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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7825707" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 60: THE END OF HOPE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 20</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 20</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 20</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 20</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 20</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 25 September 2019</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Nadira looked today like a blonde noblewoman. Yesterday she had been a brunette teenager and the day before that she had started out as a redhead but put a stop to that once she saw Syngaard staring at her with interest from the corner of his eye. With her <em>hat of disguise</em> it was a simple matter for the doll-homunculus - who used to go by the childish name "Dow" given to her by her master's young daughter Sarah - to change her appearance as often as others changed their clothes. And by using the astral golem she was the size of a normal human woman, not a child's doll.</p><p></p><p>Tonight, though, she was briefing the conscripts in the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em> from the notes her now-dead master, Skevros, had compiled about the Hope Ender. They sat in their normal places around the table, while she sat in the spot Skevros had favored.</p><p></p><p>"The Hope Ender is relatively high up in the hierarchy of Hell," she told them, "merely two steps lower than a Prince of Hell - he's at the level of a duke or baron. As such, he is much more powerful than a standard pit fiend. He rules over a portion of Dwarven Hell called the Mithral Sea, although part of his domain falls upon solid land as well." Each of the conscripts sat listening to her with rapt attention, wanting to learn all they could about the enemy they would soon be facing. Syngaard had his normal mug of ale before him but he'd hardly touched it and had kept uncharacteristically silent during Nadira's briefing.</p><p></p><p>"Ever since his right-hand general betrayed him several millennia ago, the Hope Ender has sent his armies ahead of him and coordinated their attacks from the rear of the formation, through the use of a <em>telepathic amplifier</em> - a tall tower that allows him to send commands to his lieutenants at a far greater range than normal. Only those who have shown complete obedience are allowed as his personal bodyguards and he has been known to make trophies of his greatest enemies. It is entirely possible that you five have now been cast into that group, given you slew the pit fiend he'd entrusted with creating a permanent <em>gate</em> to the Material Plane those three weeks ago."</p><p></p><p>"How far has the Conjurers Guild gotten with completing the runes for the <em>gate</em>?" Daleth asked. After the Azure Glade's Diviners Guild had determined the time was right - that the Hope Ender fully believed the attempt had been fully thwarted and the <em>gate</em> would never be completed by his hellish forces, the Abjurers Guild had shielded the place from scrying and the Conjurers Guild had picked up where the devilish forces had left off, completing the <em>gate</em> they'd started, not as a means for a devil army to invade the Material Plane via the Baator's Breath Mountains but quite the opposite: allowing a strike force comprised of the joint armies of Durnhill, Ashfall, and the Azure Glade to enter Dwarven Hell and take out the Hope Ender once and for all. Doing so would end the sporadic breach activity common in the Baator's Breath Mountains, where short-duration <em>gates</em> would often open between the two planes.</p><p></p><p>"They are almost finished," answered Nadira. "The <em>gate</em> should be ready for operation by the morning."</p><p></p><p>"And the armies are okay with our plans?" asked Galen.</p><p></p><p>"They are. You five will be the first to enter Dwarven Hell through the gate, where you will search out the Hope Ender's location and deal with him directly. You will each be rendered invisible and granted flight, as the auguries have foretold that <em>invisibility</em> and <em>fly</em> spells will mean the difference between success and failure. You must fly away from the <em>gate</em> at full speed once entering Dwarven Hell, as the devils there will know at once that the <em>gate</em> has been opened. The combined armies will be there right behind you to deal with them while you seek out your foe."</p><p></p><p>"And we know the Hope Ender's general location?" asked Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"He is in a pavilion a mile or so north of the place where the <em>gate</em> will open, on a flat plane of sand and rock. We cannot tell any more than that, as scrying directly upon the Hope Ender has dire consequences - as Skevros himself found out."</p><p></p><p>"We're sure that's what killed him?" Orion asked.</p><p></p><p>Nadira nodded. "The Guildmaster of Diviners - the Seeker who initially replaced Arcturus during the attempted coup - found out the hard way that the Hope Ender has some means of burning from within anyone who scries directly upon him. He had only agreed to make the attempt after the Council offered to reduce his sentence if he gave it a shot, but it cost him his life. The current Guildmaster has no desire to share his predecessor's fate."</p><p></p><p>"So we'll be invisible and able to fly," reiterated Syngaard. "That'll help us sneak into the Hope Ender's pavilion and find him without being seen. But once we find him, we're gonna need to take him down, and the best way to do that is to whittle away some of his powers."</p><p></p><p>"You have thoughts as to specifics?" asked Galen.</p><p></p><p>"Yep. I say we pry up some of them <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> Skevros put around the city and take 'em with us."</p><p></p><p>"You can't take a <em>dimensional anchoring stone</em> through a <em>gate</em> spell," pointed out Daleth. "That's the whole point."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, I get that," Syngaard sighed, wondering just how stupid Wizard-Pants thought he really was. "But if we put 'em in our <em>bags of holding</em>, they oughta travel to Hell just fine. Right?"</p><p></p><p>The wizard thought about it. Since the extradimensional pocket inside a <em>bag of holding</em> wasn't an entire plane, placing a magical stone inscribed with a permanent <em>dimensional anchor</em> spell shouldn't be a problem. "Right," admitted Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"Then once we find the Hope Ender, we throw the stones down around him and keep him from teleporting away - or summoning other devils to come help him."</p><p></p><p>"The <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> don't work that way," argued the elven wizard, glad to have found a way to correct the crass human fighter. "You don't need to surround the Hope Ender; each stone prevents extradimensional travel in a 50-foot radius in all directions around it. If a second stone is placed within 50 feet of another, each radiates a <em>dimensional anchor</em> effect in a 100-foot radius, and so on - each additional stone doubles the range of the effect."</p><p></p><p>"So what'll four of 'em do, if we drop 'em all together?" Syngaard asked. He didn't feel up to doing the math himself.</p><p></p><p>"Fifty becomes 100, becomes 200, becomes 400 feet," Daleth replied.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, so we drop the stones 200 feet from the Hope Ender, then," Syngaard said, revising his suggested strategy. "That works even better."</p><p></p><p>"And we'll do a <em>heroes' feast</em> first?" Orion prompted.