THE HISTORY OF THE COUATL

ADVENTURE FIFTEEN

“The Rune of Resurrection”

Characters:

Count Ragnar: Indorian Runecaster on quest by Odin for the Rune of

Resurrection. Befriended by Ruva Pa.

Count Amren : Ophyrish ranger. Prophet of the Silver Tree. Charged

with the Quest of the Silver Ring.

Captain Alrek: Indorian Warrior who regaled the Einheriar with tales

of heroism and good deeds after becoming a member of the

Twilight Gathering.

Captain Toki: Indorian Warrior, who died on the Gates of Hell.

Instead of passing through the gates of Hell, the gates passed

through him.

Sir Xavier: Drychtnothian Paladin of the Silver Tree. Slayer of Devils.

Daragru the Terrible: Drychtnothian Warlord

Samahdi the Uxorious: Ingaran archmage. Founder of the Twilight

Gathering. Brother of Thigru Thorkisen.

Sir Raloth: Knight of the Silver Tree. Ruler of Itsitlawikanah.

The Time : 8th Age, 6th Year, 4th of Xaul through the 6th of Xaul. (winter).

The Place: Avernus (Hell); Ankhwugaht (Hell); Asgard (Ysgard)

Notes on Avernus: The first of the Nine Hells. This is a rocky wasteland with a dark red and starless sky, though the landscape is lit by spheres that weave and flare into fiery explosions. The blasted plain is scoured by savage legions, ready to repel invaders. This host is led by Bel, a pit fiend, eagerly earning honors from the infernal archduke of this plane. Tiamat, Queen of Darkness, guards the entrance to the next layer. The River Styx flows through this layer.

Dovinyae was captured by Bel’s legions. Alrek, Amren, Daragru, and Samadhi barely escaped. Amren received a prophecy from the Silver Tree telling them to continue on their mission, that Dovinyae was capable of taking care of his situation on his own, indeed, he had his own mission to accomplish.

Ragnar, Toki, and Sir Xavier found themselves in a town in Dream Land. The townsfolk were erecting a statue in the honor of Count Toki, Feeder of the Poor. They found the note left by the rest of the Couatl. “Went first to Itsitlawikanah. Go to Hell to meet us,” the message read. They decided to go to Hell. On the way out of town they met Sir Raloth, who had gone to Dream Land to escort them. They also met Ruva Pa, a white ferret, who befriended Ragnar. Ruva Pa communicated to the Couatl that he wanted them to resurrect Elah Baruch Thriah Asha Sindarin, his master. Ragnar agreed, providing the Rune was found.

Sir Raloth used his dreamer abilities to take them immediately to Nightmare Land. Passing into that dark territory, Sir Raloth again used his dreamer powers to take them straight to the Gates of Hell (accidentally bypassing an ambush Thosan had arranged).

At the Gates of Hell, which read, “I am the way into the city of woe / I am the way to a forsaken people / I am the way into eternal sorrow / Sacred justice moved my architect / I was raised here by divine omnipotence, / Primordial love and ultimate intellect / Only those elements Time cannot wear / Were made before me, and beyond Time I stand. /Abandon all hope ye who enter here,” they encountered two guardian devils.

The cornugons, horned devils, asked, “Do you have a pass? Or do you choose to enter by virtue of combat? Or do you wish to sign your name to our contract?”

Sir Raloth displayed the pass into Hell he received on his last trip. He was admitted. Ragnar chose to fight and destroyed one of the cornugon guardians. Apparently the devils did not care about animals, for Ruva Pa, who was with Ragnar, was not challenged.

Toki also chose to fight. He missed the devil repeatedly. The devil hit him with a Lightning Bolt. Toki continued to miss the fiend. The devil hit him again with another Lightning Bolt. Toki finally hit the devil, but the devil countered with yet another Lightning Bolt. Toki lost his sword. Sir Raloth threw him another. He missed the weapon and it clattered uselessly behind him. The cornugon grabbed Toki, lifted him into the air, and impaled the Indorian on the Gates of Hell, killing him instantly.

