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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7945832" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 72: A FRIENDLY GAME OF DEMON CHESS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 19</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 19</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 19</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 19</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 19</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Aerik Battershield, dwarf fighter 15/dwarven defender 5</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Malrin Ivenheart, elf druid 14</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 14 March 2020</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>Pentaclus waved to the group as they took off in their dragonfly vessel after having spent the night so the weaponcrafter could spend some time examining the <em>Claw of Bahamut</em>. But Colin Danderville was eager to return the holy weapon back to his order, so the next morning they were back in flight, heading to the paladin's home church. Gilbert had wisely decided to drop him off first thing without visiting Kordovia, not wanting to let the devout paladin in on the fact that Kordovia was not only allied with a green dragon but its Queen also had green dragon blood running through her elven veins. That was a good way to get the wrath of the Order of Bahamut coming down upon you!</p><p></p><p>After dropping off the young paladin with the appropriate fanfare, Jinkadoodle brought the spelljamming vessel back up among the clouds and homed in on the cloud island where the group kept it when it was not in use. "Glad when we get back home," Gilbert sighed. "Be nice to sleep in own bed again!"</p><p></p><p>Once Jinkadoodle had parked the dragonfly vessel in its berth on the cloud island, everyone headed down to the hidden lower deck, to use the <em>teleportation runes</em> carved onto the floor in one of the rooms to head back to Binkadink's room in Battershield Keep, where he kept the corresponding <em>carpet of teleportation</em> ready to receive travelers from the vessel. They arrived in groups of two at a time (the gnome riding on his jackalope, Obvious, who just barely fit onto the carpet as it was), exiting the gnome's bedroom and heading over to find Helga Battershield to let her know they had made it back.</p><p></p><p>Helga, as it turned out, was in the dining area - nor was she alone. Two guests sat at the table as the dwarven woman fed them thick slices of homemade apple pie. "Why, there ye are!" she exclaimed upon the arrival of the adventurers. "As ye can see, we've got visitors!"</p><p></p><p>"Indeed you do," replied the corpulent Lord Shambleton around a mouthful of pie, while at his side Mr. Fletcher looked up in interest while finishing a piece of pie of his own.</p><p></p><p>A collective gasp burst from the lips of the adventurers; Helga might not know them for what they truly were, but these were the two demons - a nalfeshnee and a glabrezu, respectively - who had tried to steal Laerornith Ivenheart's soul some months back, currently in their human guises.</p><p></p><p>Lord Shambleton did his best to reassure the adventurers they were not here for revenge. "If you are in any way concerned at our sudden appearance in your humble home, please put your minds at rest – we mean you no harm and bear you no ill will. In fact, our recent defeat at your hands, while causing quite a setback in our plans as you are well aware, may well prove to be a blessing in disguise, for it has given us first-hand experience with your combat prowess and demonstrated to our full satisfaction your worthiness to be included in our next venture."</p><p></p><p>Lord Shambleton turned to Helga with his empty plate in hand and offered it to her. "I must say, Mrs. Battershield, that was a most excellent repast indeed. I wonder if it would be too forward of me to inquire about the possibility of a second slice...?"</p><p></p><p>"Me too!" piped up Mr. Fletcher, passing his plate her way. As Helga departed the dining area with their empty plates (and a big grin on her face), Lord Shambleton got down to business. "Our defeat at your hands has not been met with favor by our immediate Abyssal superiors, a wretched pair of mariliths by the names of <strong>Abrizane</strong> and <strong>Cocrucia</strong>. They would have had us slain for our failure – more correctly, for our strict adherence to the rules we had jointly agreed upon in our battle for the soul of the young Miss Ivenheart – how is she, by the way? Faring well, I trust? However, we have invoked our right to trial by combat and our request has been reluctantly granted.</p><p></p><p>"The rules are quite simple: a battle to the death in an arena built for that very purpose. We chose not to do battle ourselves but rather to employ a team of proxies. Naturally, this is where you come in. Tell me: are any of you familiar with Demon Chess?"</p><p></p><p>Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "Why you think we help you?" he demanded.</p><p></p><p>"Several reasons come to mind," replied Lord Shambleton. "For the first, you will be fighting demons on their home plane in the Abyss. Thus, any demons you slay will be dead forevermore, never to rise again - surely a lofty goal for goodhearted heroes such as yourselves? In addition, immediately after the conclusion of the Demon Chess match, assuming we are victorious, I propose an immediate attack upon the mariliths - an attack in which Mr. Fletcher and myself will be fighting at your side. This is an opportunity to rid the planes of two truly horrid demons, on a most permanent basis."</p><p></p><p>"Those might be good opportunities," agreed Binkadink, "but what makes you think it's worth putting our lives on the line?"</p><p></p><p>"We have anticipated your concerns on that front," reassured the nalfeshnee. "Mr. Fletcher has, in his possession, eight scrolls of <em>true resurrection</em> which he will place in your care. We have been guaranteed the safe return to their home planes of any mortals who agree to be the chessmen in our little contest. These scrolls will ensure there are no changes to that agreement; you have but to leave them behind in the trusted care of one capable of casting the spell and you will be guaranteed a return to life, should that life be forfeited in the Demon Chess game. Demon Chess is, after all, nothing more than a fight to the death. Thus, you have nothing to lose but the potential loss of a day of your lives, should you in fact be slain in the arena."</p><p></p><p>Gilbert looked over the scrolls. They looked legit enough, even if they had been crafted on the Abyss. "We keep these regardless?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed - they are yours, as of this very moment, should you agree to be our proxies. And should all eight of you survive the arena, you will have gained the scrolls regardless, to be put to use at some future time, perhaps."</p><p></p><p>Gilbert was sorely tempted - he realized the true value of the eight copies of the <em>true resurrection</em> scrolls, one of the most powerful spells in existence. "What you guys think?" he asked the others.</p><p></p><p>Before they could answer, Lord Shambleton sweetened the pot even further. "In addition," he added, "Mr. Fletcher, as a glabrezu, has the ability to grant a mortal a <em>wish</em> once per month. Agree to be our proxies and the <em>wish</em> is yours, to be granted as long as it is within Mr. Fletcher's power to do so. One <em>wish</em> to be shared among the entire group, mind you - we do not intend to stick around after the arena combat has been completed, neither of us trusting our superiors won't wish to take matters into their own hands should you be victorious in the upcoming battle."</p><p></p><p>"Then where will you go?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"It is an infinite universe out there," said Lord Shambleton, waving a beefy hand in the air. "Truth be told, for a pair of potentially immortal demons, the thought of incessantly tempting mortals into relinquishing their souls to the Abyss is, quite frankly, a wearying one."</p><p></p><p>"You said a team of eight," said Darrien. "Which eight?" Nobody was arguing the fact that the group, at this point, seemed to be approving of this plan.</p><p></p><p>"The arena battle takes place upon an eight-by-eight grid, much like the chessboards with which you are no doubt familiar," said Lord Shambleton in way of answering the question. "Each square is big enough to comfortably hold a single person of your own general size and shape, no larger. For that reason, I would suggest Binkadink, Darrien, Finoula, Gilbert, Hagan - without the weasel, I would recommend - Malrin, and the earth elemental, providing it can be reduced in size to no larger than the size of a man."</p><p></p><p>"That no problem," Gilbert agreed; he could use a <em>polymorph any object</em> spell upon Mudpie to shrink him down to human size - it was, after all, the way he'd enlarged him to his current size of 16 feet tall. "But that only seven."</p><p></p><p>"MARCI?" suggested Hagan.</p><p></p><p>"That no good - she out of healing mixture and if she get taken by cheating demons or damaged in fight, no way to get her back with <em>true resurrection</em> - she a construct!"</p><p></p><p>"I'll be yer eighth," said a voice behind the others. Nobody had seen Aerik Battershield enter the Keep after his shift back at the castle had been completed, but he'd apparently been there long enough to have gotten the gist of what was being considered.</p><p></p><p>Helga returned from the kitchen with two large pieces of apple pie on the plates she'd taken from her two guests. "Ah, ye're home!" she smiled at her husband. "Would either of the rest of ye like any pie?"</p><p></p><p>Lord Shambleton and Mr. Fletcher returned their attention to the desserts before them, savoring each bite as if experiencing something entirely new to them. "How soon d'we need to go?" asked Aerik.</p><p></p><p>"We certainly have time to finish your wife's most excellent culinary creation," answered Lord Shambleton, applying himself to the dessert before him. "And if you need to finish preparing any of your day's allotment of spells," he added, looking over at Gilbert Fung, "now would be the time." Gilbert grumbled and pulled out his <em>Omnibook</em>, flipping through the pages and deciding what spells would be best added to his current assembled selection. <em>Demons are immune to electricity</em>, he reminded himself, <em>and they have partial immunity to temperature extremes....</em></p><p></p><p>Hagan made his apologies to Wezhley and left his weasel familiar with Helga for safekeeping. Wezhley didn't even bother trying to look hurt; he knew full well Helga would spoil him with treats (and he also knew Hagan knew that as well as he did). The half-orc then gathered up the scrolls and <em>teleported</em> away to the Church of Moradin, where he left them in safe keeping with the head cleric there, explaining the need to have them cast upon the eight heroes Hagan designated if they didn't get back with the church leadership by the end of the next day. Another <em>teleport</em> spell returned him back to Battershield Keep in no time at all.