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, that will protect us all from the pit fiend's poison and fear effect," Galen answered. "Anuja said she'll have the spell ready for us tomorrow morning, an hour before we're ready to breach the <em>gate</em>.</p><p></p><p>"And what of Anuja? And Mikito?" asked Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"They will be part of the group staying behind and guarding this side of the <em>gate</em>," Nadira answered. "We will have the advantage of surprise on our side, but should the devils gain ground against the attack force we cannot allow them to make use of the <em>gate</em> as they originally intended."</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," replied Galen. He looked around the table at his companions. "Do we have any further questions?" he asked. Nobody did, so the conscripts were dismissed to make their final preparations for the next day's battle. Kaspar spent the night in silent meditation, mentally preparing himself for the combat to come, where he would put a lifetime of training to quite possibly its final use. Galen spent the evening in prayer to Hieroneous, asking the God of Valor to use him as His vessel to rid the world of a terrible evil. Daleth pored over the pages of his spellbook, considering which of the many spells he knew would be the most advantageous in the next morning's battle to the death. Orion packed and repacked the various pouches of her extradimensional utility belt, practicing reaching for various items until she could produce a healing potion or a thunderstone practically at will without giving it any conscious thought. (And then, once that had been completed to her satisfaction, she played with Carl for a while before grabbing some much-needed sleep if she was going to be at her best the next day.) Syngaard returned to his other job at Mama Kat's, performing bouncer duties until the customers had all gone back to their own beds for the night, then grabbed a few hours of sleep in Cori's room until it was time to get back up. He didn't worry about oversleeping, confident that Nadira - who, Syngaard had to admit, he liked much better than Dow, even though the two were the same person - would awaken them at dawn with a <em>message</em> spell in the same manner as Skevros so often had.</p><p></p><p>Dawn came soon enough and with it a final gathering at the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>, where Anuja provided them all with the promised <em>heroes' feast</em> making them immune to poison and magical fear as well as temporarily boosting the strength of their life essences. Then the spellcasters among the conscripts began casting those spells the group had decided ahead of time they'd all be going into battle with: <em>resist fire</em>, <em>stoneskin</em>, <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em>, <em>see invisibility</em> or <em>true seeing</em> - and a <em>bless weapon</em> spell cast by Galen upon the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>. Some of these spells had been cast via arcane scrolls purchased for this very purpose days earlier, so Daleth wouldn't enter battle in short supply of combat spells.</p><p></p><p>Vials of <em>consecrated silversheen</em> were then applied to Orion's <em>nightflame short sword</em>, Kaspar's <em>tenryutsume</em>, Syngaard's <em>holy morningstar</em>, and Galen's <em>sword of Zehkar</em> - and then, at Daleth's suggestion, Syngaard applied another dose onto his <em>bronze griffon</em>, applying it slowly enough that it didn't accidentally activate the <em>figurine of wondrous power</em> before he had covered it completely in the mixture. Only once he had finished his ministrations did he activate the statuette, bringing Dick to full size but now imbued with the power to overcome the Hope Ender's inherent defenses with his claws and beak. Galen likewise called Burt from the Beastlands and the dire lion manifested by his master's side at once, as if having eagerly awaited the summons.</p><p></p><p>The group had already placed four <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> into their <em>bags of holding</em>, so they were ready to go. Daleth teleported the group - including Mikito and Anuja - to the Baator's Breath Mountains, where the assembled armies stood in orderly rows awaiting entry into Dwarven Hell. Upon the conscripts' arrival, various wizards from the Council of Guilds began the application of spells with shorter durations, the <em>invisibility</em> and <em>fly</em> spells said to be key to victory.</p><p></p><p>A ring of battle-wizards stood a step or so back from the newly-finished carving on the stone floor, ready to fire <em>lightning bolts</em> through the <em>gate</em> once it was opened and the conscripts were through. "This <em>gate</em> isn't a simple, two-dimensional doorway," advised the Guildmaster of Evocation. "Instead, it will open as a sphere and can be entered from any angle; you will appear in Dwarven Hell at the opposite end of the sphere from where you enter. Thus, you may all enter at once. But remember: upon entering Dwarven Hell, fly straight up to get away from the <em>gate</em>, for its sudden opening will have devils swarming it at once - and we intend to cut down as many of the first wave as possible with our spells!"</p><p></p><p>"Is everyone ready?" asked Serenity, who stood by the <em>magic circle</em> engraved in the stone floor. The conscripts took their positions around the circle.</p><p></p><p>"Wait!" called Galen, leaping down from his feline mount's back and approaching the reformed succubus. He gave Serenity a quick kiss - "For luck!" said the young paladin - and then leaped back upon Burt's broad back. "Ready!" he called. He smiled to himself, realizing that the succubus's innate telepathic powers had to have alerted her to his intended actions and she could easily have avoided his kiss with the simple flapping of her batlike wings to rise up out of reach if she had wanted - but she hadn't. <em>Maybe there's hope yet</em>, Galen mused.</p><p></p><p><Come back safely and find out,> the succubus teased, then flapped her wings and took position a dozen feet above the <em>magic circle</em>. A quick slash across her arm with the blade of her longsword and a stream of blood dripped down to the circle, which seemed to suck it up hungrily. In an instant, a sphere formed around the carved circle, through which a hellish landscape could be seen. Without hesitation, the invisible conscripts each leaped into the sphere, <em>gating</em> directly into Dwarven Hell.</p><p></p><p>As they had been instructed, they each flew straight up into the orange sky upon entering Dwarven Hell - and none too soon, either, as armies of devils instantly teleported in directly below them, eager to take advantage of the <em>gate</em> which had just opened and led to a world of mortals just waiting to be plundered. But upon their sudden arrival, blasts of lightning erupted in all directions from the spherical <em>gate</em> as the Azure Glade wizards attacked the legions of Hell. Many of the first line of devils fell at this assault but there were plenty more to take their places.</p><p></p><p><There's the <em>telepathic amplifier!</em>> called Orion over the link, pointing to a crooked tower in the distance. As the invisible conscripts got closer, they could see it was "constructed" by hundreds of illithid bodies, their forms intertwined and merged together into one rickety mass. Off to the side of the tower was a leathery canopy, in front of which stood the massive form of the Hope Ender, looking down at a long table set before him.</p><p></p><p>Still invisible, four of the conscripts pulled the <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> from their <em>bags of holding</em> and slowly advanced aerially upon the pit fiend. The stones remained invisible while held but Daleth had warned them they'd become visible again once released, so the group cautiously dropped to the surface some 200 feet from the brooding Baron of Hell and placed their <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> on the ground, digging them partially into the rocky sand so they wouldn't stand out once released.