Sir Xavier jumped in and attacked the cornugon, killing him in a single barrage of attacks. He entered into Hell.

They found themselves standing in a barren wasteland. Fireballs exploded in the sky. They heard a voice.

“You - travelers!” the voice boomed. “What’s your business here?” A tall, winged fiend, covered with scalles and brandishing a whip, stepped forward. Another horned devil, a cornugon. The Couatl offered violence. The cornugon, who introduced himself as Montelado, laughed at their threats. He told them that Bel’s Legion was about and that Bel would know if the gate-guard was slain. Raloth showed him his pass. Montelado agreed to let them go on their journey.

Avernus, the first of the nine layers of Hell, is little more than an empty, blasted plain, so the Couatl saw only rocky wasteland, stretching out endlessly in all directions to the horizon, where it met the spotless blood-red sky. The air was lit by fireballs careening across the lanscape, ducking and rising before exploding like flaming flowers. Those bursts were the only sounds thy could hear (apart from the occasional screams that seem to ring across the entire plain).

Concentrating on the lair of Tiamat the group began to slowly make its way across the stony layer. It is unknown how long they traveled. Hell may be a Lawful plane, with the hours and days passing in succession, but the sky never gets any darker or lighter and Hell has no sun or stars, so the only way for the Couatl to mark time was a rough on - how often they got hungry or sleepy seemed to be the best method.

Sir Raloth led them to the River of Blood. The slow river of partially clotted blood smelled badly. They decided to follow the River of Blood to the River Styx.

An unknown period of time passed, but it seemed like a day before they reached the River Styx. This dark, rancid waterway was about 400 yards wide. Sir Raloth summoned one of Styx’s boatmen. One arrived. Raloth paid the boatman and it took the Couatl across the dark river. The stepped off the skiff and continued on their path to the lair of Tiamat. On the other side they met the rest of the Couatl (except Dovinyae).

They ran across Bel’s Legion. Bel sent some Abishai to investigate. The Coautl dealt such a severe blow to the Abishai that Bel decided to hunt elsewhere for Lemures and invaders. After that the Couatl ran across Grafschatz the Amnizu and his Yeth Hounds. The devil agreed to let the Couatl pass as they were not part of The Hunt.

Traveling on, the Couatl encountered the Osyluth Patrol. Kerdel and Brack, two Osyluths, or bone devils, leading an army of Barbazu, or bearded devils, stopped the Couatl and demanded a lot of questions from them. The two osyluths spoke in unison as they questioned the party on every aspect of their journey. Finally finding them Not Guilty of any crime, they let the party continue.

Amren received a premonition from the Silver Tree about a pit of maggots. The next day, or so they figure, they arrived at the Pit of Maggots, just outside of Tiamat’s lair. The Pit of Maggots was a crater a thousand feet across, and several thousands of feet wide, filled to the lip with a writhing mass of ooze and maggots. Fresh lemures and nupperibos emerged from the goo and crawled onto the land, stumbling around blindly, oblivious to the presence of the Couatl. The opening to Tiamat’s lair was on the other side.

Arraka the Abishai burst out of the writhing soup, scattering clumps of putrid goo in his wake. “Hands off my pit!” he said. He flew over and landed with an earthshaking thud next to them, hundreds of maggots still clinging to his vermillion scales. Raloth paid for passage across, and Arraka commanded the maggots to form a bridge, and the Couatl walked across the pit to the entrance of Tiamat’s Lair.

The entrance chamber of Tiamat’s cavern was a monstrous hall of solid rock, making the Couatl feel smaller and more insignificant than they’ve felt in a long time. They could see four other tunnels leading off in different directions. The first tunnel led into an area that felt to the Couatl that they had stepped into the belly of a volcano. The heat became so intense that they turned back. Another hall was poisoned, and the Couatl again turned back. Another was filled with acidic air. The Couatl turned back. They found the Blue Consort lying in his lair. The Couatl retreated quickly. Then they entered into the Cave of Greed.