</p><p></p><p>Lord Shambleton finally stood up from the table, gave his final regards to Helga, and pulled a tuning fork from his pocket. "If everyone is quite ready, we will be on our way," he announced, striking the metal prongs on the edge of the table.</p><p></p><p>"Be back b'fore too long," Aerik promised his wife - and then the seven heroes, the earth elemental (now a comfortable six feet tall, thanks to his master's <em>polymorph any object</em> spell), and the two demons in human form were gone.</p><p></p><p>They reappeared on a dismal plane of uneven ground, seemingly made of hardened magma with jagged shards of obsidian rock poking up at random intervals. The orange skies above were streaked with sulfurous clouds and the smell of dead things permeated the very atmosphere. A dark building rose in the distance ahead, made of a shining, black stone some 30 feet high.</p><p></p><p>"Do watch your step," advised Lord Shambleton, shedding his corpulent human form now that he was back on his home plane. His true form wasn't much of an improvement: a hideous fusing of boar and ape with some undersized bat wings thrown in for good measure. Mr. Fletcher likewise took on his glabrezu form, a demonic melange of equal parts wolf, crab, and human. "Welcome to the Sulfanorum, the 303rd layer of the Abyss," said the nalfeshnee. "The building ahead is where you will fight to the death on our behalf and where we two will be permanently slain if you are unsuccessful."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe we should go over the rules of Demon Chess," suggested Binkadink. He'd extended his <em>gnomish stilt-boots</em> to their highest elevation but was still carefully watching where he stepped, realizing a fall forward would likely be quite painful.</p><p></p><p>"There is little to tell. You will begin on the black squares of the two back rows while the opposing team will occupy the two front rows of black squares. The 'red squares' are openings to a deep pit of eternal flames beneath the arena platform. Occasionally, blasts of fire will rise up from the red squares, so you don't want to be over one when that happens, nor would you want to fall - or be pushed - into the pit."</p><p></p><p>"How do we track whose turn it is?" asked Darrien, recalling how orderly the game of Titan Chess had gone on the plane of Ysgard.</p><p></p><p>"There is no tracking of turns," admitted Lord Shambleton. "Once the game begins, it's a mad scramble to slay the members of the opposing team. The first team to have all of its proxies slain loses; if you all die, Mr. Fletcher and I will be slain immediately thereafter, as I mentioned. If, however, at least one of you remains once you've slaughtered the members of the other team, we will be allowed to go free - and any of you slain in the arena can be returned to life by the scrolls handed over to you."</p><p></p><p>"Not much like chess," remarked Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"To be sure. It is, in truth, little more than a fight to the death on a giant checkerboard. Ah, here we are." A pair of massive stone doors just ahead looked to be the only visible entry into the black building. A demonic visage carved into each door gave the appearance of a leering, gargoylelike face. They grinned widely as the two demons and their combat proxies approached, opening on their own. Passing through the doorway and into the building interior, Binkadink was certain he could hear evil chuckling coming from behind him. Once everyone was inside, the doors slammed shut and a quite audible locking sound was heard.</p><p></p><p>Lord Shambleton led the group into a side room, where they would prepare for the arena combat ahead. The nalfeshnee explained they wouldn't get to see the opposing proxies until such time as the battle was ready to begin but, unlike in Titan Chess, at that point the living pieces would be visible for all to see.</p><p></p><p>"Anything else we need to know?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Now that the doors have been locked, the entire area is encompassed with a <em>dimensional anchor</em> spell. Until one team has won the game, it will be impossible to cast summoning spells or those involving planar travel. <em>Dimension door</em> and <em>teleport</em> spells and the like will still function, so long as the starting and ending points are within the building.</p><p></p><p>"Another thing," Lord Shambleton added, almost as an afterthought. "Once the Demon Chess match begins, you must stay within the confines of the board. Anyone stepping off of the board, voluntarily or unwillingly, will be subject to attacks from the opposing leaders: myself and Mr. Fletcher for our side and the wretched mariliths on the other team. Otherwise, while we will be on hand to watch as the battle progresses, we will be spectators only - rather like our own arena battle for Laerornith's soul, if you will recall: those observing from the stands were forbidden from participating." Malrin's face clouded at the memory, while Finoula's merely hardened as she stared down the demon, her expression saying, "I took you out of commission once before - don't make me do it again!"</p><p></p><p>But despite not actually having said anything aloud, Finoula had forgotten the demons' telepathic abilities. "Ah, but that trick will not work here, my dear," offered the nalfeshnee, "for your <em>angel helm</em> cannot banish away a demon already on its home plane!"</p><p></p><p>"How soon before we start? Should we start casting our pre-battle spells?" asked Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"Alas, you must start the Demon Chess match with no spells already in effect," replied Lord Shambleton. "Any spells you wish to have cast upon you must be done so after the match has already--" Suddenly, Lord Shambleton and Mr. Fletcher stiffened as if jolted and the nalfeshnee cut off his comment in mid-sentence. "It is time," he said. "We are summoned to the arena." He led the way out of the white team's preparation room and back into the main room. Hagan gave the room a quick scan: the ceiling above was 30 feet high, with a single open area containing the "chessboard" upon which they'd be fighting for their lives - and those of the two demons who not long ago had tried their best to kill them! Their demonic patrons would apparently be watching the battle from a platform above the entry door through which the group had entered the building, whereas the leaders of the opposing team would be viewing the spectacle from a platform at the other end of the room.</p><p></p><p>With a start, Hagan's eyes goggled as he saw the demons already on place on the opposing viewing platform. Two sinuous, serpentine figures sat in coils on either side of the structure; these would be the aforementioned Abrizane and Cocrucia, no doubt. However, of an even bigger concern was the massive figure seated on an elaborate, golden throne between the two mariliths: a balor! "We have taken the liberty of inviting our own superior, <strong>Korodoth the Executioner</strong>, to watch your mortal proxies attempt to save your pathetic lives in the Demon Chess arena," hissed one of the mariliths.</p><p></p><p>"So we see," replied Lord Shambleton in an outwardly unworried manner. But in the privacy of his own head - while clamping down on his thoughts to ensure they weren't picked up by the telepathic demons in the room with him - he was worried the mortal heroes would not be up to taking down the two mariliths <em>and</em> a balor on their home plane, even with the aid of the two demons currently on trial.</p><p></p><p>"You know why you are on trial here?" demanded Korodoth. "You not only failed to obtain the soul you had been sent forth to steal, but you fought - <em>honorably</em> - " (Korodoth made the word sound like the most vile concept ever created) "against mere mortals...and were handily defeated! And now, when forced to find eight proxies to fight on your behalf, I cannot help but notice you have reached out...to <em>mortals!</em> You are like no demons I have ever heard of before - you're scarcely worthy of the name!"</p><p></p><p>"Then it is with great relief, no doubt, that one way or the other you will be rid of us by the end of this contest," replied Lord Shambleton in his most regal bearing.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed it will! Assume your positions, mortal worms! Mariliths: bring out your team!"</p><p></p><p>The door off to the right opened up and the black team stepped out and over to their places on the board. Gilbert cast his eyes upon each of them in turn, trying to determine which types of demon they'd be up against. He recognized the succubus at once and what must be a red-skinned, female tiefling - possibly a spellcaster? Two were obviously babaus and another two each had four arms and carried two large bows; Gilbert had heard of such creatures: arrow demons, surely. The other two he'd never heard of. One looked to be something like an earth elemental with thick, greenish magma dripping from its body - acid of some type? The other seemed catlike in nature if not appearance; it was slightly bestial-looking human in black leather, wielding a pair of wicked-looking blades, a scimitar and a dagger, both seemingly coated in poison. The two unknown demons and the babaus took the front ranks, while the arrow demons took their places at each end of the back row, with the two females between them.</p><p></p><p>The white team took up their own positions, with Mudpie, Finoula, Binkadink, and Aerik taking the front lines on their own side while Gilbert, Darrien, Hagan, and Malrin stood diagonally behind them. Below the chessboard could be heard the unending crackling of flames and the heroes could feel the furnacelike heat rising up all around them.</p><p></p><p>"Upon my mark...begin!" commanded the balor from his golden throne.</p><p></p><p>With a preternatural swiftness almost too fast to believe, the bestial-looking demon - a kelvezu - leaned forward and disappeared completely from view. Hidden from the sight of the others, he <em>teleported</em> to the black square diagonally in front of both Binkadink and Aerik, his weapons readied to strike the first of them to move.</p><p></p><p>Darrien shot the arrow he'd already nocked in his <em>Arachnibow</em> and sent it flying across the board to hit the succubus, following it up with another two at her and two at the tiefling, all in rapid succession and the last one to strike each target turned into a <em>web</em> spell as it hit. The tiefling managed to avoid being webbed up; not so the succubus, whose batlike wings were gummed up before she could take flight. And then the tiefling cast a <em>chain lightning</em> spell, targeting Hagan and sending arcs to strike each of the other heroes.