</p><p></p><p><So far, so good,> said Syngaard. <He hasn't noticed us.></p><p></p><p><Or the effect preventing him from teleporting away or summoning aid,> added Galen.</p><p></p><p><He won't notice that until he tries using either of those powers,> explained Daleth.</p><p></p><p><He's not alone,> warned Kaspar, his keen elven eyes picking out a human-sized figure beside the massive pit fiend. This was a woman with angelic features and white-feathered wings sprouting from her shoulders. <It looks like an erinyes!> The conscripts had dealt with an erinyes before, fighting her and her two barbed devil associates in the Azure Glade.</p><p></p><p><What's that on the table?> Daleth asked, straining to see. As the two figures had their backs to the conscripts they were blocking the view but it looked like a bunch of small figurines placed on a map of some sort. </p><p></p><p><Can't tell from here,> Galen replied. <But this is it: let's get our final preparations in place.> He began quietly speaking the words to a <em>death ward</em> spell, while Daleth cast <em>haste</em> and <em>greater invisibility</em> spells on each of the conscripts - so they'd remain unseen once they started attacking their foes - and <em>spell turning</em> on himself and Todd. Then, turning to Syngaard, he made an unexpected offer: <You want me to turn you into a fire giant for this fight?></p><p></p><p><What?></p><p></p><p><I can cast a <em>polymorph</em> spell on you, increase your size and strength to that of a fire giant. You'll be bigger and stronger, your weapons will deal more damage - it will be rather the exact opposite of you becoming halfling-sized.></p><p></p><p>That was all it took for the scarred fighter to agree. One <em>polymorph</em> spell later and Syngaard stood 12 feet tall with a wild mane of bright red hair and a full beard to match - although he was still invisible and could thus only be seen by those with magically-enhanced vision. No longer riding upon Dick's back so much as straddling over him, he stepped away from the griffon and hefted his <em>holy morningstar</em>, itself now twice its normal size. <<em>Okay</em>, Wizard-Pants!> he enthused over the link.</p><p></p><p><Everyone ready?> Daleth asked to universal affirmation from the others.</p><p></p><p><Then shield your eyes, because it's on!> the elven wizard cried silently over the link, casting a <em>sunburst</em> spell directly before the Hope Ender and his winged bodyguard. The woman cried out in alarm, giving every indication of having been blinded by the spell. The Hope Ender's eyes were narrowed in irritation but he spun around looking about him - apparently he had avoided becoming sightless.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar raced forward, deciding to take out the erinyes before she could do anything to counteract her blindness. Surprisingly, though, while he struck her straight on with a powerful blow to the temple his <em>tenryutsume</em> didn't seem to do much in the way of additional damage - which was certainly a surprise as it had magical enhancements that should have caused it to be exceptionally painful to fiends from the lower planes; furthermore, the additional fire and electricity damage his <em>tenryutsume</em> normally dealt did absolutely nothing in this case. <I don't think she's an erinyes!> Kaspar called out to the others over the mental link. <Is it possible...is she an angel?> From his close-up vantage point, the elven monk got a better look at the contents of the Hope Ender's long table: among the expected figures depicting devils of various types - bone, barbed, bearded - there were two that stood out. One was a mithral statuette looking uncannily like the Mithral Mage, while the other was a six-armed female figure with the lower body of a snake - a marilith, which the elf recognized as a type of demon, not devil.</p><p></p><p><Huh? That don't make no sense!> Syngaard said after Kaspar relayed what he'd seen.</p><p></p><p><I'll check it out!> promised Orion, having Carl slip into ethereality and cross over the span of hellish desert to the table. As they approached, the halfling could see a large, metal chest beneath the table. The lid was open, allowing her to see a tray of several other figurines lying in their custom-built slots. One slot, Orion saw, was the right size and shape to hold a winged figure but it was currently empty.</p><p></p><p>The question about the figurines was cleared up when the Hope Ender reached down to the table, picked up the statuette of the marilith demon, tossed it to the ground while snarling the name "<strong>Eviscara</strong>!" - and a full-sized marilith demon appeared at his side. The figurine had vanished, in much the same way the <em>bronze griffon</em> figurine vanished when Syngaard brought Dick into being as a flesh-and-blood griffon. "Invisible attackers - kill them all!" ordered the Hope Ender to his demonic minion and the marilith looked all about her, her gaze focusing on Kaspar's invisible form before her as if she could see him perfectly fine.</p><p></p><p>But by then Syngaard had flown across to the Hope Ender and slammed his <em>holy morningstar</em> into the side of the pit fiend's head. Dick was at his side, biting and clawing with less success.</p><p></p><p>Six swords came slicing down at Kaspar and despite the monk's training and years of experience he couldn't dodge them all. Fortunately, those which got through his defenses were mostly shielded by the <em>stoneskin</em> spell still covering the monk. Eviscara's otherwise lovely face contorted into a snarl of anger at the ineffectiveness of her attacks.</p><p></p><p>But she wasn't the only one attacking Kaspar, for the astral deva - although still blinded by Daleth's spell - struck out at Kaspar since he was within reach and she could tell his general location by sound. Her own blade struck the harried monk, likewise dealing little harm do to his protective <em>stoneskin</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Burt charged straight at the Hope Ender, turning his charge into a pounce at the last moment and raking the devil with his sharp claws as his master channeled a <em>smite evil</em> strike through the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>. While those two engaged the pit fiend in hand-to-hand combat, Daleth flew closer and cast a <em>maximized polar ray</em> spell at the pit fiend's head. It struck true but unfortunately many devils had the innate ability to occasionally turn away the power of spells cast upon them and this was one of those times; the spell fizzled away harmlessly, much to Daleth's chagrin.</p><p></p><p>Under attack by the pit fiend's two female minions, Kaspar changed tactics and turned to attack the Hope Ender directly. He sent a flurry of punches and kicks crashing into the massive devil's right leg, focusing on his knee; this might be a powerful member of the ruling class of Hell but his physical structure was similar to that of a giant and not that much different from that of an elf or a human. Take out his knee and he'd find combat more difficult!</p><p></p><p>Orion had wheeled Carl into position behind the table and, returning from the Ethereal Plane, she swept her arm across the table, knocking the assorted figurines into her opened <em>bag of holding</em>. They'd find out later if the figures were worth anything to them; for now, it was more important to get them out of reach of the Hope Ender, so he couldn't bring additional reinforcements to his side.</p><p></p><p>The Hope Ender cast a <em>quickened fireball</em> at his feet, hoping to catch a bunch of his enemies within its blast radius. In that he was successful, but the fiery explosion did more damage to Eviscara and the astral deva than it did to the invisible conscripts. He then concentrated his physical attacks against Galen and Syngaard, basing his targeting decision on which attacks had caused him the most pain - and that <em>smite evil</em> attack in particular had <em>hurt!