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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7313526" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 41: ENEMY OF MY ENEMY</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 12</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 12</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 12 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 1 January 2018</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Entering the conference room of Battershield Keep, the heroes saw a voluptuous young woman already seated at the table, sipping a glass of red wine. She smiled as they entered, paying special attention to Castillan, scanning him from head to toe as a force of habit and very much liking what she saw - and what she imagined he looked like underneath his leather armor. The heroes stood in surprise looking down at their visitor, bunching up around the table but nobody taking a seat.</p><p></p><p>"Hello," she greeted them in a husky voice. "My name is <strong>Jasannah</strong>. I'd like to hire your services for a little job I need done. I don't intend to pay you for it, but I believe you'll be interested in the mission, all the same." Looking over at Finoula, she added, "Especially you, darling."</p><p></p><p>Finoula's eyes narrowed as she tried to remember if she'd ever met this hussy before in her life. She came up with nothing. Still, she figured she'd take the hook, if only to see what this was all about. "Oh?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>The woman smirked and replied, "I'd like for you to kill the incubus Malaterminus. Interested?"</p><p></p><p>Finoula exchanged quick glances with her Battle-Sister, Ingebold, then looked back to Jasannah, who was sipping her wine in a suggestive manner. "Yes," said Finoula, as Ingebold replied "Aye" at the same time.</p><p></p><p>"Good," replied Jasannah, setting down her wine glass. "I thought as much. I happen to know exactly where Malaterminus can be found. If we hurry, there's a good chance you might even be able to rescue a celestial being while you're at it - consider that a bonus for your good deed."</p><p></p><p>"And how do you happen to know all of this?" interjected Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"She a demon!" exploded Gilbert before Jasannah could reply.</p><p></p><p>"Why yes, of course," admitted the sultry woman. "A succubus, as you probably have already suspected. But as they say: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend....'"</p><p></p><p>"How you end up with Malaterminus as enemy? I thought succubi and incubi work together."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, normally we do. But this is an exception. Malaterminus is hardly an incubus at all, save in physical form; he's a rage-fueled monster who loves to kill. That's not what we're supposed to be about at all; our mission is all about temptation, seduction...you can hardly expect to taint a mortal's soul when you kill them during the first act of intimacy....</p><p></p><p>"But that's not the only reason I want him dead. I had a friend, <strong>Nehtenya</strong>, a succubus like myself. Several centuries ago, she found a way to bind him into a longsword and arranged to have him hidden away. We thought our problems were behind us, but...well." Jasannah smirked at Finoula and Ingebold. "I'm sure you know the rest."</p><p></p><p>The succubus finished her glass of wine and set the glass aside. "Are you ready?"</p><p></p><p>"We'll be needin' some time t' prepare th' spells we'll be wantin' at hand," replied Ingebold, as Gilbert plopped the <em>Omnibook</em> onto the table and started flipping through its pages.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, take your time," smiled Jasannah, patting the seat next to her and focusing her attention back to Castillan. "Why don't you sit here by me, Castillan? We can chat while the spellcasters do their stuff." The elven bounder approached the succubus and took the proffered seat, ignoring a warning look from Finoula and returning it with a glare that said he could handle it. But he was in no particular danger; it wasn't as if Jasannah was going to do anything to drain one of the people she was relying on to handle her Malaterminus problem. Castillan saw no reason why he couldn't spend a few pleasant moments in conversation with a temptation demon - after all, how many times in one's life did an opportunity like this present itself?</p><p></p><p>When the spellcasters indicated their readiness, Jasannah reached inside the cleavage of her tight dress and pulled out a key. Then she rose from the table and put the key into the doorknob of the door behind her, which led to the study. This was in itself a bit unusual, as that door had no keyhole. Stranger still was when Jasannah opened the door, revealing not the familiar study where Aerik unwound after a hard day's work, but rather what looked like a linen closet.</p><p></p><p>"This way, if you please," said Jasannah, stepping through the open doorway. The others followed, but not before Ingebold cast an <em>attune form</em> spell upon the assembled group. It turned out to have been unnecessary, for the Abyssal plane beyond the door was quite pleasant. Stepping through the open storage closet - filled with bottles of bathing soaps, scented candles, and the like - the group found themselves in an elegant castle, with revelry going on all about them. A fancy banquet table was filled with succulent foods, but they were mostly ignored by the revelers, who seemed to be mostly average-looking mortal men and exceptionally beautiful human and elven women, all in various stages of undress.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert kept the group close and cast a quick <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell upon all of them but Ingebold and Mudpie. "Sorry," he apologized to the dwarven cleric. "I can only get so many into link - and you have amulet, anyway." Ingebold wore a <em>contact medallion</em> which allowed her to cast her thoughts to a single person up to a mile away; it would serve as a suitable alternative - and Mudpie already had a mental link with his master. After the spell had been cast, Gilbert decided to test it out. <Remember,> he mentally cautioned his friends, <we not believe anything this demon-whore say to us!></p><p></p><p><Why Gilbert, that's quite rude!> responded a seductive voice over the telepathic link. <You forget that we 'demon-whores' can communicate telepathically. But don't you worry - I forgive you. I'll even personally see to your reward after you slay Malaterminus.> Gilbert grumbled under his breath, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt.</p><p></p><p>Jasannah led the group past a railed opening in the floor, through which a ballroom dance could be seen underway on the level below them. They went through a narrow doorway - this castle seemed to have no doors, merely doorways - and outside onto an overhanging balcony. It was there they discovered they were on the second floor of the castle - and got their first glimpse of the natural state of the Abyssal realm in which they now stood. "Welcome to Shendilavri," Jasannah said, waving her arm to encompass the view behind her.</p><p></p><p>Shendilavri was a beautiful place, looking much more like one of the celestial realms than one of the layers of the Abyss. It had lush gardens, a lovely, blood-red sea in the distance, and a sky permanently at the most beautiful part of sunset. "Look there, by the sea," commanded Jasannah, pointing. "See the cliffs there? There are a number of caves along the bottom of the cliffs; the one with a heavy wooden door barring entrance is where Malaterminus spends his time between assignments. You will find him there."</p><p></p><p>Jasannah then led the group to a nearby set of stairs leading down to the castle's exterior, opening a heavy door to gain exit. There was a pair of hairy, goat-headed demons on guard duty outside the door, each brandishing a deadly-looking halberd. "When you've completed your mission, return here and have one of the guards fetch me. I'll lead you back inside, and we'll see about giving you a proper reward before sending you all home." Here, betraying her thoughts, Jasannah once again allowed her sight to focus on Castillan, unconsciously licking her lips in anticipation.</p><p></p><p>"We see you later, then," prompted Gilbert Fung, leading the group away from the seductress. They faced the cliffs by the sea and started walking. The way was filled with tall grasses waving in the light breeze; Binkadink had to extend his <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em> just to be able to see where he was going. It looked to be about a mile and a half until they reached their destination. "This no good!" complained Gilbert. "Why her key not open directly into cave we need to go to? This too much walking!"</p><p></p><p>"You could always have teleported us there," pointed out Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"Only if I have spell prepared," countered Gilbert. "Didn't think we need it." Then a sudden inspiration struck the portly mage: normally, he had Mudpie, his earth elemental familiar, follow him underground, directly beneath him. But since his familiar could earth glide - literally "swim" through the ground - Gilbert saw no reason why he couldn't have Mudpie glide through the earth with his upper half sticking up above the ground. Stepping onto Mudpie's broad shoulders, he commanded his trusty familiar forward and smiled in self-congratulations as he skimmed forward without having to move a muscle. "You slow pokes hurry up!" commanded Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Lazy!" scolded Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"Resourceful," countered Gilbert. The grasses parted before him as Mudpie skimmed forward, closing up behind them as they traveled - the elemental left no "wake" behind him.</p><p></p><p>As they approached the cliffs, Finoula suggested they might want to start casting their long-term preparatory spells. Knowing they'd be heading into the Abyss, they had come prepared: Binkadink, Gilbert, and Ingebold each received a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell centered on them, while Darrien and Finoula each received a <em>protection from evil</em> spell. </p><p></p><p>Then, suddenly, there was movement in the grasses ahead of them - movement different from the gentle swaying caused by the warm breezes. A white, shaggy head popped up ahead of them, followed by another, and another, and then two more. These last two belonged to the same body; four half-fiend girallons roared and approached, the last one obviously ettinblooded.