</p><p></p><p>Almost in the same split second, the arrow demons let fly with their own arrows, one targeting Gilbert and the other, Hagan, for they were the obvious spellcasters, judging solely on their robed attire. Gilbert stepped forward diagonally into the next rank of black squares, casting an <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell from the scroll he'd had unrolled in his hand upon first taking his starting position on the Demon Chess board. Ebon appendages rose up from the board, grasping each of the demons on the opposing side, sliding and squeezing and pinning them into place. Then, before any of them could react, the heavyset mage followed up with a <em>quickened cone of cold</em> spell, his new position angled to ensure he could hit each of the visible demons (but probably not the kelvezu, for who knew where exactly he'd gotten to?) with the frigid blast.</p><p></p><p>Trapped with the others in the <em>black tentacles</em>, the acid-oozing alkilith released itself from physical form and became a cloud of acidic vapors, its now-gaseous body sliding effortlessly between the writhing tentacles and over towards Gilbert at a leisurely pace. But seeing this (and having no idea what the green cloud of vapors could do but willing to bet it was nothing good), Finoula cast a <em>wind wall</em> spell, bending the effect to mirror the arc of the edge of the field of tentacles. The elven ranger was fairly certain the upward-thrusting winds would prevent the sentient gas cloud from being able to pass through to reach Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>Hagan had likewise decided ahead of time to try to take out any obvious spellcasters first and the tiefling thus had attracted his immediate attention. With a few arcane words and gestures, the half-orc sorcerer caused a shimmering field of energy in the shape of a sword to manifest directly in front of the red-skinned tiefling and stab down at her. The cry of pain it elicited from the fiend-blooded spellcaster was a good indicator the <em>Mordenkainen's sword</em> had struck true.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink pulled the <em>horn of good and evil</em> from his belt and brought it to his lips, ready to blow it and activate a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell centered upon him - but he never got the chance, for an unseen blade went suddenly stabbing into his side. The gnome fighter was surprised only for a second before realizing he'd just figured out where the kelvezu demon had gotten to. The wound burned; Binkadink realized he'd likely been poisoned but trusted his healthy gnomish constitution would help him to gut it out and keep fighting. And then, all thoughts of using his magic horn forgotten, he swung his new glaive at the unseen foe, missing once and striking only a glancing blow with his back swing - but it was enough to start it reverberating, and he grinned, knowing when he next struck the invisible foe he'd be dealing the kelvezu a lot more damage than the demon was likely expecting! At his side, Aerik likewise tried hitting the invisible kelvezu but missed with his dwarven greataxe. But he hunkered down in place, determined that nothing was going to get by him whether he could see it or not!</p><p></p><p>Both babaus used their inherent <em>teleport</em> abilities to escape the confines of the <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell; by unspoken agreement they flanked Finoula, one on her right and the other moving onto the space only recently vacated by Gilbert. They each lashed out at the elven ranger, their sharp claws coated in an acid that burned her flesh where they struck, leaving furrows across her once-smooth skin. They grinned evilly at her obvious pain.</p><p></p><p>But then one of them was no longer grinning as he was struck by the full weight of a 6-foot-tall elemental made of rock and earth. He went staggering off the back end of the chess board - and well into the reach of Lord Shambleton, who snagged him up in a massive hand, pulled him to his boarlike face, and took a chunk out of his flesh in a bite that pierced the demon's flesh with both of the nalfeshnee's lower tusks. Lord Shambleton wasted no time in utterly destroying the demon proxy, causing the mariliths' team's first casualty.</p><p></p><p>Malrin, over in the corner, decided her best move at this point was to cast a <em>mass cure light wounds</em> spell, for everyone had been hurt by the tiefling's <em>chain lightning</em> spell and several others had taken other hits as well. She figured her best course of action was to keep the heroes' wounds healed up, because she doubted very much the demons would do likewise to their own proxies - it didn't seem like a very demonic trait, caring about the welfare of others.</p><p></p><p>Smothered in a <em>web</em> spell and being slowly crushed by tentacles, the succubus used her innate <em>dimension door</em> ability to move out of the range of the still-active spell and over by Gilbert Fung; having left the webs behind, she was free to flap her wings and stay aloft just outside the writhing tentacles. She narrowed her eyes, wondering how easy the fat wizard would be to <em>charm</em> into doing her bidding.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink was being kept busy fending off attacks by blades he couldn't see, but fortunately for him those that got past his weapon's defense struck his red dragonhide armor and did him no harm. He was surprised when the flurry of attacks suddenly stopped and wondered whether the kelvezu was reassessing his attack strategies or had perhaps moved elsewhere. Due to the <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell, there was actually a very limited option of where to go on the chess board as over half of the valid squares were encompassed by writhing, ebon appendages.</p><p></p><p>The babau who had attacked Finoula from the front was 10 feet in front of Darrien; as such, he made a perfectly valid target for the next flurry of arrows from the ranger's <em>Arachnibow</em>. Unfortunately for Darrien, although he struck true with each arrow he shot at the acid-dripping demon, the arrows just seemed to plunk harmlessly to the square at the babau's feet - some of them falling into the fire pit below, where they were instantly consumed. But the babau's tough hide seemed to make his arrows all but useless. Snarling in irritation, Darrien grabbed for his magic scimitar - maybe he'd have better luck with that!</p><p></p><p>The tiefling cast a <em>dimension door</em> spell to escape the tentacles threatening to choke her to death. Each of the arrow demons did likewise, the three of them moving to the only three squares still available to them (besides the one 10 feet in front of Malrin currently occupied by the kelvezu; fortunately the babaus' telepathy alerted them to his current position).</p><p></p><p>Gilbert cast a <em>shapechange</em> spell, transforming his overweight human body into the heavenly form of an astral deva. He immediately took wing, flying ten feet straight up and facing the succubus in her own element. Off to his side, the gaseous alkilith had hit the <em>wind wall</em> and been pushed to the arena's ceiling, but it was unable to pass through Finoula's spell effect. But there was another way to bypass the blasting wind; <em>teleporting</em> directly around Finoula on the other side of the barrier, the ranger suddenly found herself breathing in acidic fumes, causing her to choke and cough. She staggered over to the square Gilbert had just left unoccupied; with the <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> still eating up most of the squares, this combat was a lot more close quarters than she had anticipated! But she was still within striking distance of one of the arrow demons, so she sent <em>Tahlmalaera</em>'s blade slicing through one of the four-armed demon's forearms, causing the creature's demonic ichor to drip to the floor.</p><p></p><p>Hagan's sword-shaped blade of force followed after the tiefling, swinging at her in her new location and drawing a new line of blood across her torso. Seeing how wounded she appeared, the half-orc gambled he could take her down with a mere <em>magic missile</em> spell; fortunately, that was a bet he handily won. She fell over onto her side, then toppled over the edge of the square and pitched forward, silent in death, into the crackling flames of the pit below.</p><p></p><p>Not sure of where the kelvezu might have gotten to, Binkadink mentally extended his glaive to its full length and swung the reverberating blade into the neck of the other arrow demon, slaying it instantly. He then shortened his weapon back down to a length more properly suited for fighting those closer to him.</p><p></p><p>The remaining babau attacked Mudpie with its acidic claws, digging deep gauges in the earth elemental's rocky hide. But rather than fight back, Mudpie swung around and pushed an arrow demon off the side of the board, repeating the strategy that had worked so well with the other babau. Unable to reach the side of the board where it stood - for both "defendants" were to remain on the platform above the building's sole door for the duration of the Demon Chess match and the fiendish archer had been pushed off the side of the board - Mr. Fletcher opted to use a <em>power word stun</em> on the hapless arrow demon, causing it to stand there motionless and incoherent. Mudpie found it gave him no resistance at all when he grabbed it and tossed it through the nearest open square into the pit of flames below.</p><p></p><p>Aerik again tried hitting the unseen kelvezu, once again swinging and missing completely. But then he gained a massive amount of assistance from an unexpected source: the group's most inexperienced combatant: Castillan's little sister, Malrin, who somehow managed to overcome the demon's inherent resistance to spells and encompass it in <em>faerie fire</em> spell. The speedy kelvezu, who relied heavily upon its <em>greater invisibility</em> to keep its enemies guessing, now found himself coated in a form-fitting glow that revealed not only his general location but how he was holding his two blades. This was a game changer and for the first time during this match the kelvezu had the sinking feeling he might not be one of the last proxies standing at the battle's conclusion.</p><p></p><p>The succubus opted not to try to <em>charm</em> Gilbert after all; anyone capable of <em>shapechanging</em> into a hated angel was likely too powerful for her to be able to pull it off. Looking around at other potential victims, her gaze fell upon Mudpie: perfect! A primitive, barely humanoid form, but one capable of dealing quite a bit of damage with those rocklike fists of his! She decided she'd see how well the elven ranger or the half-elf with the bow liked being attacked by one of the their own allies. Unfortunately, as she focused her gaze upon Mudpie, he looked up at her and stared her straight in the eye, somehow evoking a feeling of utter contempt for the succubus's charms. Cowed by her failure, the seductress flew through the <em>wind wall</em> and over the center of the still-writhing tentacles, high enough up that she needn't worry about them being able to reach her.