</em> Fortunately for the two warriors, attacking opponents you can't see is a particularly frustrating experience and half the Hope Ender's attacks hit nothing but air; the other half were absorbed in part by the <em>stoneskin</em> spells protecting them.</p><p></p><p>But then Syngaard, already in position hovering over the pit fiend, brought his <em>holy morningstar</em> down in a two-handed grip, sending it crashing over and over into the Hope Ender's head, dealing an incredible amount of damage. The Baron of Hell roared in pain and fury, then commanded, "HEAL ME!" The astral deva hurried to comply, although doing so cost her a solid pummeling from Kaspar as she raced past the monk to do her master's bidding.</p><p></p><p>Eviscara continued focusing her attacks upon the monk, six swords swinging in and then - in a surprise maneuver - she brought the end of her snake-tail whipping in from the side in an attempt to catch Kaspar within her coils. But the nimble monk was quick enough to escape the marilith's trap, although avoiding her tail-strike allowed a few of her sword-slashes to strike true. Little by little, the protection afforded him by the <em>stoneskin</em> spell was being whittled away.</p><p></p><p>Galen leaped off his mount's back and continued his attacks upon the Hope Ender while commanding Burt to take out the astral deva. That he did with relish, and if it bothered him in the least to be attacking a fellow celestial creature the great lion gave no sign of it. Then Daleth cast another <em>maximized</em> spell through one of his <em>metamagic rods</em>, sending a <em>chain lightning</em> into the Hope Ender and arcing off to strike the astral deva and the marilith as well. Once again the Hope Ender's resistance to spells enabled him to avoid all damage and Eviscara, being a tanar'ri, was immune to electrical attack in any case - but the spell at least took the celestial out of the combat entirely, the astral deva reverting to figurine form and dropping to the sand.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar renewed his attack upon the Hope Ender, striking again and again in a flurry of blows almost too fast to see. Orion and Carl approached the pit fiend from behind and the halfling stabbed her <em>nightflame short sword</em> deep into the fiend's lower back, hoping for a kidney strike (if the internal organs of a devil were anything like those of most other creatures of humanoid build). She pulled her blade out and stabbed it deep again in a nearby point, then ducked back before the devil could try to retaliate.</p><p> </p><p>Out of frustration, the Hope Ender cast another <em>quickened fireball</em> at his feet, unsure if it was helping his cause in any way. (In fact, it did little damage to the invisible conscripts, their <em>resist fire</em> spells lessening the burns considerably.) He spent another few fruitless moments swinging at where he thought his foes might be, occasionally connecting but apparently not doing enough damage to cause them to break away from the combat. "Who the Hell are you people?" he bellowed, wondering which of his enemies might have coordinated this surprise attack. He got no answer - other than an attack call from Dick as he dove in for another round of bites and claw-scratching - or at least no verbal answer; Syngaard let his <em>holy morningstar</em> do his talking for him. One two-handed slam took off most of the skin from the left side of the Hope Ender's face and whipped him, staggering, to his right; another overhanded slam onto the top of his head sent him falling to the ground on his hands and knees, and then giant-sized Syngaard brought his bloody weapon head down upon the pit fiend's skull again and again until the fiend had fallen prone onto the ground, unmoving. "You--ain't--touchin'--my--Hope!" he called out with each strike; by the end of his sentence he had ensured it would be true, for the Hope Ender lay dead on the ground before him.</p><p></p><p>Eviscara continued her attacks upon Kaspar, though, it seemed, in a somewhat half-hearted fashion. It struck the monk that although she was under the mental compulsion to obey her master's last command, she was pleased he had been slain. After all, Nadira had said the Hope Ender made trophies of his greatest enemies, so that likely put the marilith in his "greatest enemies" camp. Galen and Burt joined in the fight against the six-armed demon, the paladin's <em>sword of Zehkar</em> dealing incredible amounts of damage to the chaotic fiend. But it was Daleth's <em>maximized polar ray</em> spell that overpowered the demon's defenses and reverted her to statuette form. She dropped to the sands of Dwarven Hell.</p><p></p><p><Gather them up!> commanded Orion, bending down from Carl's saddle to snatch up the figurine of the astral deva and stuff it into her <em>bag of holding</em>. Kaspar grabbed the marilith carving and stashed it into his own similar bag. Syngaard, in the meantime, had switched weapons and while his <em>human bane scimitar</em> did no special damage to the slain pit fiend's body it was twice its normal size and thus handy at allowing the "fire giant" version of Syngaard to hack off the Hope Ender's head.</p><p></p><p><What are you going to do with that?> Orion wanted to know.</p><p></p><p><Not sure yet. Thinkin' of maybe throwin' it down in the middle of the devil army fightin' our own guys, lettin' 'em see how their boss fared against us.> But that wasn't necessary, as evidenced by scores of flashing green lights emanating all around the area as various devils tried teleporting to their leader upon learning of his sudden death over the telepathic link he shared with them. The <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> were doing their jobs!</p><p></p><p><We'd better get out of here!> advised Galen, leading the others to where they'd dropped the <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> in place. He, Orion, Kaspar, and Syngaard each grabbed up a stone and dropped it into their respective <em>bag of holding</em> so they'd be able to pass through the <em>gate</em> with them back to the Material Plane in the Baator's Breath Mountains. Once the stones had been stashed they once again flew straight up as devils started materializing below them, their teleportation attempts no longer hindered. They then made a mad, aerial dash back to the <em>gate</em>, which they could see was starting to flicker; its existence was apparently tied into the Hope Ender's life force and now that he was no longer among the living the <em>gate</em> was about to follow him in permanent death.</p><p></p><p>"RETREAT! BACK THROUGH THE <em>GATE!</em>" called Galen in his loudest and most commanding voice. "IT'S ABOUT TO CLOSE FOREVER!" Syngaard echoed the paladin's words, figuring his fire giant lungs were capable of a much louder tone. As one, the human armies retreated to the spherical gate, which was now not so much a sphere as a wobbly, blobby, wavering shape. The conscripts and their allies made it through in time, as did a few devils that had to be slain once back on the Material Plane. But with the <em>gate</em> finally closed behind them and no chance of reinforcements the devils were easily vanquished.</p><p></p><p>Dismissing the <em>greater invisibility</em> spells, the five conscripts returned to full view - surprising those around them who hadn't expected a fire giant to be part of their ranks. But their battle done, Syngaard dismissed the <em>polymorph</em> spell as well, returning to his normal size and countenance. "Ugh!" groaned Orion, looking up at the bald fighter's scarred face. "You looked better when you didn't look like yourself."