The Cave of Greed had enough copper, silver, and gold to ransom a dozen kings. Swords, swordhilts, goblets, tunics, and gems of all sizes and colors added to the mound. Several of Tiamat’s dragonscales littered the room. They needed the scales to get through the Gate. Over one hundred magic items littered the treasure heap. A gigantic door was on the far wall. The only thing between the Couatl and the treasures was an oblong pond of dark, fetid water about 300 feet across. The ghost of Toki went across first and become obsessed with greed. He would not come back to the Couatl. Daragru went across next and also became obsessed with greed. Ragnar tied a rope around himself and waded across the water, his eyes tightly shut. He felt around and grabbed Daragru and forced him back, dragonscales in hand. Samadhi forced the ghost of Toki to come back with a spell.

They found the Gate and passed through it. They then discovered that to properly activate the gate they had to crawl through it. So they went back and crawled through the gate. They appeared in a large desert. They had arrived in Ankhwugaht, the Realm of Set.

Using his intuition, Ragnar led the Couatl (and Sir Raloth and Samadhi) to a small mastaba tomb in the shadow of Set’s Pyramid. Inside the tomb they found a chamber with statues and artwork and a large sarcophogus. Opening the coffin, they saw a mummy within, the box Ragnar sought tucked inside of its ribcage. The mummy was protected by a forcefield that disintigrated weapons stuck into the coffin. On the coffin was the words, “Attack without weapons until you end,” hinting that the only way to safely attack the mummy was without weapons. Daragru woke the mummy and it climbed out of the coffin. They started attacking it with their bare hands. It’s first attack critically wounded Samadhi, destroying his ability to cast spells for the duration. Daragru slowly gathered the energy for his spell. By the time he had it gathered, most of the party was wounded. His spell blasted it against the wall. Sir Raloth and Alrek threw the solid gold coffin lid on it to slow it down. Sir Xavier figured out the riddle and determined that it was a trap, designed to make people attack it without weapons. Sir Xavier also decided to attack the artifacts in the room. He destroyed one of the statues and this severely wounded the mummy. The Couatl destroyed every bit of artwork on the wall and all of the artifacts in the room, thereby destroying the mummy. Ragnar took the box. Samadhi was healed and had everyone touch the box. He then cast Dismissal, a spell that thrusts supernatural things back to their home plane, on the box, sending it back to Ysgard. The Couatl, touching the box, went with it.

On Ysgard, on a giant, floating ribbon of rock, the Couatl opened the box. It was a box of holding. Inside was a large stone slab which had the Rune of Resurrection carved on it. Ragnar learned the Rune and ressurected Toki and Anathek. Ruva Pa summoned the body of Elah and Ragnar ressurected the peaceful elf. Ragnar also resurrected Neb Rekhis. Alrek and Amren shared tales with the Einheriar while Ragnar was resurrecting the recently deceased.

Each Player was awarded 60,000 exp. for accomplishing the adventure.

Current Events : Kozad Jardak III conquers more of Ingara, leading his orcish armies to victory after victory.

Notes on Ruva Pa: White haired, albino ferret. The familiar to Elah Baruch Thriah Asha Sindarin, an elven mystic. Ruva Pa has magical powers and is as intelligent as an average person.

Notes on Montelado: A horned devil, or Cornugon, who once served as a retainer to a pit fiend general in the Blood War, but was demoted to gate duty for two centuries after losing several battles to the Demon Hordes. He despises his new position and often lets visitors through for a bribe.

Notes on Bel’s Legion: The Pit Fiend Bel sweeps across Avernus with his immense army of devils, repelling invaders and marshelling Hell’s forces for the Blood War. Bel is currently on a run of the plane, snatching up lemures for his armies.

Notes on the Pillar of Skulls: This grotesque tower’s made of hundreds of living, disembodied heads, all squashed together to form a solid mass at least 10 feet around and 20 feet tall. A person will usually hear the pillar before he gets close enough to get a good look at the vile thing, as the decaying heads talk almost incessently, cursing, arguing, discussing, etc. Most of the heads are of human or humanoid races, but there are a few that even planars would have a hard time giving a name to.