</p><p></p><p>The kelvezu decided he needed to start taking down these enemies as quickly as he could, and since the gnome's armor was thick enough to make him an iffy target he decided he'd take out the armored dwarf first. He went after Aerik with a flurry of blade-strikes, and while several pierced the dwarf's skin he gave no sign of the poison coated on the demon's blades affecting him in the least. Infuriating! The mariliths had said they'd be fighting mere mortals, but just where had the two bumbling demons found <em>this</em> lot?</p><p></p><p>Casting a <em>freedom of movement</em> spell upon himself, Darrien ran directly into the field of ebon tentacles, and try as they might they were unable to grasp him in their frantic embrace. However, shielded from view by the wiggling appendages, he swung his scimitar out of the spell's effect, feeling his blade pass through the <em>wind wall</em> and strike the sole remaining babau's hide. It hissed in surprise and pain.</p><p></p><p>From his aerial vantage point, Gilbert saw that things were going rather nicely for his team: they'd taken out three of their opponents already with no casualties on their side yet. He decided he'd do what he could to give his friends every combat advantage he could, and thus cast an <em>extended haste</em> spell on all eight of Lord Shambleton's proxies. With any luck, the spell would last for the rest of the combat. But then, having done so, the wizard - still in his astral deva form - found himself in the center of an acidic cloud, for the vaporous alkilith had flown up to surround him in its amorphous body. But Gilbert found that vigorously flapping his angel's wings while staying in place did a fine job of keeping the alkilith's vapors at bay; dejected, the cloud returned back to the level of the chess board floor.</p><p></p><p>Finoula used her longsword and her <em>flaming burst whip of thorns</em> to slay the remaining babau, while Hagan cast a <em>polar ray</em> at the hovering succubus and slew her, causing her lifeless body to plummet to the greedy tentacles below and be entwined. From the raised platform in the back, both mariliths hissed in anger and Korodoth pounded his fist in rising fury onto the arm of his throne. This Demon Chess match was not going the way he had hoped - even with allowing the tiefling to prepare a whole host of protective spells ahead of the match, in direct violation of the rules! Infuriating!</p><p></p><p>Binkadink tried his best to follow suit by slaying the kelvezu with his glaive, but despite his best efforts the outlined demon refused to go down - even when Aerik hit him several times with his greataxe. Malrin tried casting a <em>sunbeam</em> spell at the kelvezu, but her earlier success at piercing his spell resistance was not replicated this time around. Darrien switched back to his <em>Arachnibow</em> and shot a round of arrows at the kelvezu, with little more impact than he'd had shooting at the babaus. For his part, the kelvezu kept his focus on bringing Aerik down, but although the dwarven fighter took hit after hit he too refused to be budged from his spot or succumb to his many wounds.</p><p></p><p>With only two members of the black army left, Gilbert tried casting a <em>maximized vampiric touch</em> spell on the kelvezu - but he, too, failed to overcome the demon's inherent spell resistance. Unnoticed in the preoccupation with taking the kelvezu down, the alkilith quietly resumed its solid form outside the circumference of the <em>wind wall</em> and <em>Evard's black tentacles</em> spell effects. But then Finoula showed she at least had been paying attention to it, for her snapping whip and striking longsword nearly cut it into two. It staggered about, threatening to fall over at any moment.</p><p></p><p>Hagan redirected his <em>Mordenkainen's sword</em> to attack the kelvezu and then followed up with another <em>polar ray</em> spell, this one getting through the demon's defenses where others had not. None of the heroes could see the expression on his face, for he was still invisible, but the <em>faerie fire</em> showed his posture, which was starting to slump in the realization of eventual defeat. Sure enough, all it took was a powerful stab from Binkadink's <em>reverberating glaive</em> to pierce through the kelvezu's torso, skewering him like a shish-ka-bob. Korodoth screamed in fury as if the glaive had pierced his own body rather than that of his marilith servants' most powerful Demon Chess proxy.</p><p></p><p>Almost as an afterthought, Mudpie sent a powerful fist crashing into the alkilith's head, decapitating it. It pitched over the edge of the square upon which it stood, falling into the burning pit in two distinct pieces.</p><p></p><p>Despite Gilbert not having had time to cast a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell on them as he often did immediately before battle, the heroes all felt the unmistakable sensation of someone talking directly in their heads. Judging from the mental "voice" it was Lord Shambleton. <Do you feel up to trying to take down the mariliths and the balor?> he asked. <Korodoth was not part of the original calculus of ours plans, I fear.></p><p></p><p><We not getting paid any more for taking them down, too> Gilbert thought back at the nalfeshnee, certain he'd be able to pick up his mental response. <We fight them, we fight them for free - and put <em>true resurrection</em> scrolls in danger of needing be used. I say we bug out - sooner the better!></p><p></p><p><Agreed,> replied Lord Shambleton. Then, addressing Korodoth the Executioner directly, the nalfeshnee said, "It would seem Mr. Fletcher and I are a better judge of the overall combat worthiness of our proxies than either of our superiors are of theirs," he noted. Then, unable to resist twisting the knife a little, he added, "I cannot for the life of me recall the last time a Demon Chess match ended quite this lopsided, with the winning team not having lost a single one of their proxies! Perhaps this is a wake-up call to the relative merits of the mortal races, indeed!"</p><p></p><p>Korodoth's face grew red with anger, but even he couldn't ignore the fact that these eight mortals - <em>mortals!</em> - had taken out a similar number of demons without seeming to have broken a sweat. As much as he wanted to leap from his throne and bring bloody death to all before him, he also realized he was on his home plane and should these mortals get the better of him it would be a true death, not the mere temporary destruction of a summoned form.</p><p></p><p>Korodoth pointed a clawed finger at the front door, which opened with an audible click. "Get out!" he commanded and the two demons leaped down from their platform, hurrying to comply before the balor changed his mind. The heroes raced after them, neither of them wanting to spend any more time on the Abyss than they had to.</p><p></p><p>Abrizane and Cocrucia saw their master's anger and tried to do what they could to appease him. "My Lord--" one of them began.</p><p></p><p>"SILENCE!" commanded Korodoth and the mariliths looked at each other in fear.</p><p></p><p>Outside, the heroes and their temporary demon patrons hobbled along the dangerous ground until they were all outside the dark building. Then Lord Shambleton opened a <em>gate</em> and everyone stepped through it. No one was surprised that the other side of the <em>gate</em> was the courtyard of Battershield Keep, or that when the two demons stepped back onto the Material Plane they once again wore their human guises: a tall, thin man in a nobleman's finery and a corpulent, upper-class man in almost regal garb leaning heavily on a cane.</p><p></p><p>"Have you given any thought on the contents of your <em>wish</em>?" asked Lord Shambleton.</p><p></p><p>"Ingebold," answered Finoula at once. "Can you restore her to life?"</p><p></p><p>"Nay - not that," intervened Aerik, although it pained him to do so, for he dearly wanted his daughter to be back among the living. But she had converted her very soul energy into a powerful enough blast to completely destroy a calcimortum demilich who could easily have wiped out all life upon the world. As a result, not only was her body completely destroyed but so was her soul - and he'd had the clerics of Moradin do everything they could to verify the truth to that claim. The only way to possibly bring his daughter back, he'd been told, was to snatch her out of time, from right before she had given her life to save the world - and to do that was to potentially rewrite history such that the black death-skull was successful after all. As much as Aerik loved his daughter, he'd not trade the lives of everyone on the planet to see her back among the living.</p><p></p><p>"King Galrich, then?" asked Hagan. "We could wish him back to full mental health, get his faculties back."</p><p></p><p>"That probably doable," agreed Galrich. "We all agreed?"</p><p></p><p>"That works for me," agreed Binkadink.</p><p></p><p>"Sure," added Darrien. The others chimed in their support for the idea.</p><p></p><p>"Then our wish this: restore Galrich Slayer, former King of Kordovia, to full mental faculties - no forgetting people or places or mixing things up in head," Gilbert stated on behalf of the group.</p><p></p><p>"Done," replied Mr. Fletcher.</p><p></p><p>"How we know you actually grant <em>wish</em> and not just fake it?" Gilbert demanded.</p><p></p><p>"Alas, you cannot - and we choose not to stick around any longer, in case our former superiors decide to track us down - it is, after all, much safer to have some spellcasting dupe <em>summon</em> them to this plane so they can fight us here, confident that if they are 'slain' on this plane they merely return, unharmed, to the Sulfanorum. But when next you see this King Galrich, you will find him much the better." And with that, the two disguised demons took their leave of the group. Hagan popped over to the Church of Moradin to let them know the eight heroes would not be in any immediate need of <em>true resurrection</em> spells.</p><p></p><p>And sure enough, a visit the next day to the garrison where the sellsword known only to his men as "Slayer" proved the glabrezu had been true to his word: Galrich's mind was clear of the confusion that had set in as he had aged.</p><p></p><p>"What will ye do, Me King?" asked Aerik. "Yer daughter now rules in yer place, since yer abdication."</p><p></p><p>"And she has done a fine job of it, as I knew she would," beamed Galrich. "Let her remain on as Queen - I am quite content with my life here among the men of the garrison, training them in the fighting arts. We'll keep the kingdom safe from those orcs and goblins - or we'll die trying!"