</p><p></p><p>It was the two-headed beast who responded first, rushing forward on its legs and lower arms while the upper arms beat menacingly on its chest in a display of aggression. Castillan reacted a mere fraction behind the girallon leader, but he looked sideways at Binkadink, mentally suggesting over their telepathic link a combined plan of action. Binkadink raised his glaive and moved into position, while Darrien pumped a few arrows into the ettinblood's chest for good measure. The beast snarled in pain with both throats.</p><p></p><p>Behind the leader, the other three approached, two of them racing forward full-bore while the last in line held back, concentrating on sending an <em>unholy blight</em> effect on the assembled group of heroes while they were still all bunched up. Darrien and Finoula caught the brunt of it, each visibly sickened by the assault.</p><p></p><p>But then Binkadink lashed forward with his glaive, driving its blade deep into the chest of the ettinblood leader. At the same time, Castillan tumbled past its grasp, ending up in position directly behind it and slamming his short sword - which appeared in his hand at the snap of a finger - deep into its kidney region. With a final set of twin howls of pain, the ettinblood fell forward and died.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold cast a quick <em>bless</em> spell on the group and moved forward, her <em>light mace of healing</em> in hand, menacing the girallon before her. At her side, Finoula used her <em>flaming whip of thorns</em> on another of the half-fiend beasts. Well behind the Battle-Sisters, Gilbert cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon himself, having read in his works on outer planes beasts how dangerous these four-armed apes could be. He stepped off of Mudpie's shoulders as he did so, grateful for the free ride thus far but not wanting to hamper his familiar's combat abilities.</p><p></p><p>The two girallons already in melee combat struck forth with teeth and claws, one merely scoring a glancing blow along Finoula's armor but the other one faring much better against Ingebold, catching the cleric in three sets of claws and rending deep grooves into her armor and the skin beneath. It followed up with a bite on the cleric's shoulder; fortunately, her armor took the brunt of that attack, protecting her otherwise-exposed neck. In the meantime, the straggler moved forward, taking the space of the fallen, two-headed leader of this fiendish troop of hungry apes.</p><p></p><p>Darrien sent several arrows deep into the body of the beast fighting Finoula, noting with some dismay that although he'd recently had his <em>Arachnibow</em> upgraded to deliver cold energy damage through his arrows, they didn't seem to be having much of an effect against these brutes. But Gilbert targeted the same creature with a <em>magic missile</em> spell, dropping the ape instantly.</p><p></p><p>Seeing Ingebold's dire straits, Finoula stepped up between her Battle-Sister and the foe she fought, making herself a more ready target. She stabbed out with her longsword <em>Tahlmalaera</em>, drawing blood from the beast. Behind her, Binkadink used the extended reach of his glaive to do likewise to the beast that had hurt their cleric, while Gilbert stepped up beside Ingebold and dropped a healing potion into her hand. "Don't want healer taken out of fight!" he cautioned. With a nod of thanks, Ingebold gratefully drank it down, feeling the worst of her wounds healing over immediately. Wisely, she stepped back out of the creature's reach as she did so, confident that her companions could better deal with the four-armed menace.</p><p></p><p>From the side, the straggler - the half-fiend girallon who had cast the <em>unholy blight</em> upon the group - clawed at Binkadink; of the whole of the group, the gnome made for the smallest morsel but he was the nearest at hand, and the beast was hungry. Binkadink whirled around to face this new assault, bloodying the beast with his glaive while Darrien shot several arrows at it in rapid succession.</p><p></p><p>Finoula's foe lashed out at her, catching her with a claw and a bite but failing to grab the nimble ranger in a two-handed grip so it could rend her armor as it had done to Ingebold. But then Castillan was suddenly behind it, stabbing it from where he couldn't be seen. A torrent of blood gushed from a long, deep cut in the beast's side, and it was dead before it finished its turn to face this new enemy. The beast fell to the ground, its simian face holding an expression of puzzlement.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink made quick work of the final half-fiend girallon, and then the group paused to take stock of their wounds and tend to some much-needed healing. As they were now alone in a field of tall grasses, Binkadink opted to make use of some of the "joke" potions his cousin Jinkadoodle had tampered with; they still worked perfectly fine on the healing front, but a <em>magic mouth</em> effect tacked on during the creation process made it sound as if the imbiber was speaking one of a number of embarrassing statements. Ingebold drank down a proffered potion, then her voice exclaimed, "I am in desperate need of a spanking: please form an orderly line right here!"</p><p></p><p>"We need t' have a word with that cousin 'f yers," she growled at the little gnome.</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," replied Binkadink, passing another "tainted" potion to Castillan. The bounder had avoided any damage from the girallons' teeth and fangs, but like the others had taken some damage from the <em>unholy blight</em> spell effect. "Anybody want to see my junk?" his voice queried after he guzzled down the potion. "Heh," laughed the bounder. "That one was pretty good." Unlike some of the others, he enjoyed the gnome cousins' ongoing prank war.</p><p></p><p>After healing up, the group readied themselves to continue on their trek to the cave. "I should have brought Obvious," lamented Binkadink. "I could have used his mobility during that fight with those apes."</p><p></p><p>"You can ride my fly," offered Darrien, reaching into a pouch and pulling out his <em>ebony fly</em>. The gnome gratefully accepted it, exclaiming, "I forgot you had this!" He had ridden the <em>ebony fly</em> once before, in the assault upon the ninja forces that had overtaken Gilbert Fung's house. The gnome had the fly rise high enough that he could spot any other foes creeping about in the tall grasses, but there were none to be found and the group made their way unmolested to the cliff-side, where the entrance to Malaterminus's den was easily found.</p><p></p><p>There was a narrow cave some 30 feet deep and ending in a heavy, wooden door with iron bands offering further protection. Castillan, his elven eyes seeing fine in the ever-waning sunlight of Shendilavri and the circle of radiance shining from the antlers on Binkadink's helmet, immediately noted a keyhole along the door's right-hand side. "Let me go check it out," he suggested, making his way forward. He saw no obvious traps on the door, but a more thorough examination was called for....</p><p></p><p>The bounder didn't get to make that examination. His ears picked up the sounds of a chain's links jingling a mere second before he was grabbed by a long, barbed tongue that wrapped around his midsection and yanked him to the side. Out of the corner of his eye he saw himself about to crash into a wall, but then he somehow passed right through it, into the mouth of a heavily-armored, squat toad-dog thing. As the thing's teeth clamped down around him, Castillan tried to struggle but found he couldn't move at all - he was paralyzed, and couldn't even call out a warning to his friends!</p><p></p><p>Then, mentally castigating himself, he called out a warning to his friends over the still-active <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell. <Guys! I'm paralyzed! There's a monster behind the wall who grabbed me with his tongue and pulled me through!></p><p></p><p><We're on it!> promised Finoula, stepping forward to where Castillan had been pulled through the wall. At the same time, with a mental prodding over their shared link, Gilbert sent Mudpie below the earth to go attack the unseen beast from beneath its present location. He then pulled a <em>potion of remove paralysis</em> flask from his belt and passed it over to an <em>unseen servant</em> he called into being, commanding it to go pour the vial's contents down the bounder's throat. The <em>unseen servant</em> moved to comply, the only indication of its progress being the floating vial of colored liquid hovering through the air, moving toward Finoula.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, the canoloth currently biting Castillan wasn't the only such "watchdog" in place. Directly across from it - and thus immediately behind Finoula - was another <em>illusory wall</em> covering a side-shaft to the cave entrance. The canoloth bounded forward, dragging its chain behind, and struck out at the ranger with a barbed tongue - a tongue not too dissimilar in build from the elf's own <em>whip of thorns</em>. Fortunately, the jingling of its chain gave Finoula enough warning to dodge the striking tongue, and the beast jumped forward to snap its teeth at the ranger, with similarly disappointing results.</p><p></p><p>However, now completely exposed to the other heroes, this second canoloth found itself the target of Darrien's rapid-fire arrows. As Ingebold intoned the words to a <em>prayer</em> spell encompassing the group of heroes, Binkadink charged in, still riding Darrien's <em>ebony fly</em>, and skewered the beast on the tip of his glaive, killing it instantly.</p><p></p><p>A sudden thud indicated that Mudpie had found his target, and then Castillan staggered out of the fake wall, the tip of his short sword covered in canoloth blood. Finoula pushed him aside and strode into the wall, stabbing forth with <em>Tahlmalaera</em>. She stepped back outside the <em>illusory wall</em> a moment later, dragging the canoloth's carcass by its chain. She dropped her burden then squatted down beside it, pulling a piece of twisted metal from its collar. "This is the key, perhaps?