</p><p></p><p>Serenity dropped down from the air above the <em>magic circle</em>, which was now starting to fade away as well, the deep grooves that had been painstakingly etched into the solid rock of the mountain starting to rapidly erode away. "You came back safely," she purred at Galen.</p><p></p><p>"I did indeed," he replied with a smile.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Logan was concerned that this was going to be an overly-long adventure, no doubt because it would have been possible for the Hope Ender to have activated the Mithral Mage as a <em>figurine of wondrous power</em> the following round. While it would have been appropriate for that long-term thorn in our side to have made an appearance in our final adventure, I'm glad it worked out the way it did.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7825707, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 60: THE END OF HOPE[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 20 Galen Thorne, human paladin 20 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 20 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 20 Syngaard, human fighter 20[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 25 September 2019 - - - Nadira looked today like a blonde noblewoman. Yesterday she had been a brunette teenager and the day before that she had started out as a redhead but put a stop to that once she saw Syngaard staring at her with interest from the corner of his eye. With her [i]hat of disguise[/i] it was a simple matter for the doll-homunculus - who used to go by the childish name "Dow" given to her by her master's young daughter Sarah - to change her appearance as often as others changed their clothes. And by using the astral golem she was the size of a normal human woman, not a child's doll. Tonight, though, she was briefing the conscripts in the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i] from the notes her now-dead master, Skevros, had compiled about the Hope Ender. They sat in their normal places around the table, while she sat in the spot Skevros had favored. "The Hope Ender is relatively high up in the hierarchy of Hell," she told them, "merely two steps lower than a Prince of Hell - he's at the level of a duke or baron. As such, he is much more powerful than a standard pit fiend. He rules over a portion of Dwarven Hell called the Mithral Sea, although part of his domain falls upon solid land as well." Each of the conscripts sat listening to her with rapt attention, wanting to learn all they could about the enemy they would soon be facing. Syngaard had his normal mug of ale before him but he'd hardly touched it and had kept uncharacteristically silent during Nadira's briefing. "Ever since his right-hand general betrayed him several millennia ago, the Hope Ender has sent his armies ahead of him and coordinated their attacks from the rear of the formation, through the use of a [i]telepathic amplifier[/i] - a tall tower that allows him to send commands to his lieutenants at a far greater range than normal. Only those who have shown complete obedience are allowed as his personal bodyguards and he has been known to make trophies of his greatest enemies. It is entirely possible that you five have now been cast into that group, given you slew the pit fiend he'd entrusted with creating a permanent [i]gate[/i] to the Material Plane those three weeks ago." "How far has the Conjurers Guild gotten with completing the runes for the [i]gate[/i]?" Daleth asked. After the Azure Glade's Diviners Guild had determined the time was right - that the Hope Ender fully believed the attempt had been fully thwarted and the [i]gate[/i] would never be completed by his hellish forces, the Abjurers Guild had shielded the place from scrying and the Conjurers Guild had picked up where the devilish forces had left off, completing the [i]gate[/i] they'd started, not as a means for a devil army to invade the Material Plane via the Baator's Breath Mountains but quite the opposite: allowing a strike force comprised of the joint armies of Durnhill, Ashfall, and the Azure Glade to enter Dwarven Hell and take out the Hope Ender once and for all. Doing so would end the sporadic breach activity common in the Baator's Breath Mountains, where short-duration [i]gates[/i] would often open between the two planes. "They are almost finished," answered Nadira. "The [i]gate[/i] should be ready for operation by the morning." "And the armies are okay with our plans?" asked Galen. "They are. You five will be the first to enter Dwarven Hell through the gate, where you will search out the Hope Ender's location and deal with him directly. You will each be rendered invisible and granted flight, as the auguries have foretold that [i]invisibility[/i] and [i]fly[/i] spells will mean the difference between success and failure. You must fly away from the [i]gate[/i] at full speed once entering Dwarven Hell, as the devils there will know at once that the [i]gate[/i] has been opened. The combined armies will be there right behind you to deal with them while you seek out your foe." "And we know the Hope Ender's general location?" asked Kaspar. "He is in a pavilion a mile or so north of the place where the [i]gate[/i] will open, on a flat plane of sand and rock. We cannot tell any more than that, as scrying directly upon the Hope Ender has dire consequences - as Skevros himself found out." "We're sure that's what killed him?" Orion asked. Nadira nodded. "The Guildmaster of Diviners - the Seeker who initially replaced Arcturus during the attempted coup - found out the hard way that the Hope Ender has some means of burning from within anyone who scries directly upon him. He had only agreed to make the attempt after the Council offered to reduce his sentence if he gave it a shot, but it cost him his life. The current Guildmaster has no desire to share his predecessor's fate." "So we'll be invisible and able to fly," reiterated Syngaard. "That'll help us sneak into the Hope Ender's pavilion and find him without being seen. But once we find him, we're gonna need to take him down, and the best way to do that is to whittle away some of his powers." "You have thoughts as to specifics?" asked Galen. "Yep. I say we pry up some of them [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] Skevros put around the city and take 'em with us." "You can't take a [i]dimensional anchoring stone[/i] through a [i]gate[/i] spell," pointed out Daleth. "That's the whole point." "Yeah, I get that," Syngaard sighed, wondering just how stupid Wizard-Pants thought he really was. "But if we put 'em in our [i]bags of holding[/i], they oughta travel to Hell just fine. Right?" The wizard thought about it. Since the extradimensional pocket inside a [i]bag of holding[/i] wasn't an entire plane, placing a magical stone inscribed with a permanent [i]dimensional anchor[/i] spell shouldn't be a problem. "Right," admitted Daleth. "Then once we find the Hope Ender, we throw the stones down around him and keep him from teleporting away - or summoning other devils to come help him." "The [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] don't work that way," argued the elven wizard, glad to have found a way to correct the crass human fighter. "You don't need to surround the Hope Ender; each stone prevents extradimensional travel in a 50-foot radius in all directions around it. If a second stone is placed within 50 feet of another, each radiates a [i]dimensional anchor[/i] effect in a 100-foot radius, and so on - each additional stone doubles the range of the effect." "So what'll four of 'em do, if we drop 'em all together?" Syngaard asked. He didn't feel up to doing the math himself. "Fifty becomes 100, becomes 200, becomes 400 feet," Daleth replied. "Okay, so we drop the stones 200 feet from the Hope Ender, then," Syngaard said, revising his suggested strategy. "That works even better." "And we'll do a [i]heroes' feast[/i] first?" Orion