</p><p></p><p>"You should have this back, though, Your Majesty," Hagan said, slipping the circlet the King had given him once he found out it was too late for his own use. The magical headgear staved off mental deterioration that came with age, but only if it was attuned to the wearer before the dementia set in. When the heroes had gotten it, it had already been far too late for it to have had any effect upon the king.</p><p></p><p>"Very well, then," Galrich agreed, slipping it onto his forehead. "If nothing else, it'll keep the hair out of my eyes when I'm fighting! And I bet it makes me look pretty dashing, huh, Aerik?"</p><p></p><p>"Very dashin' indeed, Me King," the dwarven guard replied.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>I really surprised the players when Lord Shambleton and Mr. Fletcher showed up at their headquarters during their absence. But they were down with helping them out; I think they rather liked them a bit, even after their earlier combat over the soul of Laerornith. But had I known they were going to skip out on the fight at the end with the mariliths and balor, I would have either made it a requirement for their payment or beefed up their proxies in the Demon Chess match. But by the time the match was over the players were all looking a little tired so I didn't want to force an additional battle that would have taken an hour or more to run. That's the way it goes sometimes - I honestly had no idea how long the Demon Chess match was going to take when I wrote the adventure.</p><p></p><p>But, having accidentally planted the idea in everyone's heads with the plot hook, at the end of the session just about everyone had a taste for apple pie.</p><p></p><p>- - -</p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: My "Chaotic Evil Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry" shirt - my go-to T-shirt with adventures dealing with demons.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7945832, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 72: A FRIENDLY GAME OF DEMON CHESS[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 19[/INDENT] [INDENT] Darrien, half-elf ranger 19[/INDENT] [INDENT] Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 19[/INDENT] [INDENT] Gilbert Fung, human wizard 19[/INDENT] [INDENT] Hagan, half-orc sorcerer 19[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Aerik Battershield, dwarf fighter 15/dwarven defender 5[/INDENT] [INDENT] Malrin Ivenheart, elf druid 14[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 14 March 2020 - - - Pentaclus waved to the group as they took off in their dragonfly vessel after having spent the night so the weaponcrafter could spend some time examining the [I]Claw of Bahamut[/I]. But Colin Danderville was eager to return the holy weapon back to his order, so the next morning they were back in flight, heading to the paladin's home church. Gilbert had wisely decided to drop him off first thing without visiting Kordovia, not wanting to let the devout paladin in on the fact that Kordovia was not only allied with a green dragon but its Queen also had green dragon blood running through her elven veins. That was a good way to get the wrath of the Order of Bahamut coming down upon you! After dropping off the young paladin with the appropriate fanfare, Jinkadoodle brought the spelljamming vessel back up among the clouds and homed in on the cloud island where the group kept it when it was not in use. "Glad when we get back home," Gilbert sighed. "Be nice to sleep in own bed again!" Once Jinkadoodle had parked the dragonfly vessel in its berth on the cloud island, everyone headed down to the hidden lower deck, to use the [I]teleportation runes[/I] carved onto the floor in one of the rooms to head back to Binkadink's room in Battershield Keep, where he kept the corresponding [I]carpet of teleportation[/I] ready to receive travelers from the vessel. They arrived in groups of two at a time (the gnome riding on his jackalope, Obvious, who just barely fit onto the carpet as it was), exiting the gnome's bedroom and heading over to find Helga Battershield to let her know they had made it back. Helga, as it turned out, was in the dining area - nor was she alone. Two guests sat at the table as the dwarven woman fed them thick slices of homemade apple pie. "Why, there ye are!" she exclaimed upon the arrival of the adventurers. "As ye can see, we've got visitors!" "Indeed you do," replied the corpulent Lord Shambleton around a mouthful of pie, while at his side Mr. Fletcher looked up in interest while finishing a piece of pie of his own. A collective gasp burst from the lips of the adventurers; Helga might not know them for what they truly were, but these were the two demons - a nalfeshnee and a glabrezu, respectively - who had tried to steal Laerornith Ivenheart's soul some months back, currently in their human guises. Lord Shambleton did his best to reassure the adventurers they were not here for revenge. "If you are in any way concerned at our sudden appearance in your humble home, please put your minds at rest – we mean you no harm and bear you no ill will. In fact, our recent defeat at your hands, while causing quite a setback in our plans as you are well aware, may well prove to be a blessing in disguise, for it has given us first-hand experience with your combat prowess and demonstrated to our full satisfaction your worthiness to be included in our next venture." Lord Shambleton turned to Helga with his empty plate in hand and offered it to her. "I must say, Mrs. Battershield, that was a most excellent repast indeed. I wonder if it would be too forward of me to inquire about the possibility of a second slice...?" "Me too!" piped up Mr. Fletcher, passing his plate her way. As Helga departed the dining area with their empty plates (and a big grin on her face), Lord Shambleton got down to business. "Our defeat at your hands has not been met with favor by our immediate Abyssal superiors, a wretched pair of mariliths by the names of [B]Abrizane[/B] and [B]Cocrucia[/B]. They would have had us slain for our failure – more correctly, for our strict adherence to the rules we had jointly agreed upon in our battle for the soul of the young Miss Ivenheart – how is she, by the way? Faring well, I trust? However, we have invoked our right to trial by combat and our request has been reluctantly granted. "The rules are quite simple: a battle to the death in an arena built for that very purpose. We chose not to do battle ourselves but rather to employ a team of proxies. Naturally, this is where you come in. Tell me: are any of you familiar with Demon Chess?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "Why you think we help you?" he demanded. "Several reasons come to mind," replied Lord Shambleton. "For the first, you will be fighting demons on their home plane in the Abyss. Thus, any demons you slay will be dead forevermore, never to rise again - surely a lofty goal for goodhearted heroes such as yourselves? In addition, immediately after the conclusion of the Demon Chess match, assuming we are victorious, I propose an immediate attack upon the mariliths - an attack in which Mr. Fletcher and myself will be fighting at your side. This is an opportunity to rid the planes of two truly horrid demons, on a most permanent basis." "Those might be good opportunities," agreed Binkadink, "but what makes you think it's worth putting our lives on the line?" "We have anticipated your concerns on that front," reassured the nalfeshnee. "Mr. Fletcher has, in his possession, eight scrolls of [I]true resurrection[/I] which he will place in your care. We have been guaranteed the safe return to their home planes of any mortals who agree to be the chessmen in our little contest. These scrolls will ensure there are no changes to that agreement; you have but to leave them behind in the trusted care of one capable of casting the spell and you will be guaranteed a return to life, should that life be forfeited in the Demon Chess game. Demon Chess is, after all, nothing more than a fight to the death. Thus, you have nothing to lose but the potential loss of a day of your lives, should you in fact be slain in the arena." Gilbert looked over the scrolls. They looked legit enough, even if they had been crafted on the Abyss. "We keep these regardless?" he asked. "Indeed - they are yours, as of this very moment, should you agree to be our proxies. And should all eight of you survive the arena, you will have gained the scrolls regardless, to be put to use at some future time, perhaps." Gilbert was sorely tempted - he realized the true value of the eight copies of the [I]true resurrection[/I] scrolls, one of the most powerful spells in existence. "What you guys think?" he asked the others. Before they could answer, Lord Shambleton sweetened the pot even further. "In addition," he added, "Mr. Fletcher, as a glabrezu, has the ability to grant a mortal a [I]wish[/I] once per month. Agree to be our proxies and the [I]wish[/I] is yours, to be granted as long as it is within Mr. Fletcher's power to do so. One [I]wish[/I] to be shared among the entire group, mind you - we do not intend to stick around after the arena combat has been completed, neither of us trusting our superiors won't wish to take matters into their own hands should you be victorious in the upcoming battle." "Then where will you go?" asked Finoula. "It is an infinite universe out there," said Lord Shambleton, waving a beefy hand in the air. "Truth be told, for a pair of potentially immortal demons, the thought of incessantly tempting mortals into relinquishing their souls to the Abyss is, quite frankly, a wearying one." "You said a team of eight," said Darrien. "Which eight?" Nobody was arguing the fact that the group, at this point, seemed to be approving of this plan. "The arena battle takes place upon an eight-by-eight grid, much like the chessboards with which you are no doubt familiar," said Lord Shambleton in way of answering the question. "Each square is big enough to comfortably hold a single person of your own general size and shape, no larger. For that reason, I would suggest Binkadink, Darrien, Finoula, Gilbert, Hagan - without the weasel, I would recommend - Malrin, and the earth elemental, providing it can be reduced in size to no larger than the size of a man." "That no problem," Gilbert agreed; he could use a [I]polymorph any object[/I] spell upon Mudpie to shrink him down to human size - it was, after all, the way he'd enlarged him to his current size of 16 feet tall. "But that only seven." "MARCI?" suggested Hagan. "That no good - she out of healing mixture and if she get taken by cheating demons or damaged in fight, no way to get her back with [I]true resurrection[/I] - she a construct!" "I'll be yer eighth," said a voice behind the others. Nobody had seen Aerik Battershield enter the Keep after his shift back at the castle had been completed, but he'd apparently been there long enough to have gotten the gist of what was being considered. Helga returned from the kitchen with two large pieces of apple pie on the plates she'd taken from her two guests. "Ah, ye're home!" she smiled at her husband. "Would either of the rest of ye like any pie?" Lord Shambleton and Mr. Fletcher returned their attention to the desserts before them, savoring each bite as if experiencing something entirely new to them. "How soon d'we need to go?" asked Aerik. "We certainly have time to finish your wife's most excellent culinary creation," answered Lord Shambleton, applying himself to the dessert before him. "And if you need to finish preparing any of your day's allotment of spells," he added, looking over at Gilbert Fung, "now would be the time." Gilbert grumbled and pulled out his [I]Omnibook[/I], flipping through the pages and deciding what spells would be best added to his current assembled selection. [I]Demons are immune to electricity[/I], he reminded himself, [I]and they have partial immunity to temperature extremes....