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>Castillan gave it a try, with no luck. Then he glanced at the other slain canoloth and saw a similar piece of twisted metal dangling from its collar. He found a way to connect the two - it was rather like a gnomish puzzle - and placed the unified whole into the door's keyhole. With a quick turn on his wrist, the clicking of a locking mechanism was heard and the massive door was pushed open by the bounder. "Here we are," he announced, looking inside and shocked at what he saw.</p><p></p><p>The chamber beyond the door was a massive, natural stone cavern, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. That wasn't all that was hanging, though: a pair of thick chains dangled down from the ceiling, attached to either end of a long steel spear - which was penetrated through the heads of three naked women on their knees, seemingly of some exotic elven stock. The women had their arms stretched behind them, and they would have all been rather good-looking - had their lower jaws not been removed, to leave their tongues dangling in midair.</p><p></p><p>"By the Goddess!" exclaimed Finoula, a chill running up her spine at the horror before her. For these weren't the carcasses of slain women; they mewled and moaned, their tongues swaying back and forth in a pointless effort at speech. The ranger moved forward to help the women - she could see a similar spear had been pierced through each of their hands and the ends bent over to keep them in place - but a hand on her shoulder stopped her progress. "Wait!" commanded Gilbert Fung, his senses scanning the cavern.</p><p></p><p>Seeing no further danger, he continued. "This one hell of welcoming party," he said. "We dealing with twisted mind."</p><p></p><p>"Of course we are," snarled Finoula. "This is Malaterminus we're talking about. Now let me help these poor souls." But Gilbert's grip on her shoulder only tightened. "We come back for them later," he suggested. "We have spells in place - they not last forever. Let's deal with him first - then we help victims." Before him the women mewled in wordless input - but the heroes couldn't tell if these were entreaties for help or an understanding that their needs must wait for now.</p><p></p><p>"Listen!" hissed Castillan, his elven ears straining. There was a passageway deeper into the cavern complex, and the bounder could hear a rhythmic grunting and whimpers of pain coming from that direction. "Come on!" he whispered, leading the way to the passageway. "We come back for you," Gilbert promised the bound and disfigured women.</p><p></p><p>Tearing quietly through the passageway, Castillan turned a corner and found a disturbing scene: one of the goatlike schir demons of the type they'd seen guarding the succubus castle, busily humping away behind a woman bent over a large rock. Upon closer examination, the woman wasn't just bent over a rock: there were slabs of rock at her sides, upon which had been placed her arms and feathery wings - and then more slabs of rock pinning them into place, keeping her immobilized.</p><p></p><p>Hearing the others coming up behind the silent bounder, the schir demon turned his head and sneered, "Wait yer blasted turn!" before his eyes widened at the sight of the heroes assembled behind him. Castillan stabbed forth with his short sword, driving its blade deep into the shaggy demon's back and eliciting a goatlike bleat of pain. The humanoid goat-thing instinctively reached for the halberd leaning against the stone wall, then changed his mind and thrust his curved horns at the bounder, who nimbly dodged out of reach. The schir demon was still aroused from his prior actions, the bounder noted with disgust.</p><p></p><p>"Mudpie: kill it!" commanded Gilbert, and his familiar glided through the intervening stone wall to get to his foe. In the meantime, Finoula raced up, <em>Tahlmalaera</em> in hand, and gasped at what she saw in the cavern just beyond: another schir demon, his halberd on the stone floor beside him as he pumped away at the lillend hanging horizontally from the ceiling about three feet above the stone floor, bound by chains ending in hooks piercing through her hands and wings and supporting the weight of her snakelike lower body. The goat-demon held her head in both hands as he focused his attention solely on his own pleasure, ignoring the gasps of mixed pain and horror coming from the suspended lillend.</p><p></p><p>Finoula was frozen in horror at the scene before her, but Darrien was quicker to react: several arrows thunked into the goat-demon's back, gaining his immediate attention. He whipped around, causing the lillend to gasp in relief that her horror had been temporarily, at least, suspended. Finoula growled in rage and advanced upon the schir demon, flicking the thorn-whip before her with her left hand as she gripped the hilt of her longsword in her right.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink made short work of the first schir demon with his glaive, allowing Mudpie to focus upon lifting the rock slabs off of the female celestial's arms and wings. Gilbert pulled a healing potion from his belt and handed it to his <em>unseen servant</em>, commanding it to give it to the schir demon's victim after Mudpie had freed her. The floating vial indicated the <em>unseen servant</em>'s position as it patiently waited to carry out its orders.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold raced up behind her Battle-Sister, mace at the ready. She noted the area was scattered with white gravel and frowned in puzzlement before she realized they were the lillend's teeth. Snarling in fury, she stepped up to help attack the goat-demon, but Finoula had already gotten in several good strikes, and a cluster of <em>magic missiles</em> indicated Gilbert's contribution to the fight. A few arrows from Darrien's <em>Arachnibow</em> finished it off for good, then the half-elf ranger advanced further into the cavern, curious about the deep, open pit before him.</p><p></p><p>He immediately wished he hadn't looked. The pit was about 25 feet long and 20 feet wide. Its depth was unknown, for it was filled nearly to the top with hundreds, if not thousands, of female bodies. Darrien spotted humans, elves, winged celestials, and even a succubus or two - apparently Malaterminus's only qualification for his victims was that they were female; the ranger spotted no male forms in the pile. Disturbingly, either the incubus had a ridiculously rapid kill rate or there was preservation magic at play here, for none of the victims showed the slightest sign of decay. And a sloping section of rock on the far side of the pit led up to a throne made of bones and sinew, a perch upon which a particularly depraved individual could look down upon the bodies of his victims and remember the good times he'd had with each and every one of them. There was even a large stalactite hanging down over the pit, carved with thousands of grooves as Malaterminus commemorated each death with a notch, keeping score throughout the centuries....</p><p></p><p>The schir demons having been slain, the group advanced further along the cavern network, Gilbert giving the hanging lillend the same promise he'd given the trio of bralani women in the first chamber - that they'd be back to free her after they'd taken care of Malaterminus. But Ingebold, Finoula, and Darrien found another body slumped in a corner of the cavern up ahead: this one was a naked male with the head of a dog, which Gilbert identified as a hound archon. He sat with his back against the wall, his head angled forward as if to contemplate the sharp-tipped organ rising up to just past his chest. The heroes groaned in realization that the archon's male member only extended about halfway up the pointy shaft; the slain hound archon had apparently been placed upon a sharp and narrow stalagmite, which pierced up through his body and erupted through the end of his member. Darrien felt his own groin shrivel in sympathetic pain at the sight. "This Malaterminus freak definitely needs killing," he observed.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink advanced up to the trio upon his borrowed, horse-sized fly, saw the dead hound archon, and moved on around the corner to see even more evidence of depravity. There was a beautiful woman, seemingly human but for her golden skin, shackled at the wrists and ankles by chains leading to the bottoms of the stone slab upon which she lay, spread-eagled. Above her loomed a vrock, a vulture-demon who squawked in irritation at the interruption. Given that the golden-skinned human was unconscious and her gown still intact (if ripped along the neckline), it seemed as if the vrock had yet to begin his depredations.</p><p></p><p>And he wouldn't, if Binkadink had any say in the matter. He urged his fly mount forward, striking at the vrock with his glaive pointed ahead like a lance. Finoula raced behind the gnome, eager to join the fighter in battle against the vrock...</p><p></p><p>...until her gaze focused to the narrow chamber beyond the vulture-demon, and to the winged, naked man standing between what looked like - incongruously - a pair of window panes looking out onto a beautiful landscape, with blue skies streaked with fluffy, white clouds.</p><p></p><p>"Why, hello, Finoula!" greeted Malaterminus. "How nice of you to find me here in my den. Now I won't even have to seek you out...."</p><p></p><p>Any reply Finoula might have made was cut off by the sudden pain the ranger felt beneath her skin, where, unseen, spores released by the vrock had started their agonizing growth. A grunt from Binkadink hinted that he was experiencing the same unpleasantness, but the little gnome was unable to focus upon it, for he was busy fending off the vrock's snapping beak and wicked talons.</p><p></p><p>Finoula slashed out at the vrock with her longsword, cutting a deep gash into the demon's side, but it was of little consequence to the elven ranger, whose attention was focused solely on the incubus before her. The vrock screeched as a trio of arrows erupted in its chest, evidence that Darrien had joined the fight, but Finoula barely noticed. Binkadink's glaive bit deep into the vrock's flesh, but it mattered not to Finoula; her enemy was before her, and she had no room for thoughts of anything else. She barely even noticed as a <em>haste</em> spell encompassed her, Binkadink, and Darrien, cast by Gilbert Fung from the other side of the cavern.