexander's boots of flying, Issic began to push their own sphere upward.
      Another trident slammed into the priest's sphere.  Water began to trickle in around the window.
      India steeled her nerves enough to sing a song of mending.  The window was held, for the moment, but there was not telling when the pressure from outside might implode the glass. 
      Roland, seeing Alexander's globe moving upward, encouraged Phoebe to use her telekinetic access.  The stunning sorceress of Oard cast her spell and began pushing her own sphere upward. 
      India, inside the other pod, turned to Alexander.  "Missive the Sahuagin or something!  Talk them into leaving us be!"
      Alexander scrambled to steady his nerves, but it was Kaletor who responded.  He went to a window and motioned his peaceful intent to the underwater army.
      "That is the best I can do unless someone else can talk to them with magic," he said.
      Roland and Phoebe still floated upward, noticing that Alexander's bell was not moving as fast.  Just then, one of the giant sharks struck Alexander's bell and pushed it into the ice wall.  A great fissure appeared and the shark pushed the diving sphere through.
      The sphere teetered, then rose, pushed by the shark, up a channel, until finally it bobbed up to the surface of an underwater lake that was hidden within the iceberg.  Before them, on the edge of the lake, stood a great ice fortress.  Devils were lined there, howling in rage at the travelers' success.
      Roland and Phoebe were eventually able to lower their own sphere in order to follow Alexander.  Shortly after, they entered the fissure themselves.  When they came to the lake within the iceberg, they too saw the icy castle and knew that they had arrived at Larbius's demesnes.