[/I] Hagan made his apologies to Wezhley and left his weasel familiar with Helga for safekeeping. Wezhley didn't even bother trying to look hurt; he knew full well Helga would spoil him with treats (and he also knew Hagan knew that as well as he did). The half-orc then gathered up the scrolls and [I]teleported[/I] away to the Church of Moradin, where he left them in safe keeping with the head cleric there, explaining the need to have them cast upon the eight heroes Hagan designated if they didn't get back with the church leadership by the end of the next day. Another [I]teleport[/I] spell returned him back to Battershield Keep in no time at all. Lord Shambleton finally stood up from the table, gave his final regards to Helga, and pulled a tuning fork from his pocket. "If everyone is quite ready, we will be on our way," he announced, striking the metal prongs on the edge of the table. "Be back b'fore too long," Aerik promised his wife - and then the seven heroes, the earth elemental (now a comfortable six feet tall, thanks to his master's [I]polymorph any object[/I] spell), and the two demons in human form were gone. They reappeared on a dismal plane of uneven ground, seemingly made of hardened magma with jagged shards of obsidian rock poking up at random intervals. The orange skies above were streaked with sulfurous clouds and the smell of dead things permeated the very atmosphere. A dark building rose in the distance ahead, made of a shining, black stone some 30 feet high. "Do watch your step," advised Lord Shambleton, shedding his corpulent human form now that he was back on his home plane. His true form wasn't much of an improvement: a hideous fusing of boar and ape with some undersized bat wings thrown in for good measure. Mr. Fletcher likewise took on his glabrezu form, a demonic melange of equal parts wolf, crab, and human. "Welcome to the Sulfanorum, the 303rd layer of the Abyss," said the nalfeshnee. "The building ahead is where you will fight to the death on our behalf and where we two will be permanently slain if you are unsuccessful." "Maybe we should go over the rules of Demon Chess," suggested Binkadink. He'd extended his [I]gnomish stilt-boots[/I] to their highest elevation but was still carefully watching where he stepped, realizing a fall forward would likely be quite painful. "There is little to tell. You will begin on the black squares of the two back rows while the opposing team will occupy the two front rows of black squares. The 'red squares' are openings to a deep pit of eternal flames beneath the arena platform. Occasionally, blasts of fire will rise up from the red squares, so you don't want to be over one when that happens, nor would you want to fall - or be pushed - into the pit." "How do we track whose turn it is?" asked Darrien, recalling how orderly the game of Titan Chess had gone on the plane of Ysgard. "There is no tracking of turns," admitted Lord Shambleton. "Once the game begins, it's a mad scramble to slay the members of the opposing team. The first team to have all of its proxies slain loses; if you all die, Mr. Fletcher and I will be slain immediately thereafter, as I mentioned. If, however, at least one of you remains once you've slaughtered the members of the other team, we will be allowed to go free - and any of you slain in the arena can be returned to life by the scrolls handed over to you." "Not much like chess," remarked Gilbert. "To be sure. It is, in truth, little more than a fight to the death on a giant checkerboard. Ah, here we are." A pair of massive stone doors just ahead looked to be the only visible entry into the black building. A demonic visage carved into each door gave the appearance of a leering, gargoylelike face. They grinned widely as the two demons and their combat proxies approached, opening on their own. Passing through the doorway and into the building interior, Binkadink was certain he could hear evil chuckling coming from behind him. Once everyone was inside, the doors slammed shut and a quite audible locking sound was heard. Lord Shambleton led the group into a side room, where they would prepare for the arena combat ahead. The nalfeshnee explained they wouldn't get to see the opposing proxies until such time as the battle was ready to begin but, unlike in Titan Chess, at that point the living pieces would be visible for all to see. "Anything else we need to know?" asked Finoula. "Now that the doors have been locked, the entire area is encompassed with a [I]dimensional anchor[/I] spell. Until one team has won the game, it will be impossible to cast summoning spells or those involving planar travel. [I]Dimension door[/I] and [I]teleport[/I] spells and the like will still function, so long as the starting and ending points are within the building. "Another thing," Lord Shambleton added, almost as an afterthought. "Once the Demon Chess match begins, you must stay within the confines of the board. Anyone stepping off of the board, voluntarily or unwillingly, will be subject to attacks from the opposing leaders: myself and Mr. Fletcher for our side and the wretched mariliths on the other team. Otherwise, while we will be on hand to watch as the battle progresses, we will be spectators only - rather like our own arena battle for Laerornith's soul, if you will recall: those observing from the stands were forbidden from participating." Malrin's face clouded at the memory, while Finoula's merely hardened as she stared down the demon, her expression saying, "I took you out of commission once before - don't make me do it again!" But despite not actually having said anything aloud, Finoula had forgotten the demons' telepathic abilities. "Ah, but that trick will not work here, my dear," offered the nalfeshnee, "for your [I]angel helm[/I] cannot banish away a demon already on its home plane!" "How soon before we start? Should we start casting our pre-battle spells?" asked Darrien. "Alas, you must start the Demon Chess match with no spells already in effect," replied Lord Shambleton. "Any spells you wish to have cast upon you must be done so after the match has already--" Suddenly, Lord Shambleton and Mr. Fletcher stiffened as if jolted and the nalfeshnee cut off his comment in mid-sentence. "It is time," he said. "We are summoned to the arena." He led the way out of the white team's preparation room and back into the main room. Hagan gave the room a quick scan: the ceiling above was 30 feet high, with a single open area containing the "chessboard" upon which they'd be fighting for their lives - and those of the two demons who not long ago had tried their best to kill them! Their demonic patrons would apparently be watching the battle from a platform above the entry door through which the group had entered the building, whereas the leaders of the opposing team would be viewing the spectacle from a platform at the other end of the room. With a start, Hagan's eyes goggled as he saw the demons already on place on the opposing viewing platform. Two sinuous, serpentine figures sat in coils on either side of the structure; these would be the aforementioned Abrizane and Cocrucia, no doubt. However, of an even bigger concern was the massive figure seated on an elaborate, golden throne between the two mariliths: a balor! "We have taken the liberty of inviting our own superior, [B]Korodoth the Executioner[/B], to watch your mortal proxies attempt to save your pathetic lives in the Demon Chess arena," hissed one of the mariliths. "So we see," replied Lord Shambleton in an outwardly unworried manner. But in the privacy of his own head - while clamping down on his thoughts to ensure they weren't picked up by the telepathic demons in the room with him - he was worried the mortal heroes would not be up to taking down the two mariliths [I]and[/I] a balor on their home plane, even with the aid of the two demons currently on trial. "You know why you are on trial here?" demanded Korodoth. "You not only failed to obtain the soul you had been sent forth to steal, but you fought - [I]honorably[/I] - " (Korodoth made the word sound like the most vile concept ever created) "against mere mortals...and were handily defeated! And now, when forced to find eight proxies to fight on your behalf, I cannot help but notice you have reached out...to [I]mortals![/I] You are like no demons I have ever heard of before - you're scarcely worthy of the name!" "Then it is with great relief, no doubt, that one way or the other you will be rid of us by the end of this contest," replied Lord Shambleton in his most regal bearing. "Indeed it will! Assume your positions, mortal worms! Mariliths: bring out your team!" The door off to the right opened up and the black team stepped out and over to their places on the board. Gilbert cast his eyes upon each of them in turn, trying to determine which types of demon they'd be up against. He recognized the succubus at once and what must be a red-skinned, female tiefling - possibly a spellcaster? Two were obviously babaus and another two each had four arms and carried two large bows; Gilbert had heard of such creatures: arrow demons, surely. The other two he'd never heard of. One looked to be something like an earth elemental with thick, greenish magma dripping from its body - acid of some type? The other seemed catlike in nature if not appearance; it was slightly bestial-looking human in black leather, wielding a pair of wicked-looking blades, a scimitar and a dagger, both seemingly coated in poison. The two unknown demons and the babaus took the front ranks, while the arrow demons took their places at each end of the back row, with the two females between them. The white team took up their own positions, with Mudpie, Finoula, Binkadink, and Aerik taking the front lines on their own side while Gilbert, Darrien, Hagan, and Malrin stood diagonally behind them. Below the chessboard could be heard the unending crackling of flames and the heroes could feel the furnacelike heat rising up all around them. "Upon my mark...begin!" commanded the balor from his golden throne. With a preternatural swiftness almost too fast to