</p><p></p><p>Finoula's <em>flaming whip of thorns</em> struck out and slashed the incubus across his face, drawing a trickle of blood down the side of his cheek. Her sword stabbed out, cutting a red line across his forearm. "Why, Finoula," cooed Malaterminus, "one might think you weren't pleased to see me." Then he called out, "<strong>Slurper-of-Entrails</strong>--attend me!"</p><p></p><p>Instantly, a hard-shelled mezzoloth formed between the incubus and the ranger intent upon his death. It struck at Finoula with its wicked claws, and the ranger instinctively tried to dodge its blows, all while keeping her gaze focused upon Malaterminus - but her attempts to dodge were unnecessary. With a look of puzzlement in its beady little eyes, the mezzoloth tried - and failed - to put its claws on the ranger's lithe body, but Ingebold's <em>protection from evil</em> spell was still active and it prevented the summoned demon from making contact.</p><p></p><p>But the moment's respite gave the incubus time to flee down a narrow side corridor, towards his throne of bones. "Coward!" called Finoula behind him, while Ingebold cast a <em>blade barrier</em> spell that walled off the mezzoloth from the rest of the group. Despite the whirling blades of the spell providing cover, Darrien managed to get in a few shots with his bow, peppering the mezzoloth's carapace with his arrows.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink managed to slay the vrock, making way for Castillan to approach the gold-skinned woman chained to the slab of stone. "She's alive!" he called out, grabbing his lockpicks to open her manacles. But then his attention was distracted by a scene through the "windows" just beyond: a winged, three-headed tiger was pacing back and forth through the windows, approaching one and seemingly teleporting immediately to the other as it paced back and forth, back and forth. Its heads were low to the ground, and the bounder realized it was tracking somebody by scent. In a flash of intuition, the bounder realized these were rifts to another - presumably celestial - realm; and that this was the means by which Malaterminus obtained his celestial victims. The three-headed tiger was likely seeking the golden woman who had just been abducted. Castillan returned his focus to the task at hand, freeing the unconscious woman from her shackles.</p><p></p><p>Slurper-of-Entrails, in the meantime, got tired of being peppered with arrows from behind the <em>blade barrier</em> spell, and teleported away. Through the whirling blades he'd picked out the form of the dwarf who had cast the spell - a cleric of dour Moradin, no doubt - and chosen her as a fine target. But he once again was stopped by an invisible barrier, this one caused by the <em>magic circle against evil</em> that didn't even allow him to land where he'd targeted, right in front of the dwarf. Instead, he was shunted to a few paces from the archer. Changing targets immediately, the mezzoloth found he likewise couldn't touch the half-elf standing before him -- it was infuriating!</p><p></p><p>The vrock dead, Binkadink wheeled his borrowed fly in place and flew it around back, over the pit of victims and past the throne, cutting Malaterminus off from his destination with the point of his glaive. "Not going to happen!" the gnome promised the incubus.</p><p></p><p>"I doubt that," replied Malaterminus from behind the gnome, who turned to see the incubus seated upon his throne; Binkadink hadn't even seen him teleport! "But just look at what I can do from here!"</p><p></p><p>By an unspoken command, the bodies of Malaterminus's victims came to an unholy, stilted life. They crawled up out of the pit, dragging themselves forward in a mass, some scrabbling toward Binkadink and his <em>ebony fly</em> while others spilled out the other way, pulling their lifeless bodies toward Ingebold and Darrien. Gilbert flashed anger as he scanned them with his magically-enhanced eyes, but he saw these weren't undead; the incubus was merely animating them as he might any other unliving object. Glad to see their souls weren't being violated as their bodies had once been, the wizard cast a spell upon Malaterminus from across the pit, overcoming the demon's natural ability to ward off spell effects and encasing him in a green glow. "You not going anywhere now!" Gilbert promised the incubus, confident in the power of his <em>dimensional anchor</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>Malaterminus rose from his throne, fury in his eyes. Darrien compounded the incubus's fury by piercing his chest with a well-placed arrow. Ingebold cast a <em>flame strike</em> at the lustful demon, and while he managed to shield himself from its effects the unliving victims crawling towards him weren't so lucky; their violated bodies sizzled and burned from the power of her spell. As one, they stopped their feeble movement, while those closest to the cleric and thus outside the range of her spell continued their slow approach.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink spun the <em>ebony fly</em> around and faced the incubus. He suddenly struck out with the flat of his blade, striking the demon in the head again and again. Malaterminus spilled forward, falling to the floor in front of his throne.</p><p></p><p>"Is he--?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Just unconscious," promised the gnome. "He's all yours."</p><p></p><p>"All ours," corrected Finoula, indicating for Ingebold to step forward and join her. As the cleric scrambled up to the throne, Finoula kicked Malaterminus over with her foot. He lay naked, exposed, upon his back, his arms spread out before him as if in silent supplication.</p><p></p><p>Finoula placed the tip of <em>Tahlmalaera</em> over the heart of the incubus, gripping the hilt with both hands. Ingebold placed her hand over those of her Battle-Sister, and the ranger brought the sword up high. Then, together, they brought the blade crashing down into his chest, piercing his heart in the same fashion as he'd once tricked Finoula into doing to Ingebold. Malaterminus didn't even have the courtesy to wake up at the last moment, to lock eyes with his slayer one last time; he simply grunted once and died, there in his own chamber of horrors.</p><p></p><p>"Well, so long everybody!" waved the mezzoloth before teleporting away; he'd learned the hard way there was no way he could even touch these interlopers, whereas they could touch him in all sorts of unpleasant ways. And with Malaterminus already dead, it wasn't like he owed the incubus anything anymore....</p><p></p><p>Castillan freed the golden woman, then awakened her gently. She introduced herself as <strong>Glorianna</strong>, and confirmed she'd just been snatched out of thin air from her home on Mount Celestia. Mudpie had, by this time, freed the celestial from beneath the crushing rocks; she introduced herself as <strong>Annavel</strong>, a sword archon similarly plucked from Mount Celestia years ago and abused here ever since. "You have my undying gratitude," she said, helping the others free the bound lillend, <strong>Maestria</strong> and the trio of bralani, whose names were unknown.</p><p></p><p>"I think we make our own way home," suggested Gilbert Fung, not wanting to trust Jasannah at her word that she'd get the heroes back to Oerth. "We go through rift to Mount Celestia, Ingebold <em>plane shift</em> us home from there. But first," he added, pulling out his magical dagger, "I have errand to run."</p><p></p><p>While the others gathered their rescued victims together and stepped through the rift into Mount Celestia, Gilbert Fung cast a <em>fly</em> spell upon himself and returned briefly to the castle. "Here," he said, tossing the severed head of Malaterminus at one of the schir demon guards. "You tell Jasannah mission accomplished, but we find our own way back home."</p><p></p><p>The demon guards looked at astonishment at the severed head before them, then bellowed in anger. "You killed him!" exclaimed one, grabbing up his halberd. "I had a pass for when my shift was over!" moaned the other. "I was going to finally get to try out that lillend!" They swung their weapons at Gilbert, but he quickly flew out of range and sped back to the cavern, looking back frequently to ensure he wasn't being pursued by any flying demons. But he made it back to the rift to Mount Celestia and caught up with his friends there without incident.</p><p></p><p>"We'll need t' seal off this rift somehow," declared Ingebold. "We dinnae want the next incubus in line to pick up where Malaterminus left off."</p><p></p><p>"I have marked the location," answered Annavel, whose hand and forearm had become a flaming sword, with which she had burned a mark into the ground indicating the location of the extraplanar rift - which was completely undetectable from this side. "We will see to the construction of a wall, blocking off the rift." The three-headed tiger - a leskylor, Glorianna had explained - growled its agreement.</p><p></p><p>Now safely back on their home plane, the celestials had begun healing. Maestria's teeth were growing back in, and the three bralani were slowly growing back their lower jaws. Annavel excused herself and flew off, returning several minutes later, now robed in a fresh set of clothes.</p><p></p><p>"I can never thank you enough," she said, handing an object to Ingebold - for she had instinctively singled out the one hero whose natural inclinations best fit the lawful good alignment of Mount Celestia. "But please accept this as a small token of my gratitude. You have only to touch it, and speak my name - and I will come to you, across the planes, to aid you as you have aided me this day."</p><p></p><p>"I thank ye," replied Ingebold formally, placing the amulet around her neck, where it rubbed up against her holy symbol of Moradin the Soul-Forger. And then, after saying their goodbyes, Ingebold cast the <em>plane shift</em> spell that would return the heroes to their own world.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>This was an uncomfortable adventure to run, because of the subject matter. Knowing ahead of time that I'd be basically running the PCs through a "rape dungeon," I had made arrangements for Hagan to be visiting his parents during this adventure, so that Harry could be spared a bunch of questions about what the demons were up to. (He just turned 11 last month, but I wrote this adventure before he had joined our group.)