prompted. "Yes, that will protect us all from the pit fiend's poison and fear effect," Galen answered. "Anuja said she'll have the spell ready for us tomorrow morning, an hour before we're ready to breach the [i]gate[/i]. "And what of Anuja? And Mikito?" asked Kaspar. "They will be part of the group staying behind and guarding this side of the [i]gate[/i]," Nadira answered. "We will have the advantage of surprise on our side, but should the devils gain ground against the attack force we cannot allow them to make use of the [i]gate[/i] as they originally intended." "Agreed," replied Galen. He looked around the table at his companions. "Do we have any further questions?" he asked. Nobody did, so the conscripts were dismissed to make their final preparations for the next day's battle. Kaspar spent the night in silent meditation, mentally preparing himself for the combat to come, where he would put a lifetime of training to quite possibly its final use. Galen spent the evening in prayer to Hieroneous, asking the God of Valor to use him as His vessel to rid the world of a terrible evil. Daleth pored over the pages of his spellbook, considering which of the many spells he knew would be the most advantageous in the next morning's battle to the death. Orion packed and repacked the various pouches of her extradimensional utility belt, practicing reaching for various items until she could produce a healing potion or a thunderstone practically at will without giving it any conscious thought. (And then, once that had been completed to her satisfaction, she played with Carl for a while before grabbing some much-needed sleep if she was going to be at her best the next day.) Syngaard returned to his other job at Mama Kat's, performing bouncer duties until the customers had all gone back to their own beds for the night, then grabbed a few hours of sleep in Cori's room until it was time to get back up. He didn't worry about oversleeping, confident that Nadira - who, Syngaard had to admit, he liked much better than Dow, even though the two were the same person - would awaken them at dawn with a [i]message[/i] spell in the same manner as Skevros so often had. Dawn came soon enough and with it a final gathering at the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i], where Anuja provided them all with the promised [i]heroes' feast[/i] making them immune to poison and magical fear as well as temporarily boosting the strength of their life essences. Then the spellcasters among the conscripts began casting those spells the group had decided ahead of time they'd all be going into battle with: [i]resist fire[/i], [i]stoneskin[/i], [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i], [i]see invisibility[/i] or [i]true seeing[/i] - and a [i]bless weapon[/i] spell cast by Galen upon the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]. Some of these spells had been cast via arcane scrolls purchased for this very purpose days earlier, so Daleth wouldn't enter battle in short supply of combat spells. Vials of [i]consecrated silversheen[/i] were then applied to Orion's [i]nightflame short sword[/i], Kaspar's [i]tenryutsume[/i], Syngaard's [i]holy morningstar[/i], and Galen's [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] - and then, at Daleth's suggestion, Syngaard applied another dose onto his [i]bronze griffon[/i], applying it slowly enough that it didn't accidentally activate the [i]figurine of wondrous power[/i] before he had covered it completely in the mixture. Only once he had finished his ministrations did he activate the statuette, bringing Dick to full size but now imbued with the power to overcome the Hope Ender's inherent defenses with his claws and beak. Galen likewise called Burt from the Beastlands and the dire lion manifested by his master's side at once, as if having eagerly awaited the summons. The group had already placed four [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] into their [i]bags of holding[/i], so they were ready to go. Daleth teleported the group - including Mikito and Anuja - to the Baator's Breath Mountains, where the assembled armies stood in orderly rows awaiting entry into Dwarven Hell. Upon the conscripts' arrival, various wizards from the Council of Guilds began the application of spells with shorter durations, the [i]invisibility[/i] and [i]fly[/i] spells said to be key to victory. A ring of battle-wizards stood a step or so back from the newly-finished carving on the stone floor, ready to fire [i]lightning bolts[/i] through the [i]gate[/i] once it was opened and the conscripts were through. "This [i]gate[/i] isn't a simple, two-dimensional doorway," advised the Guildmaster of Evocation. "Instead, it will open as a sphere and can be entered from any angle; you will appear in Dwarven Hell at the opposite end of the sphere from where you enter. Thus, you may all enter at once. But remember: upon entering Dwarven Hell, fly straight up to get away from the [i]gate[/i], for its sudden opening will have devils swarming it at once - and we intend to cut down as many of the first wave as possible with our spells!" "Is everyone ready?" asked Serenity, who stood by the [i]magic circle[/i] engraved in the stone floor. The conscripts took their positions around the circle. "Wait!" called Galen, leaping down from his feline mount's back and approaching the reformed succubus. He gave Serenity a quick kiss - "For luck!" said the young paladin - and then leaped back upon Burt's broad back. "Ready!" he called. He smiled to himself, realizing that the succubus's innate telepathic powers had to have alerted her to his intended actions and she could easily have avoided his kiss with the simple flapping of her batlike wings to rise up out of reach if she had wanted - but she hadn't. [i]Maybe there's hope yet[/i], Galen mused. <Come back safely and find out,> the succubus teased, then flapped her wings and took position a dozen feet above the [i]magic circle[/i]. A quick slash across her arm with the blade of her longsword and a stream of blood dripped down to the circle, which seemed to suck it up hungrily. In an instant, a sphere formed around the carved circle, through which a hellish landscape could be seen. Without hesitation, the invisible conscripts each leaped into the sphere, [i]gating[/i] directly into Dwarven Hell. As they had been instructed, they each flew straight up into the orange sky upon entering Dwarven Hell - and none too soon, either, as armies of devils instantly teleported in directly below them, eager to take advantage of the [i]gate[/i] which had just opened and led to a world of mortals just waiting to be plundered. But upon their sudden arrival, blasts of lightning erupted in all directions from the spherical [i]gate[/i] as the Azure Glade wizards attacked the legions of Hell. Many of the first line of devils fell at this assault but there were plenty more to take their places. <There's the [i]telepathic amplifier![/i]> called Orion over the link, pointing to a crooked tower in the distance. As the invisible conscripts got closer, they could see it was "constructed" by hundreds of illithid bodies, their forms intertwined and merged together into one rickety mass. Off to the side of the tower was a leathery canopy, in front of which stood the massive form of the Hope Ender, looking down at a long table set before him. Still invisible, four of the conscripts pulled the [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] from their [i]bags of holding[/i] and slowly advanced aerially upon the pit fiend. The stones remained invisible while held but Daleth had warned them they'd become visible again once released, so the group cautiously dropped to the surface some 200 feet from the brooding Baron of Hell and placed their [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] on the ground, digging them partially into the rocky sand so they wouldn't stand out once released. <So far, so good,> said Syngaard. <He hasn't noticed us.