believe, the bestial-looking demon - a kelvezu - leaned forward and disappeared completely from view. Hidden from the sight of the others, he [I]teleported[/I] to the black square diagonally in front of both Binkadink and Aerik, his weapons readied to strike the first of them to move. Darrien shot the arrow he'd already nocked in his [I]Arachnibow[/I] and sent it flying across the board to hit the succubus, following it up with another two at her and two at the tiefling, all in rapid succession and the last one to strike each target turned into a [I]web[/I] spell as it hit. The tiefling managed to avoid being webbed up; not so the succubus, whose batlike wings were gummed up before she could take flight. And then the tiefling cast a [I]chain lightning[/I] spell, targeting Hagan and sending arcs to strike each of the other heroes. Almost in the same split second, the arrow demons let fly with their own arrows, one targeting Gilbert and the other, Hagan, for they were the obvious spellcasters, judging solely on their robed attire. Gilbert stepped forward diagonally into the next rank of black squares, casting an [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I] spell from the scroll he'd had unrolled in his hand upon first taking his starting position on the Demon Chess board. Ebon appendages rose up from the board, grasping each of the demons on the opposing side, sliding and squeezing and pinning them into place. Then, before any of them could react, the heavyset mage followed up with a [I]quickened cone of cold[/I] spell, his new position angled to ensure he could hit each of the visible demons (but probably not the kelvezu, for who knew where exactly he'd gotten to?) with the frigid blast. Trapped with the others in the [I]black tentacles[/I], the acid-oozing alkilith released itself from physical form and became a cloud of acidic vapors, its now-gaseous body sliding effortlessly between the writhing tentacles and over towards Gilbert at a leisurely pace. But seeing this (and having no idea what the green cloud of vapors could do but willing to bet it was nothing good), Finoula cast a [I]wind wall[/I] spell, bending the effect to mirror the arc of the edge of the field of tentacles. The elven ranger was fairly certain the upward-thrusting winds would prevent the sentient gas cloud from being able to pass through to reach Gilbert. Hagan had likewise decided ahead of time to try to take out any obvious spellcasters first and the tiefling thus had attracted his immediate attention. With a few arcane words and gestures, the half-orc sorcerer caused a shimmering field of energy in the shape of a sword to manifest directly in front of the red-skinned tiefling and stab down at her. The cry of pain it elicited from the fiend-blooded spellcaster was a good indicator the [I]Mordenkainen's sword[/I] had struck true. Binkadink pulled the [I]horn of good and evil[/I] from his belt and brought it to his lips, ready to blow it and activate a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell centered upon him - but he never got the chance, for an unseen blade went suddenly stabbing into his side. The gnome fighter was surprised only for a second before realizing he'd just figured out where the kelvezu demon had gotten to. The wound burned; Binkadink realized he'd likely been poisoned but trusted his healthy gnomish constitution would help him to gut it out and keep fighting. And then, all thoughts of using his magic horn forgotten, he swung his new glaive at the unseen foe, missing once and striking only a glancing blow with his back swing - but it was enough to start it reverberating, and he grinned, knowing when he next struck the invisible foe he'd be dealing the kelvezu a lot more damage than the demon was likely expecting! At his side, Aerik likewise tried hitting the invisible kelvezu but missed with his dwarven greataxe. But he hunkered down in place, determined that nothing was going to get by him whether he could see it or not! Both babaus used their inherent [I]teleport[/I] abilities to escape the confines of the [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I] spell; by unspoken agreement they flanked Finoula, one on her right and the other moving onto the space only recently vacated by Gilbert. They each lashed out at the elven ranger, their sharp claws coated in an acid that burned her flesh where they struck, leaving furrows across her once-smooth skin. They grinned evilly at her obvious pain. But then one of them was no longer grinning as he was struck by the full weight of a 6-foot-tall elemental made of rock and earth. He went staggering off the back end of the chess board - and well into the reach of Lord Shambleton, who snagged him up in a massive hand, pulled him to his boarlike face, and took a chunk out of his flesh in a bite that pierced the demon's flesh with both of the nalfeshnee's lower tusks. Lord Shambleton wasted no time in utterly destroying the demon proxy, causing the mariliths' team's first casualty. Malrin, over in the corner, decided her best move at this point was to cast a [I]mass cure light wounds[/I] spell, for everyone had been hurt by the tiefling's [I]chain lightning[/I] spell and several others had taken other hits as well. She figured her best course of action was to keep the heroes' wounds healed up, because she doubted very much the demons would do likewise to their own proxies - it didn't seem like a very demonic trait, caring about the welfare of others. Smothered in a [I]web[/I] spell and being slowly crushed by tentacles, the succubus used her innate [I]dimension door[/I] ability to move out of the range of the still-active spell and over by Gilbert Fung; having left the webs behind, she was free to flap her wings and stay aloft just outside the writhing tentacles. She narrowed her eyes, wondering how easy the fat wizard would be to [I]charm[/I] into doing her bidding. Binkadink was being kept busy fending off attacks by blades he couldn't see, but fortunately for him those that got past his weapon's defense struck his red dragonhide armor and did him no harm. He was surprised when the flurry of attacks suddenly stopped and wondered whether the kelvezu was reassessing his attack strategies or had perhaps moved elsewhere. Due to the [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I] spell, there was actually a very limited option of where to go on the chess board as over half of the valid squares were encompassed by writhing, ebon appendages. The babau who had attacked Finoula from the front was 10 feet in front of Darrien; as such, he made a perfectly valid target for the next flurry of arrows from the ranger's [I]Arachnibow[/I]. Unfortunately for Darrien, although he struck true with each arrow he shot at the acid-dripping demon, the arrows just seemed to plunk harmlessly to the square at the babau's feet - some of them falling into the fire pit below, where they were instantly consumed. But the babau's tough hide seemed to make his arrows all but useless. Snarling in irritation, Darrien grabbed for his magic scimitar - maybe he'd have better luck with that! The tiefling cast a [I]dimension door[/I] spell to escape the tentacles threatening to choke her to death. Each of the arrow demons did likewise, the three of them moving to the only three squares still available to them (besides the one 10 feet in front of Malrin currently occupied by the kelvezu; fortunately the babaus' telepathy alerted them to his current position). Gilbert cast a [I]shapechange[/I] spell, transforming his overweight human body into the heavenly form of an astral deva. He immediately took wing, flying ten feet straight up and facing the succubus in her own element. Off to his side, the gaseous alkilith had hit the [I]wind wall[/I] and been pushed to the arena's ceiling, but it was unable to pass through Finoula's spell effect. But there was another way to bypass the blasting wind; [I]teleporting[/I] directly around Finoula on the other side of the barrier, the ranger suddenly found herself breathing in acidic fumes, causing her to choke and cough. She staggered over to the square Gilbert had just left unoccupied; with the [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I] still eating up most of the squares, this combat was a lot more close quarters than she had anticipated! But she was still within striking distance of one of the arrow demons, so she sent [I]Tahlmalaera[/I]'s blade slicing through one of the four-armed demon's forearms, causing the creature's demonic ichor to drip to the floor. Hagan's sword-shaped blade of force followed after the tiefling, swinging at her in her new location and drawing a new line of blood across her torso. Seeing how wounded she appeared, the half-orc gambled he could take her down with a mere [I]magic missile[/I] spell; fortunately, that was a bet he handily won. She fell over onto her side, then toppled over the edge of the square and pitched forward, silent in death, into the crackling flames of the pit below. Not sure of where the kelvezu might have gotten to, Binkadink mentally extended his glaive to its full length and swung the reverberating blade into the neck of the other arrow demon, slaying it instantly. He then shortened his weapon back down to a length more properly suited for fighting those closer to him. The remaining babau attacked Mudpie with its acidic claws, digging deep gauges in the earth elemental's rocky hide. But rather than fight back, Mudpie swung around and pushed an arrow demon off the side of the board, repeating the strategy that had worked so well with the other babau. Unable to reach the side of the board where it stood - for both "defendants" were to remain on the platform above the building's sole door for the duration of the Demon Chess match and the fiendish archer had been pushed off the side of the board - Mr. Fletcher opted to use a [I]power word stun[/I] on the hapless arrow demon, causing it to stand there motionless and incoherent. Mudpie found it gave him no resistance at all when he grabbed it and tossed it through the nearest open square into the pit of flames below. Aerik again tried hitting the unseen kelvezu, once again swinging and missing completely. But then he gained a massive amount of assistance from an unexpected source: the group's most inexperienced combatant: Castillan's little sister, Malrin, who somehow managed to overcome the demon's inherent resistance to spells and encompass it in [I]faerie fire[/I] spell. The speedy kelvezu, who relied heavily upon its [I]greater invisibility[/I] to keep its enemies guessing, now found himself coated in a form-fitting glow that revealed not only his general location but how he was holding his two blades. This was a game changer and for the first time during this match the kelvezu had the sinking feeling he might not be one of the last proxies standing at the battle's conclusion. The succubus opted not to try to [I]charm[/I] Gilbert after all; anyone capable of [I]shapechanging[/I] into a hated angel was likely too powerful for her