</p><p></p><p>Had Malaterminus been slain upon his first being encountered, this adventure wouldn't have been necessary. But we've always been a "let the dice fall where they may" group, and his escape made tracking him down later necessary. This seemed like exactly the sort of thing an incubus gone bad by even demonic standards would get up to, but I took care to describe the encounters in such a way that the players could infer what was going on without my actually coming out and stating the obvious. And the depravity of the scene only made Malaterminus's death that much more satisfying to Vicki. (We had skipped ahead, jumping over several other players to have Vicki run Ingebold this time even though it wasn't her turn, as it seemed appropriate that the Battle-Sisters would be on a united front in seeing their long-held goal to its conclusion.)</p><p></p><p>And now I don't have to deal with Malaterminus any more in this whole campaign, a fact for which I am grateful.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: A new Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" T-shirt I just got for Christmas. It seemed appropriate for this particular gaming session, since this was definitely a much "darker" session than any other we've ever had.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7313526, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 41: ENEMY OF MY ENEMY[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 12 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 12 Darrien, half-elf ranger 12 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 12 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 12[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 12 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 1 January 2018 - - - Entering the conference room of Battershield Keep, the heroes saw a voluptuous young woman already seated at the table, sipping a glass of red wine. She smiled as they entered, paying special attention to Castillan, scanning him from head to toe as a force of habit and very much liking what she saw - and what she imagined he looked like underneath his leather armor. The heroes stood in surprise looking down at their visitor, bunching up around the table but nobody taking a seat. "Hello," she greeted them in a husky voice. "My name is [b]Jasannah[/b]. I'd like to hire your services for a little job I need done. I don't intend to pay you for it, but I believe you'll be interested in the mission, all the same." Looking over at Finoula, she added, "Especially you, darling." Finoula's eyes narrowed as she tried to remember if she'd ever met this hussy before in her life. She came up with nothing. Still, she figured she'd take the hook, if only to see what this was all about. "Oh?" she asked. The woman smirked and replied, "I'd like for you to kill the incubus Malaterminus. Interested?" Finoula exchanged quick glances with her Battle-Sister, Ingebold, then looked back to Jasannah, who was sipping her wine in a suggestive manner. "Yes," said Finoula, as Ingebold replied "Aye" at the same time. "Good," replied Jasannah, setting down her wine glass. "I thought as much. I happen to know exactly where Malaterminus can be found. If we hurry, there's a good chance you might even be able to rescue a celestial being while you're at it - consider that a bonus for your good deed." "And how do you happen to know all of this?" interjected Darrien. "She a demon!" exploded Gilbert before Jasannah could reply. "Why yes, of course," admitted the sultry woman. "A succubus, as you probably have already suspected. But as they say: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend....'" "How you end up with Malaterminus as enemy? I thought succubi and incubi work together." "Oh, normally we do. But this is an exception. Malaterminus is hardly an incubus at all, save in physical form; he's a rage-fueled monster who loves to kill. That's not what we're supposed to be about at all; our mission is all about temptation, seduction...you can hardly expect to taint a mortal's soul when you kill them during the first act of intimacy.... "But that's not the only reason I want him dead. I had a friend, [b]Nehtenya[/b], a succubus like myself. Several centuries ago, she found a way to bind him into a longsword and arranged to have him hidden away. We thought our problems were behind us, but...well." Jasannah smirked at Finoula and Ingebold. "I'm sure you know the rest." The succubus finished her glass of wine and set the glass aside. "Are you ready?" "We'll be needin' some time t' prepare th' spells we'll be wantin' at hand," replied Ingebold, as Gilbert plopped the [i]Omnibook[/i] onto the table and started flipping through its pages. "Oh, take your time," smiled Jasannah, patting the seat next to her and focusing her attention back to Castillan. "Why don't you sit here by me, Castillan? We can chat while the spellcasters do their stuff." The elven bounder approached the succubus and took the proffered seat, ignoring a warning look from Finoula and returning it with a glare that said he could handle it. But he was in no particular danger; it wasn't as if Jasannah was going to do anything to drain one of the people she was relying on to handle her Malaterminus problem. Castillan saw no reason why he couldn't spend a few pleasant moments in conversation with a temptation demon - after all, how many times in one's life did an opportunity like this present itself? When the spellcasters indicated their readiness, Jasannah reached inside the cleavage of her tight dress and pulled out a key. Then she rose from the table and put the key into the doorknob of the door behind her, which led to the study. This was in itself a bit unusual, as that door had no keyhole. Stranger still was when Jasannah opened the door, revealing not the familiar study where Aerik unwound after a hard day's work, but rather what looked like a linen closet. "This way, if you please," said Jasannah, stepping through the open doorway. The others followed, but not before Ingebold cast an [i]attune form[/i] spell upon the assembled group. It turned out to have been unnecessary, for the Abyssal plane beyond the door was quite pleasant. Stepping through the open storage closet - filled with bottles of bathing soaps, scented candles, and the like - the group found themselves in an elegant castle, with revelry going on all about them. A fancy banquet table was filled with succulent foods, but they were mostly ignored by the revelers, who seemed to be mostly average-looking mortal men and exceptionally beautiful human and elven women, all in various stages of undress. Gilbert kept the group close and cast a quick [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell upon all of them but Ingebold and Mudpie. "Sorry," he apologized to the dwarven cleric. "I can only get so many into link - and you have amulet, anyway." Ingebold wore a [i]contact medallion[/i] which allowed her to cast her thoughts to a single person up to a mile away; it would serve as a suitable alternative - and Mudpie already had a mental link with his master. After the spell had been cast, Gilbert decided to test it out. <Remember,> he mentally cautioned his friends, <we not believe anything this demon-whore say to us!> <Why Gilbert, that's quite rude!> responded a seductive voice over the telepathic link. <You forget that we 'demon-whores' can communicate telepathically. But don't you worry - I forgive you. I'll even personally see to your reward after you slay Malaterminus.> Gilbert grumbled under his breath, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt. Jasannah led the group past a railed opening in the floor, through which a ballroom dance could be seen underway on the level below them. They went through a narrow doorway - this castle seemed to have no doors, merely doorways - and outside onto an overhanging balcony. It was there they discovered they were on the second floor of the castle - and got their first glimpse of the natural state of the Abyssal realm in which they now stood. "Welcome to Shendilavri," Jasannah said, waving her arm to encompass the view behind her. Shendilavri was a beautiful place, looking much more like one of the celestial realms than one of the layers of the Abyss. It had lush gardens, a lovely, blood-red sea in the distance, and a sky permanently at the most beautiful part of sunset. "Look there, by the sea," commanded Jasannah, pointing. "See the cliffs there? There are a number of caves along the bottom of the cliffs; the one with a heavy wooden door barring entrance is where Malaterminus spends his time between assignments. You will find him there." Jasannah then led the group to a nearby set of stairs leading down to the castle's exterior, opening a heavy door to gain exit. There was a pair of hairy, goat-headed demons on guard duty outside the door, each brandishing a deadly-looking halberd. "When you've completed your mission, return here and have one of the guards fetch me. I'll lead you back inside, and we'll see about giving you a proper reward before sending you all home." Here, betraying her thoughts, Jasannah once again allowed her sight to focus on Castillan, unconsciously licking her lips in anticipation. "We see you later, then," prompted Gilbert Fung, leading the group away from the seductress. They faced the cliffs by the sea and started walking. The way was filled with tall grasses waving in the light breeze; Binkadink had to extend his [i]gnomish stilt-boots[/i] just to be able to see where he was going. It looked to be about a mile and a half until they reached their destination. "This no good!" complained Gilbert. "Why her key not open directly into cave we need to go to? This too much walking!" "You could always have teleported us there," pointed out Darrien. "Only if I have spell prepared," countered Gilbert. "Didn't think we need it." Then a sudden inspiration struck the portly mage: normally, he had Mudpie, his earth elemental familiar, follow him underground, directly beneath him. But since his familiar could earth glide - literally "swim" through the ground - Gilbert saw no reason why he couldn't have Mudpie glide through the earth with his upper half sticking up above the ground. Stepping onto Mudpie's broad shoulders, he commanded his trusty familiar forward and smiled in self-congratulations as he skimmed forward without having to move a muscle. "You slow pokes hurry up!" commanded Gilbert. "Lazy!" scolded Darrien. "Resourceful," countered Gilbert. The grasses parted before him as Mudpie skimmed forward, closing up behind them as they traveled - the elemental left no "wake" behind him. As they approached the cliffs, Finoula suggested they might want to start casting their long-term preparatory spells. Knowing they'd be heading into the Abyss, they had