> <Or the effect preventing him from teleporting away or summoning aid,> added Galen. <He won't notice that until he tries using either of those powers,> explained Daleth. <He's not alone,> warned Kaspar, his keen elven eyes picking out a human-sized figure beside the massive pit fiend. This was a woman with angelic features and white-feathered wings sprouting from her shoulders. <It looks like an erinyes!> The conscripts had dealt with an erinyes before, fighting her and her two barbed devil associates in the Azure Glade. <What's that on the table?> Daleth asked, straining to see. As the two figures had their backs to the conscripts they were blocking the view but it looked like a bunch of small figurines placed on a map of some sort. <Can't tell from here,> Galen replied. <But this is it: let's get our final preparations in place.> He began quietly speaking the words to a [i]death ward[/i] spell, while Daleth cast [i]haste[/i] and [i]greater invisibility[/i] spells on each of the conscripts - so they'd remain unseen once they started attacking their foes - and [i]spell turning[/i] on himself and Todd. Then, turning to Syngaard, he made an unexpected offer: <You want me to turn you into a fire giant for this fight?> <What?> <I can cast a [i]polymorph[/i] spell on you, increase your size and strength to that of a fire giant. You'll be bigger and stronger, your weapons will deal more damage - it will be rather the exact opposite of you becoming halfling-sized.> That was all it took for the scarred fighter to agree. One [i]polymorph[/i] spell later and Syngaard stood 12 feet tall with a wild mane of bright red hair and a full beard to match - although he was still invisible and could thus only be seen by those with magically-enhanced vision. No longer riding upon Dick's back so much as straddling over him, he stepped away from the griffon and hefted his [i]holy morningstar[/i], itself now twice its normal size. <[i]Okay[/i], Wizard-Pants!> he enthused over the link. <Everyone ready?> Daleth asked to universal affirmation from the others. <Then shield your eyes, because it's on!> the elven wizard cried silently over the link, casting a [i]sunburst[/i] spell directly before the Hope Ender and his winged bodyguard. The woman cried out in alarm, giving every indication of having been blinded by the spell. The Hope Ender's eyes were narrowed in irritation but he spun around looking about him - apparently he had avoided becoming sightless. Kaspar raced forward, deciding to take out the erinyes before she could do anything to counteract her blindness. Surprisingly, though, while he struck her straight on with a powerful blow to the temple his [i]tenryutsume[/i] didn't seem to do much in the way of additional damage - which was certainly a surprise as it had magical enhancements that should have caused it to be exceptionally painful to fiends from the lower planes; furthermore, the additional fire and electricity damage his [i]tenryutsume[/i] normally dealt did absolutely nothing in this case. <I don't think she's an erinyes!> Kaspar called out to the others over the mental link. <Is it possible...is she an angel?> From his close-up vantage point, the elven monk got a better look at the contents of the Hope Ender's long table: among the expected figures depicting devils of various types - bone, barbed, bearded - there were two that stood out. One was a mithral statuette looking uncannily like the Mithral Mage, while the other was a six-armed female figure with the lower body of a snake - a marilith, which the elf recognized as a type of demon, not devil. <Huh? That don't make no sense!> Syngaard said after Kaspar relayed what he'd seen. <I'll check it out!> promised Orion, having Carl slip into ethereality and cross over the span of hellish desert to the table. As they approached, the halfling could see a large, metal chest beneath the table. The lid was open, allowing her to see a tray of several other figurines lying in their custom-built slots. One slot, Orion saw, was the right size and shape to hold a winged figure but it was currently empty. The question about the figurines was cleared up when the Hope Ender reached down to the table, picked up the statuette of the marilith demon, tossed it to the ground while snarling the name "[b]Eviscara[/b]!" - and a full-sized marilith demon appeared at his side. The figurine had vanished, in much the same way the [i]bronze griffon[/i] figurine vanished when Syngaard brought Dick into being as a flesh-and-blood griffon. "Invisible attackers - kill them all!" ordered the Hope Ender to his demonic minion and the marilith looked all about her, her gaze focusing on Kaspar's invisible form before her as if she could see him perfectly fine. But by then Syngaard had flown across to the Hope Ender and slammed his [i]holy morningstar[/i] into the side of the pit fiend's head. Dick was at his side, biting and clawing with less success. Six swords came slicing down at Kaspar and despite the monk's training and years of experience he couldn't dodge them all. Fortunately, those which got through his defenses were mostly shielded by the [i]stoneskin[/i] spell still covering the monk. Eviscara's otherwise lovely face contorted into a snarl of anger at the ineffectiveness of her attacks. But she wasn't the only one attacking Kaspar, for the astral deva - although still blinded by Daleth's spell - struck out at Kaspar since he was within reach and she could tell his general location by sound. Her own blade struck the harried monk, likewise dealing little harm do to his protective [i]stoneskin[/i] spell. Burt charged straight at the Hope Ender, turning his charge into a pounce at the last moment and raking the devil with his sharp claws as his master channeled a [i]smite evil[/i] strike through the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]. While those two engaged the pit fiend in hand-to-hand combat, Daleth flew closer and cast a [i]maximized polar ray[/i] spell at the pit fiend's head. It struck true but unfortunately many devils had the innate ability to occasionally turn away the power of spells cast upon them and this was one of those times; the spell fizzled away harmlessly, much to Daleth's chagrin. Under attack by the pit fiend's two female minions, Kaspar changed tactics and turned to attack the Hope Ender directly. He sent a flurry of punches and kicks crashing into the massive devil's right leg, focusing on his knee; this might be a powerful member of the ruling class of Hell but his physical structure was similar to that of a giant and not that much different from that of an elf or a human. Take out his knee and he'd find combat more difficult! Orion had wheeled Carl into position behind the table and, returning from the Ethereal Plane, she swept her arm across the table, knocking the assorted figurines into her opened [i]bag of holding[/i]. They'd find out later if the figures were worth anything to them; for now, it was more important to get them out of reach of the Hope Ender, so he couldn't bring additional reinforcements to his side. The Hope Ender cast a [i]quickened fireball[/i] at his feet, hoping to catch a bunch of his enemies within its blast radius. In that he was successful, but the fiery explosion did more damage to Eviscara and the astral deva than it did to the invisible conscripts. He then concentrated his physical attacks against Galen and Syngaard, basing his targeting decision on which attacks had caused him the most pain - and that [i]smite evil[/i] attack in particular had [i]hurt![/i] Fortunately for the two warriors, attacking opponents you can't see is a particularly frustrating experience and half the Hope Ender's attacks hit nothing but air; the other half were absorbed in part by the [i]stoneskin[/i] spells protecting them. But then Syngaard, already in position hovering over the pit