Notes on The River of Blood: The first assault of this flow is its sickening stench. A slow river of warm, partially clotted blood streams down through the wasteland, its slippery, scabby banks pulling in any fool who comes too near. The river dumps into the black waters of the Styx. Upstream, it eventually leads back to the source, the Lake of Blood, a fetid body nestled in the Stigmaris Mountains.

Notes on the River Styx: This dark, rancid waterway cuts right through Avernus on its winding passage through the Lower Planes. A person caught in the wasteland without drinking water might be tempted to ignore the foul stink and take a sip, but the oily liquid’s got a lot more potency than just its smell.

Notes on the Boatmen: The charonadaemons are the servants of Charon, the Boatman of the Lower Planes, and like their master they pilot their small skiffs along the river Styx. These thing, grey, pale-eyed humanoids are more easily summoned than their master, but are more cunning and malevolent. Any harm made to a charonadaemon will not get a reply to future any future summoning made.

Notes on Tiamat: A Lesser Power, the Queen of Darkness is the destroyer of life and the matron of evil dragons. She never ceases in her efforts to cause mischief and destruction, and it’s about all Bahumet, the King of Good Dragons, can do to keep her in check. Tiamat is vile through and through and would lay waste to the planes if she could. Her realm in the hills of Avernus is a sprawling cave complex guarded by her offspring and her lovers. Tiamat guards the only gate to Dis, the second layer of Hell. She is a five-headed dragon, one head for each color of evil dragon.

Notes on Ankhwugaht: This is the realm of midnight desert, of the sighing winds across poison sands. her is the sting of the scorpion, the kiss of the adder. Hear the bellowing of the crocodiles on the riverbed at night and bow down before the power of the almighty Set. The central feature of Ankhwugaht is the black pyramid that seems to rise to the tallest point in the sky. It doesn’t matter where a person is in the realm, the shadow of the pyramid casts itself onto whatever surface is nearby. the only way to escape the ever-present is to remain indoors or underground. Direction in Ankhwugaht is told in relation to the pyramid: “Toward the dark” to move closer to the pyramid, and “into the shadow” to move away from it.

Set’s realm is one of constant dusk. The sky is always sooty black, streaked with bloody reds and oranges that change position around the spire of the pyramid depending on the time. The colors are brightest at noon and nearly invisible at midnight.

Notes on Ysgard: Ysgard (Asgard) is a plane on an epic scale, with soaring mountains, deep fjords, and dark caverns that hide the secret forges of the dwarves. A biting wind always blows at a hero’s back, and many of Ysgard’s petitioners are heroes who’ve been slain in battle a thousand times. Ysgard’s terrain is sparsely settled by petitioners and planars who want to triumph on their own. If they fail, they want to do that one their own, too. Ysgard is a place where anyone can make a name. A town’s founded just by pulling longships onto shore and turning the masts and ribs into long halls. In Ysgard, a warrior can wrestle with the proxies - and even win. In a place where petitioners die each day and then get up for a hearty breakfast, anything is possible.

Ysgard is a plane of raw, unsheltered living and sharp seasons. Winter’s a time of darkness and bitter, killing cold. Summer nights bring mild breezes and the midnight sun. Light comes from the burning underside of the great earthbergs, collossal rivers of earth that float through the plane.

Ysgard’s inhabitants are epic and larger than life, strapping tough individuals who depend on themselves and rarely extend a helping hand without god reason. Few towns exist in Ysgard. The rugged denizens prefer to make it on their own, though they gather in the great halls of the plane often enough for mead, song, and battle.

Inhabitants slain here are reborn each morning, no matter how they were killed. In fact,

Anyone who dies heroically in Asgard - even a player character- is reborn the following day. The Norse powers honor brave warriors, but they MUST die heroically. They can’t just be cut down in battle; they have to hew their way through a horde of foes, defending their comrades and shouting battle cries with his last breath.