come prepared: Binkadink, Gilbert, and Ingebold each received a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell centered on them, while Darrien and Finoula each received a [i]protection from evil[/i] spell. Then, suddenly, there was movement in the grasses ahead of them - movement different from the gentle swaying caused by the warm breezes. A white, shaggy head popped up ahead of them, followed by another, and another, and then two more. These last two belonged to the same body; four half-fiend girallons roared and approached, the last one obviously ettinblooded. It was the two-headed beast who responded first, rushing forward on its legs and lower arms while the upper arms beat menacingly on its chest in a display of aggression. Castillan reacted a mere fraction behind the girallon leader, but he looked sideways at Binkadink, mentally suggesting over their telepathic link a combined plan of action. Binkadink raised his glaive and moved into position, while Darrien pumped a few arrows into the ettinblood's chest for good measure. The beast snarled in pain with both throats. Behind the leader, the other three approached, two of them racing forward full-bore while the last in line held back, concentrating on sending an [i]unholy blight[/i] effect on the assembled group of heroes while they were still all bunched up. Darrien and Finoula caught the brunt of it, each visibly sickened by the assault. But then Binkadink lashed forward with his glaive, driving its blade deep into the chest of the ettinblood leader. At the same time, Castillan tumbled past its grasp, ending up in position directly behind it and slamming his short sword - which appeared in his hand at the snap of a finger - deep into its kidney region. With a final set of twin howls of pain, the ettinblood fell forward and died. Ingebold cast a quick [i]bless[/i] spell on the group and moved forward, her [i]light mace of healing[/i] in hand, menacing the girallon before her. At her side, Finoula used her [i]flaming whip of thorns[/i] on another of the half-fiend beasts. Well behind the Battle-Sisters, Gilbert cast a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell upon himself, having read in his works on outer planes beasts how dangerous these four-armed apes could be. He stepped off of Mudpie's shoulders as he did so, grateful for the free ride thus far but not wanting to hamper his familiar's combat abilities. The two girallons already in melee combat struck forth with teeth and claws, one merely scoring a glancing blow along Finoula's armor but the other one faring much better against Ingebold, catching the cleric in three sets of claws and rending deep grooves into her armor and the skin beneath. It followed up with a bite on the cleric's shoulder; fortunately, her armor took the brunt of that attack, protecting her otherwise-exposed neck. In the meantime, the straggler moved forward, taking the space of the fallen, two-headed leader of this fiendish troop of hungry apes. Darrien sent several arrows deep into the body of the beast fighting Finoula, noting with some dismay that although he'd recently had his [i]Arachnibow[/i] upgraded to deliver cold energy damage through his arrows, they didn't seem to be having much of an effect against these brutes. But Gilbert targeted the same creature with a [i]magic missile[/i] spell, dropping the ape instantly. Seeing Ingebold's dire straits, Finoula stepped up between her Battle-Sister and the foe she fought, making herself a more ready target. She stabbed out with her longsword [i]Tahlmalaera[/i], drawing blood from the beast. Behind her, Binkadink used the extended reach of his glaive to do likewise to the beast that had hurt their cleric, while Gilbert stepped up beside Ingebold and dropped a healing potion into her hand. "Don't want healer taken out of fight!" he cautioned. With a nod of thanks, Ingebold gratefully drank it down, feeling the worst of her wounds healing over immediately. Wisely, she stepped back out of the creature's reach as she did so, confident that her companions could better deal with the four-armed menace. From the side, the straggler - the half-fiend girallon who had cast the [i]unholy blight[/i] upon the group - clawed at Binkadink; of the whole of the group, the gnome made for the smallest morsel but he was the nearest at hand, and the beast was hungry. Binkadink whirled around to face this new assault, bloodying the beast with his glaive while Darrien shot several arrows at it in rapid succession. Finoula's foe lashed out at her, catching her with a claw and a bite but failing to grab the nimble ranger in a two-handed grip so it could rend her armor as it had done to Ingebold. But then Castillan was suddenly behind it, stabbing it from where he couldn't be seen. A torrent of blood gushed from a long, deep cut in the beast's side, and it was dead before it finished its turn to face this new enemy. The beast fell to the ground, its simian face holding an expression of puzzlement. Binkadink made quick work of the final half-fiend girallon, and then the group paused to take stock of their wounds and tend to some much-needed healing. As they were now alone in a field of tall grasses, Binkadink opted to make use of some of the "joke" potions his cousin Jinkadoodle had tampered with; they still worked perfectly fine on the healing front, but a [i]magic mouth[/i] effect tacked on during the creation process made it sound as if the imbiber was speaking one of a number of embarrassing statements. Ingebold drank down a proffered potion, then her voice exclaimed, "I am in desperate need of a spanking: please form an orderly line right here!" "We need t' have a word with that cousin 'f yers," she growled at the little gnome. "Agreed," replied Binkadink, passing another "tainted" potion to Castillan. The bounder had avoided any damage from the girallons' teeth and fangs, but like the others had taken some damage from the [i]unholy blight[/i] spell effect. "Anybody want to see my junk?" his voice queried after he guzzled down the potion. "Heh," laughed the bounder. "That one was pretty good." Unlike some of the others, he enjoyed the gnome cousins' ongoing prank war. After healing up, the group readied themselves to continue on their trek to the cave. "I should have brought Obvious," lamented Binkadink. "I could have used his mobility during that fight with those apes." "You can ride my fly," offered Darrien, reaching into a pouch and pulling out his [i]ebony fly[/i]. The gnome gratefully accepted it, exclaiming, "I forgot you had this!" He had ridden the [i]ebony fly[/i] once before, in the assault upon the ninja forces that had overtaken Gilbert Fung's house. The gnome had the fly rise high enough that he could spot any other foes creeping about in the tall grasses, but there were none to be found and the group made their way unmolested to the cliff-side, where the entrance to Malaterminus's den was easily found. There was a narrow cave some 30 feet deep and ending in a heavy, wooden door with iron bands offering further protection. Castillan, his elven eyes seeing fine in the ever-waning sunlight of Shendilavri and the circle of radiance shining from the antlers on Binkadink's helmet, immediately noted a keyhole along the door's right-hand side. "Let me go check it out," he suggested, making his way forward. He saw no obvious traps on the door, but a more thorough examination was called for.... The bounder didn't get to make that examination. His ears picked up the sounds of a chain's links jingling a mere second before he was grabbed by a long, barbed tongue that wrapped around his midsection and yanked him to the side. Out of the corner of his eye he saw himself about to crash into a wall, but then he somehow passed right through it, into the mouth of a heavily-armored, squat toad-dog thing. As the thing's teeth clamped down around him, Castillan tried to struggle but found he couldn't move at all - he was paralyzed, and couldn't even call out a warning to his friends! Then, mentally castigating himself, he called out a warning to his friends over the still-active [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] spell. <Guys! I'm paralyzed! There's a monster behind the wall who grabbed me with his tongue and pulled me through!> <We're on it!> promised Finoula, stepping forward to where Castillan had been pulled through the wall. At the same time, with a mental prodding over their shared link, Gilbert sent Mudpie below the earth to go attack the unseen beast from beneath its present location. He then pulled a [i]potion of remove paralysis[/i] flask from his belt and passed it over to an [i]unseen servant[/i] he called into being, commanding it to go pour the vial's contents down the bounder's throat. The [i]unseen servant[/i] moved to comply, the only indication of its progress being the floating vial of colored liquid hovering through the air, moving toward Finoula. Unfortunately, the canoloth currently biting Castillan wasn't the only such "watchdog" in place. Directly across from it - and thus immediately behind Finoula - was another [i]illusory wall[/i] covering a side-shaft to the cave entrance. The canoloth bounded forward, dragging its chain behind, and struck out at the ranger with a barbed tongue - a tongue not too dissimilar in build from the elf's own [i]whip of thorns[/i]. Fortunately, the jingling of its chain gave Finoula enough warning to dodge the striking tongue, and the beast jumped forward to snap its teeth at the ranger, with similarly disappointing results. However, now completely exposed to the other heroes, this second canoloth found itself the target of Darrien's rapid-fire arrows. As Ingebold intoned the words to a [i]prayer[/i] spell encompassing the group of heroes, Binkadink charged in, still riding Darrien's [i]ebony fly[/i], and skewered the beast on the tip of his glaive, killing it instantly. A sudden thud indicated that Mudpie had found his target, and then Castillan staggered out of the fake wall, the tip of his short sword covered in canoloth blood. Finoula pushed him aside and strode into the wall, stabbing forth with [i]Tahlmalaera[/i]. She stepped back outside the [i]illusory wall[/i] a moment later, dragging the canoloth's carcass by its chain. She dropped her burden then squatted down beside it, pulling a piece of twisted metal from its collar. "This is the key, perhaps?" she asked. Castillan gave it a try, with no luck. Then he glanced at the other slain canoloth and saw a similar piece of twisted metal dangling from its collar. He found a