fiend, brought his [i]holy morningstar[/i] down in a two-handed grip, sending it crashing over and over into the Hope Ender's head, dealing an incredible amount of damage. The Baron of Hell roared in pain and fury, then commanded, "HEAL ME!" The astral deva hurried to comply, although doing so cost her a solid pummeling from Kaspar as she raced past the monk to do her master's bidding. Eviscara continued focusing her attacks upon the monk, six swords swinging in and then - in a surprise maneuver - she brought the end of her snake-tail whipping in from the side in an attempt to catch Kaspar within her coils. But the nimble monk was quick enough to escape the marilith's trap, although avoiding her tail-strike allowed a few of her sword-slashes to strike true. Little by little, the protection afforded him by the [i]stoneskin[/i] spell was being whittled away. Galen leaped off his mount's back and continued his attacks upon the Hope Ender while commanding Burt to take out the astral deva. That he did with relish, and if it bothered him in the least to be attacking a fellow celestial creature the great lion gave no sign of it. Then Daleth cast another [i]maximized[/i] spell through one of his [i]metamagic rods[/i], sending a [i]chain lightning[/i] into the Hope Ender and arcing off to strike the astral deva and the marilith as well. Once again the Hope Ender's resistance to spells enabled him to avoid all damage and Eviscara, being a tanar'ri, was immune to electrical attack in any case - but the spell at least took the celestial out of the combat entirely, the astral deva reverting to figurine form and dropping to the sand. Kaspar renewed his attack upon the Hope Ender, striking again and again in a flurry of blows almost too fast to see. Orion and Carl approached the pit fiend from behind and the halfling stabbed her [i]nightflame short sword[/i] deep into the fiend's lower back, hoping for a kidney strike (if the internal organs of a devil were anything like those of most other creatures of humanoid build). She pulled her blade out and stabbed it deep again in a nearby point, then ducked back before the devil could try to retaliate. Out of frustration, the Hope Ender cast another [i]quickened fireball[/i] at his feet, unsure if it was helping his cause in any way. (In fact, it did little damage to the invisible conscripts, their [i]resist fire[/i] spells lessening the burns considerably.) He spent another few fruitless moments swinging at where he thought his foes might be, occasionally connecting but apparently not doing enough damage to cause them to break away from the combat. "Who the Hell are you people?" he bellowed, wondering which of his enemies might have coordinated this surprise attack. He got no answer - other than an attack call from Dick as he dove in for another round of bites and claw-scratching - or at least no verbal answer; Syngaard let his [i]holy morningstar[/i] do his talking for him. One two-handed slam took off most of the skin from the left side of the Hope Ender's face and whipped him, staggering, to his right; another overhanded slam onto the top of his head sent him falling to the ground on his hands and knees, and then giant-sized Syngaard brought his bloody weapon head down upon the pit fiend's skull again and again until the fiend had fallen prone onto the ground, unmoving. "You--ain't--touchin'--my--Hope!" he called out with each strike; by the end of his sentence he had ensured it would be true, for the Hope Ender lay dead on the ground before him. Eviscara continued her attacks upon Kaspar, though, it seemed, in a somewhat half-hearted fashion. It struck the monk that although she was under the mental compulsion to obey her master's last command, she was pleased he had been slain. After all, Nadira had said the Hope Ender made trophies of his greatest enemies, so that likely put the marilith in his "greatest enemies" camp. Galen and Burt joined in the fight against the six-armed demon, the paladin's [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] dealing incredible amounts of damage to the chaotic fiend. But it was Daleth's [i]maximized polar ray[/i] spell that overpowered the demon's defenses and reverted her to statuette form. She dropped to the sands of Dwarven Hell. <Gather them up!> commanded Orion, bending down from Carl's saddle to snatch up the figurine of the astral deva and stuff it into her [i]bag of holding[/i]. Kaspar grabbed the marilith carving and stashed it into his own similar bag. Syngaard, in the meantime, had switched weapons and while his [i]human bane scimitar[/i] did no special damage to the slain pit fiend's body it was twice its normal size and thus handy at allowing the "fire giant" version of Syngaard to hack off the Hope Ender's head. <What are you going to do with that?> Orion wanted to know. <Not sure yet. Thinkin' of maybe throwin' it down in the middle of the devil army fightin' our own guys, lettin' 'em see how their boss fared against us.> But that wasn't necessary, as evidenced by scores of flashing green lights emanating all around the area as various devils tried teleporting to their leader upon learning of his sudden death over the telepathic link he shared with them. The [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] were doing their jobs! <We'd better get out of here!> advised Galen, leading the others to where they'd dropped the [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] in place. He, Orion, Kaspar, and Syngaard each grabbed up a stone and dropped it into their respective [i]bag of holding[/i] so they'd be able to pass through the [i]gate[/i] with them back to the Material Plane in the Baator's Breath Mountains. Once the stones had been stashed they once again flew straight up as devils started materializing below them, their teleportation attempts no longer hindered. They then made a mad, aerial dash back to the [i]gate[/i], which they could see was starting to flicker; its existence was apparently tied into the Hope Ender's life force and now that he was no longer among the living the [i]gate[/i] was about to follow him in permanent death. "RETREAT! BACK THROUGH THE [i]GATE![/i]" called Galen in his loudest and most commanding voice. "IT'S ABOUT TO CLOSE FOREVER!" Syngaard echoed the paladin's words, figuring his fire giant lungs were capable of a much louder tone. As one, the human armies retreated to the spherical gate, which was now not so much a sphere as a wobbly, blobby, wavering shape. The conscripts and their allies made it through in time, as did a few devils that had to be slain once back on the Material Plane. But with the [i]gate[/i] finally closed behind them and no chance of reinforcements the devils were easily vanquished. Dismissing the [i]greater invisibility[/i] spells, the five conscripts returned to full view - surprising those around them who hadn't expected a fire giant to be part of their ranks. But their battle done, Syngaard dismissed the [i]polymorph[/i] spell as well, returning to his normal size and countenance. "Ugh!" groaned Orion, looking up at the bald fighter's scarred face. "You looked better when you didn't look like yourself." Serenity dropped down from the air above the [i]magic circle[/i], which was now starting to fade away as well, the deep grooves that had been painstakingly etched into the solid rock of the mountain starting to rapidly erode away. "You came back safely," she purred at Galen. "I did indeed," he replied with a smile. - - - Logan was concerned that this was going to be an overly-long adventure, no doubt because it would have been possible for the Hope Ender to have activated the Mithral Mage as a [i]figurine of wondrous power[/i] the following round. While it would have been appropriate for that long-term thorn in our side to have made an appearance in our final adventure, I'm glad it worked out the way it did. [/QUOTE]
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