way to connect the two - it was rather like a gnomish puzzle - and placed the unified whole into the door's keyhole. With a quick turn on his wrist, the clicking of a locking mechanism was heard and the massive door was pushed open by the bounder. "Here we are," he announced, looking inside and shocked at what he saw. The chamber beyond the door was a massive, natural stone cavern, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. That wasn't all that was hanging, though: a pair of thick chains dangled down from the ceiling, attached to either end of a long steel spear - which was penetrated through the heads of three naked women on their knees, seemingly of some exotic elven stock. The women had their arms stretched behind them, and they would have all been rather good-looking - had their lower jaws not been removed, to leave their tongues dangling in midair. "By the Goddess!" exclaimed Finoula, a chill running up her spine at the horror before her. For these weren't the carcasses of slain women; they mewled and moaned, their tongues swaying back and forth in a pointless effort at speech. The ranger moved forward to help the women - she could see a similar spear had been pierced through each of their hands and the ends bent over to keep them in place - but a hand on her shoulder stopped her progress. "Wait!" commanded Gilbert Fung, his senses scanning the cavern. Seeing no further danger, he continued. "This one hell of welcoming party," he said. "We dealing with twisted mind." "Of course we are," snarled Finoula. "This is Malaterminus we're talking about. Now let me help these poor souls." But Gilbert's grip on her shoulder only tightened. "We come back for them later," he suggested. "We have spells in place - they not last forever. Let's deal with him first - then we help victims." Before him the women mewled in wordless input - but the heroes couldn't tell if these were entreaties for help or an understanding that their needs must wait for now. "Listen!" hissed Castillan, his elven ears straining. There was a passageway deeper into the cavern complex, and the bounder could hear a rhythmic grunting and whimpers of pain coming from that direction. "Come on!" he whispered, leading the way to the passageway. "We come back for you," Gilbert promised the bound and disfigured women. Tearing quietly through the passageway, Castillan turned a corner and found a disturbing scene: one of the goatlike schir demons of the type they'd seen guarding the succubus castle, busily humping away behind a woman bent over a large rock. Upon closer examination, the woman wasn't just bent over a rock: there were slabs of rock at her sides, upon which had been placed her arms and feathery wings - and then more slabs of rock pinning them into place, keeping her immobilized. Hearing the others coming up behind the silent bounder, the schir demon turned his head and sneered, "Wait yer blasted turn!" before his eyes widened at the sight of the heroes assembled behind him. Castillan stabbed forth with his short sword, driving its blade deep into the shaggy demon's back and eliciting a goatlike bleat of pain. The humanoid goat-thing instinctively reached for the halberd leaning against the stone wall, then changed his mind and thrust his curved horns at the bounder, who nimbly dodged out of reach. The schir demon was still aroused from his prior actions, the bounder noted with disgust. "Mudpie: kill it!" commanded Gilbert, and his familiar glided through the intervening stone wall to get to his foe. In the meantime, Finoula raced up, [i]Tahlmalaera[/i] in hand, and gasped at what she saw in the cavern just beyond: another schir demon, his halberd on the stone floor beside him as he pumped away at the lillend hanging horizontally from the ceiling about three feet above the stone floor, bound by chains ending in hooks piercing through her hands and wings and supporting the weight of her snakelike lower body. The goat-demon held her head in both hands as he focused his attention solely on his own pleasure, ignoring the gasps of mixed pain and horror coming from the suspended lillend. Finoula was frozen in horror at the scene before her, but Darrien was quicker to react: several arrows thunked into the goat-demon's back, gaining his immediate attention. He whipped around, causing the lillend to gasp in relief that her horror had been temporarily, at least, suspended. Finoula growled in rage and advanced upon the schir demon, flicking the thorn-whip before her with her left hand as she gripped the hilt of her longsword in her right. Binkadink made short work of the first schir demon with his glaive, allowing Mudpie to focus upon lifting the rock slabs off of the female celestial's arms and wings. Gilbert pulled a healing potion from his belt and handed it to his [i]unseen servant[/i], commanding it to give it to the schir demon's victim after Mudpie had freed her. The floating vial indicated the [i]unseen servant[/i]'s position as it patiently waited to carry out its orders. Ingebold raced up behind her Battle-Sister, mace at the ready. She noted the area was scattered with white gravel and frowned in puzzlement before she realized they were the lillend's teeth. Snarling in fury, she stepped up to help attack the goat-demon, but Finoula had already gotten in several good strikes, and a cluster of [i]magic missiles[/i] indicated Gilbert's contribution to the fight. A few arrows from Darrien's [i]Arachnibow[/i] finished it off for good, then the half-elf ranger advanced further into the cavern, curious about the deep, open pit before him. He immediately wished he hadn't looked. The pit was about 25 feet long and 20 feet wide. Its depth was unknown, for it was filled nearly to the top with hundreds, if not thousands, of female bodies. Darrien spotted humans, elves, winged celestials, and even a succubus or two - apparently Malaterminus's only qualification for his victims was that they were female; the ranger spotted no male forms in the pile. Disturbingly, either the incubus had a ridiculously rapid kill rate or there was preservation magic at play here, for none of the victims showed the slightest sign of decay. And a sloping section of rock on the far side of the pit led up to a throne made of bones and sinew, a perch upon which a particularly depraved individual could look down upon the bodies of his victims and remember the good times he'd had with each and every one of them. There was even a large stalactite hanging down over the pit, carved with thousands of grooves as Malaterminus commemorated each death with a notch, keeping score throughout the centuries.... The schir demons having been slain, the group advanced further along the cavern network, Gilbert giving the hanging lillend the same promise he'd given the trio of bralani women in the first chamber - that they'd be back to free her after they'd taken care of Malaterminus. But Ingebold, Finoula, and Darrien found another body slumped in a corner of the cavern up ahead: this one was a naked male with the head of a dog, which Gilbert identified as a hound archon. He sat with his back against the wall, his head angled forward as if to contemplate the sharp-tipped organ rising up to just past his chest. The heroes groaned in realization that the archon's male member only extended about halfway up the pointy shaft; the slain hound archon had apparently been placed upon a sharp and narrow stalagmite, which pierced up through his body and erupted through the end of his member. Darrien felt his own groin shrivel in sympathetic pain at the sight. "This Malaterminus freak definitely needs killing," he observed. Binkadink advanced up to the trio upon his borrowed, horse-sized fly, saw the dead hound archon, and moved on around the corner to see even more evidence of depravity. There was a beautiful woman, seemingly human but for her golden skin, shackled at the wrists and ankles by chains leading to the bottoms of the stone slab upon which she lay, spread-eagled. Above her loomed a vrock, a vulture-demon who squawked in irritation at the interruption. Given that the golden-skinned human was unconscious and her gown still intact (if ripped along the neckline), it seemed as if the vrock had yet to begin his depredations. And he wouldn't, if Binkadink had any say in the matter. He urged his fly mount forward, striking at the vrock with his glaive pointed ahead like a lance. Finoula raced behind the gnome, eager to join the fighter in battle against the vrock... ...until her gaze focused to the narrow chamber beyond the vulture-demon, and to the winged, naked man standing between what looked like - incongruously - a pair of window panes looking out onto a beautiful landscape, with blue skies streaked with fluffy, white clouds. "Why, hello, Finoula!" greeted Malaterminus. "How nice of you to find me here in my den. Now I won't even have to seek you out...." Any reply Finoula might have made was cut off by the sudden pain the ranger felt beneath her skin, where, unseen, spores released by the vrock had started their agonizing growth. A grunt from Binkadink hinted that he was experiencing the same unpleasantness, but the little gnome was unable to focus upon it, for he was busy fending off the vrock's snapping beak and wicked talons. Finoula slashed out at the vrock with her longsword, cutting a deep gash into the demon's side, but it was of little consequence to the elven ranger, whose attention was focused solely on the incubus before her. The vrock screeched as a trio of arrows erupted in its chest, evidence that Darrien had joined the fight, but Finoula barely noticed. Binkadink's glaive bit deep into the vrock's flesh, but it mattered not to Finoula; her enemy was before her, and she had no room for thoughts of anything else. She barely even noticed as a [i]haste[/i] spell encompassed her, Binkadink, and Darrien, cast by Gilbert Fung from the other side of the cavern. Finoula's [i]flaming whip of thorns[/i] struck out and slashed the incubus across his face, drawing a trickle of blood down the side of his cheek. Her sword stabbed out, cutting a red line across his forearm. "Why, Finoula," cooed Malaterminus, "one might think you weren't pleased to see me." Then he called out, "[b]Slurper-of-Entrails[/b]--attend me!" Instantly, a hard-shelled mezzoloth formed between the incubus and the ranger intent upon his death. It struck at Finoula with its wicked claws, and the ranger instinctively tried to dodge its blows, all while keeping her gaze focused upon Malaterminus - but her attempts to dodge were unnecessary. With a look of puzzlement in its beady little eyes, the mezzoloth tried - and failed - to put its claws on the ranger's lithe body, but Ingebold's [i]protection from evil[/i] spell was still active and it prevented the summoned demon from making contact. But the moment's respite gave the incubus time to flee down a narrow side corridor, towards his throne of bones. "Coward!" called Finoula behind him, while Ingebold cast a [i]blade barrier[/i] spell that walled off the mezzoloth from the rest of the group. Despite the whirling blades of the spell providing cover, Darrien managed to get in a few shots with his bow, peppering the mezzoloth's carapace with his arrows. Binkadink managed to slay the vrock, making way for Castillan to approach the gold-skinned woman chained to the slab of stone. "She's alive!" he called out, grabbing his lockpicks to open her manacles. But then his attention was distracted by a scene through the "windows" just beyond: a winged, three-headed tiger was pacing back and forth through the windows, approaching one and seemingly teleporting immediately to the other as it paced back and forth, back and forth. Its heads were low to the ground, and the bounder realized it was tracking somebody by scent. In a flash of intuition, the bounder realized these were rifts to another - presumably celestial - realm; and that this was the means by which Malaterminus obtained his celestial victims. The three-headed tiger was likely seeking the golden woman who had just been abducted. Castillan returned his focus to the task at hand, freeing the unconscious woman from her shackles. Slurper-of-Entrails, in the meantime, got tired of being peppered with arrows from behind the [i]blade barrier[/i] spell, and teleported away. Through the whirling blades he'd picked out the form of the dwarf who had cast the spell - a cleric of dour Moradin, no doubt - and chosen her as a fine target. But he once again was stopped by an invisible barrier, this one caused by the [i]magic circle against evil[/i] that didn't even allow him to land where he'd targeted, right in front of the dwarf. Instead, he was shunted to a few paces from the archer. Changing targets immediately, the mezzoloth found he likewise couldn't touch the half-elf standing before him -- it was infuriating! The vrock dead, Binkadink wheeled his borrowed fly in place and flew it around back, over the pit of victims and past the throne, cutting Malaterminus off from his destination with the point of his glaive. "Not going to happen!" the gnome promised the incubus. "I doubt that," replied Malaterminus from behind the gnome, who turned to see the incubus seated upon his throne; Binkadink hadn't even seen him teleport! "But just look at what I can do from here!" By an unspoken command, the bodies of Malaterminus's victims came to an unholy, stilted life. They crawled up out of the pit, dragging themselves forward in a mass, some scrabbling toward Binkadink and his [i]ebony fly[/i] while others spilled out the other way, pulling their lifeless bodies toward Ingebold and Darrien. Gilbert flashed anger as he scanned them with his magically-enhanced eyes, but he saw these weren't undead; the incubus was merely animating them as he might any other unliving object. Glad to see their souls weren't being violated as their bodies had once been, the wizard cast a spell upon Malaterminus from across the pit, overcoming the demon's natural ability to ward off spell effects and encasing him in a green glow. "You not going anywhere now!" Gilbert promised the incubus, confident in the power of his [i]dimensional anchor[/i] spell. Malaterminus rose from his throne, fury in his eyes. Darrien compounded the incubus's fury by piercing his chest with a well-placed arrow. Ingebold cast a [i]flame strike[/i] at the lustful demon, and while he managed to shield himself from its effects the unliving victims crawling towards him weren't so lucky; their violated bodies sizzled and burned from the power of her spell. As one, they stopped their feeble movement, while those closest to the cleric and thus outside the range of her spell continued their slow approach. Binkadink spun the [i]ebony fly[/i] around and faced the incubus. He suddenly struck out with the flat of his blade, striking the demon in the head again and again. Malaterminus spilled forward, falling to the floor in front of his throne. "Is he--?" asked Finoula. "Just unconscious," promised the gnome. "He's all yours." "All ours," corrected Finoula, indicating for Ingebold to step forward and join her. As the cleric scrambled up to the throne, Finoula kicked Malaterminus over with her foot. He lay naked, exposed, upon his back, his arms spread out before him as if in silent supplication. Finoula placed the tip of [i]Tahlmalaera[/i] over the heart of the incubus, gripping the hilt with both hands. Ingebold placed her hand over those of her Battle-Sister, and the ranger brought the sword up high. Then, together, they brought the blade crashing down into his chest, piercing his heart in the same fashion as he'd once tricked Finoula into doing to Ingebold. Malaterminus didn't even have the courtesy to wake up at the last moment, to lock eyes with his slayer one last time; he simply grunted once and died, there in his own chamber of horrors. "Well, so long everybody!" waved the mezzoloth before teleporting away; he'd learned the hard way there was no way he could even touch these interlopers, whereas they could touch him in all sorts of unpleasant ways. And with Malaterminus already dead, it wasn't like he owed the incubus anything anymore.... Castillan freed the golden woman, then awakened her gently. She introduced herself as [b]Glorianna[/b], and confirmed she'd just been snatched out of thin air from her home on Mount Celestia. Mudpie had, by this time, freed the celestial from beneath the crushing rocks; she introduced herself as [b]Annavel[/b], a sword archon similarly plucked from Mount Celestia years ago and abused here ever since. "You have my undying gratitude," she said, helping the others free the bound lillend, [b]Maestria[/b] and the trio of bralani, whose names were unknown. "I think we make our own way home," suggested Gilbert Fung, not wanting to trust Jasannah at her word that she'd get the heroes back to Oerth. "We go through rift to Mount Celestia, Ingebold [i]plane shift[/i] us home from there. But first," he added, pulling out his magical dagger, "I have errand to run." While the others gathered their rescued victims together and stepped through the rift into Mount Celestia, Gilbert Fung cast a [i]fly[/i] spell upon himself and returned briefly to the castle. "Here," he said, tossing the severed head of Malaterminus at one of the schir demon guards. "You tell Jasannah mission accomplished, but we find our own way back home." The demon guards looked at astonishment at the severed head before them, then bellowed in anger. "You killed him!" exclaimed one, grabbing up his halberd. "I had a pass for when my shift was over!" moaned the other. "I was going to finally get to try out that lillend!" They swung their weapons at Gilbert, but he quickly flew out of range and sped back to the cavern, looking back frequently to ensure he wasn't being pursued by any flying demons. But he made it back to the rift to Mount Celestia and caught up with his friends there without incident. "We'll need t' seal off this rift somehow," declared Ingebold. "We dinnae want the next incubus in line to pick up where Malaterminus left off." "I have marked the location," answered Annavel, whose hand and forearm had become a flaming sword, with which she had burned a mark into the ground indicating the location of the extraplanar rift - which was completely undetectable from this side. "We will see to the construction of a wall, blocking off the rift." The three-headed tiger - a leskylor, Glorianna had explained - growled its agreement. Now safely back on their home plane, the celestials had begun healing. Maestria's teeth were growing back in, and the three bralani were slowly growing back their lower jaws. Annavel excused herself and flew off, returning several minutes later, now robed in a fresh set of clothes. "I can never thank you enough," she said, handing an object to Ingebold - for she had instinctively singled out the one hero whose natural inclinations best fit the lawful good alignment of Mount Celestia. "But please accept this as a small token of my gratitude. You have only to touch it, and speak my name - and I will come to you, across the planes, to aid you as you have aided me this day." "I thank ye," replied Ingebold formally, placing the amulet around her neck, where it rubbed up against her holy symbol of Moradin the Soul-Forger. And then, after saying their goodbyes, Ingebold cast the [i]plane shift[/i] spell that would return the heroes to their own world. - - - This was an uncomfortable adventure to run, because of the subject matter. Knowing ahead of time that I'd be basically running the PCs through a "rape dungeon," I had made arrangements for Hagan to be visiting his parents during this adventure, so that Harry could be spared a bunch of questions about what the demons were up to. (He just turned 11 last month, but I wrote this adventure before he had joined our group.) Had Malaterminus been slain upon his first being encountered, this adventure wouldn't have been necessary. But we've always been a "let the dice fall where they may" group, and his escape made tracking him down later necessary. This seemed like exactly the sort of thing an incubus gone bad by even demonic standards would get up to, but I took care to describe the encounters in such a way that the players could infer what was going on without my actually coming out and stating the obvious. And the depravity of the scene only made Malaterminus's death that much more satisfying to Vicki. (We had skipped ahead, jumping over several other players to have Vicki run Ingebold this time even though it wasn't her turn, as it seemed appropriate that the Battle-Sisters would be on a united front in seeing their long-held goal to its conclusion.) And now I don't have to deal with Malaterminus any more in this whole campaign, a fact for which I am grateful. - - - T-Shirt Worn: A new Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" T-shirt I just got for Christmas. It seemed appropriate for this particular gaming session, since this was definitely a much "darker" session than any other we've ever had. [/QUOTE]
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