to be able to pull it off. Looking around at other potential victims, her gaze fell upon Mudpie: perfect! A primitive, barely humanoid form, but one capable of dealing quite a bit of damage with those rocklike fists of his! She decided she'd see how well the elven ranger or the half-elf with the bow liked being attacked by one of the their own allies. Unfortunately, as she focused her gaze upon Mudpie, he looked up at her and stared her straight in the eye, somehow evoking a feeling of utter contempt for the succubus's charms. Cowed by her failure, the seductress flew through the [I]wind wall[/I] and over the center of the still-writhing tentacles, high enough up that she needn't worry about them being able to reach her. The kelvezu decided he needed to start taking down these enemies as quickly as he could, and since the gnome's armor was thick enough to make him an iffy target he decided he'd take out the armored dwarf first. He went after Aerik with a flurry of blade-strikes, and while several pierced the dwarf's skin he gave no sign of the poison coated on the demon's blades affecting him in the least. Infuriating! The mariliths had said they'd be fighting mere mortals, but just where had the two bumbling demons found [I]this[/I] lot? Casting a [I]freedom of movement[/I] spell upon himself, Darrien ran directly into the field of ebon tentacles, and try as they might they were unable to grasp him in their frantic embrace. However, shielded from view by the wiggling appendages, he swung his scimitar out of the spell's effect, feeling his blade pass through the [I]wind wall[/I] and strike the sole remaining babau's hide. It hissed in surprise and pain. From his aerial vantage point, Gilbert saw that things were going rather nicely for his team: they'd taken out three of their opponents already with no casualties on their side yet. He decided he'd do what he could to give his friends every combat advantage he could, and thus cast an [I]extended haste[/I] spell on all eight of Lord Shambleton's proxies. With any luck, the spell would last for the rest of the combat. But then, having done so, the wizard - still in his astral deva form - found himself in the center of an acidic cloud, for the vaporous alkilith had flown up to surround him in its amorphous body. But Gilbert found that vigorously flapping his angel's wings while staying in place did a fine job of keeping the alkilith's vapors at bay; dejected, the cloud returned back to the level of the chess board floor. Finoula used her longsword and her [I]flaming burst whip of thorns[/I] to slay the remaining babau, while Hagan cast a [I]polar ray[/I] at the hovering succubus and slew her, causing her lifeless body to plummet to the greedy tentacles below and be entwined. From the raised platform in the back, both mariliths hissed in anger and Korodoth pounded his fist in rising fury onto the arm of his throne. This Demon Chess match was not going the way he had hoped - even with allowing the tiefling to prepare a whole host of protective spells ahead of the match, in direct violation of the rules! Infuriating! Binkadink tried his best to follow suit by slaying the kelvezu with his glaive, but despite his best efforts the outlined demon refused to go down - even when Aerik hit him several times with his greataxe. Malrin tried casting a [I]sunbeam[/I] spell at the kelvezu, but her earlier success at piercing his spell resistance was not replicated this time around. Darrien switched back to his [I]Arachnibow[/I] and shot a round of arrows at the kelvezu, with little more impact than he'd had shooting at the babaus. For his part, the kelvezu kept his focus on bringing Aerik down, but although the dwarven fighter took hit after hit he too refused to be budged from his spot or succumb to his many wounds. With only two members of the black army left, Gilbert tried casting a [I]maximized vampiric touch[/I] spell on the kelvezu - but he, too, failed to overcome the demon's inherent spell resistance. Unnoticed in the preoccupation with taking the kelvezu down, the alkilith quietly resumed its solid form outside the circumference of the [I]wind wall[/I] and [I]Evard's black tentacles[/I] spell effects. But then Finoula showed she at least had been paying attention to it, for her snapping whip and striking longsword nearly cut it into two. It staggered about, threatening to fall over at any moment. Hagan redirected his [I]Mordenkainen's sword[/I] to attack the kelvezu and then followed up with another [I]polar ray[/I] spell, this one getting through the demon's defenses where others had not. None of the heroes could see the expression on his face, for he was still invisible, but the [I]faerie fire[/I] showed his posture, which was starting to slump in the realization of eventual defeat. Sure enough, all it took was a powerful stab from Binkadink's [I]reverberating glaive[/I] to pierce through the kelvezu's torso, skewering him like a shish-ka-bob. Korodoth screamed in fury as if the glaive had pierced his own body rather than that of his marilith servants' most powerful Demon Chess proxy. Almost as an afterthought, Mudpie sent a powerful fist crashing into the alkilith's head, decapitating it. It pitched over the edge of the square upon which it stood, falling into the burning pit in two distinct pieces. Despite Gilbert not having had time to cast a [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell on them as he often did immediately before battle, the heroes all felt the unmistakable sensation of someone talking directly in their heads. Judging from the mental "voice" it was Lord Shambleton. <Do you feel up to trying to take down the mariliths and the balor?> he asked. <Korodoth was not part of the original calculus of ours plans, I fear.> <We not getting paid any more for taking them down, too> Gilbert thought back at the nalfeshnee, certain he'd be able to pick up his mental response. <We fight them, we fight them for free - and put [I]true resurrection[/I] scrolls in danger of needing be used. I say we bug out - sooner the better!> <Agreed,> replied Lord Shambleton. Then, addressing Korodoth the Executioner directly, the nalfeshnee said, "It would seem Mr. Fletcher and I are a better judge of the overall combat worthiness of our proxies than either of our superiors are of theirs," he noted. Then, unable to resist twisting the knife a little, he added, "I cannot for the life of me recall the last time a Demon Chess match ended quite this lopsided, with the winning team not having lost a single one of their proxies! Perhaps this is a wake-up call to the relative merits of the mortal races, indeed!" Korodoth's face grew red with anger, but even he couldn't ignore the fact that these eight mortals - [I]mortals![/I] - had taken out a similar number of demons without seeming to have broken a sweat. As much as he wanted to leap from his throne and bring bloody death to all before him, he also realized he was on his home plane and should these mortals get the better of him it would be a true death, not the mere temporary destruction of a summoned form. Korodoth pointed a clawed finger at the front door, which opened with an audible click. "Get out!" he commanded and the two demons leaped down from their platform, hurrying to comply before the balor changed his mind. The heroes raced after them, neither of them wanting to spend any more time on the Abyss than they had to. Abrizane and Cocrucia saw their master's anger and tried to do what they could to appease him. "My Lord--" one of them began. "SILENCE!" commanded Korodoth and the mariliths looked at each other in fear. Outside, the heroes and their temporary demon patrons hobbled along the dangerous ground until they were all outside the dark building. Then Lord Shambleton opened a [I]gate[/I] and everyone stepped through it. No one was surprised that the other side of the [I]gate[/I] was the courtyard of Battershield Keep, or that when the two demons stepped back onto the Material Plane they once again wore their human guises: a tall, thin man in a nobleman's finery and a corpulent, upper-class man in almost regal garb leaning heavily on a cane. "Have you given any thought on the contents of your [I]wish[/I]?" asked Lord Shambleton. "Ingebold," answered Finoula at once. "Can you restore her to life?" "Nay - not that," intervened Aerik, although it pained him to do so, for he dearly wanted his daughter to be back among the living. But she had converted her very soul energy into a powerful enough blast to completely destroy a calcimortum demilich who could easily have wiped out all life upon the world. As a result, not only was her body completely destroyed but so was her soul - and he'd had the clerics of Moradin do everything they could to verify the truth to that claim. The only way to possibly bring his daughter back, he'd been told, was to snatch her out of time, from right before she had given her life to save the world - and to do that was to potentially rewrite history such that the black death-skull was successful after all. As much as Aerik loved his daughter, he'd not trade the lives of everyone on the planet to see her back among the living. "King Galrich, then?" asked Hagan. "We could wish him back to full mental health, get his faculties back." "That probably doable," agreed Galrich. "We all agreed?" "That works for me," agreed Binkadink. "Sure," added Darrien. The others chimed in their support for the idea. "Then our wish this: restore Galrich Slayer, former King of Kordovia, to full mental faculties - no forgetting people or places or mixing things up in head," Gilbert stated on behalf of the group. "Done," replied Mr. Fletcher. "How we know you actually grant [I]wish[/I] and not just fake it?" Gilbert demanded. "Alas, you cannot - and we choose not to stick around any longer, in case our former superiors decide to track us down - it is, after all, much safer to have some spellcasting dupe [I]summon[/I] them to this plane so they can fight us here, confident that if they are 'slain' on this plane they merely return, unharmed, to the Sulfanorum. But when next you see this King Galrich, you will find him much the better." And with that, the two disguised demons took their leave of the group. Hagan popped over to the Church of Moradin to let them know the eight heroes would not be in any immediate need of [I]true resurrection[/I] spells. And sure enough, a visit the next day to the garrison where the sellsword known only to his men as "Slayer" proved the glabrezu had been true to his word: Galrich's mind was clear of the confusion that had set in as he had aged. "What will ye do, Me King?" asked Aerik. "Yer daughter now rules in yer place, since yer abdication." "And she has done a fine job of it, as I knew she would," beamed Galrich. "Let her remain on as Queen - I am quite content with my life here among the men of the garrison, training them in the fighting arts. We'll keep the kingdom safe from those orcs and goblins - or we'll die trying!" "You should have this back, though, Your Majesty," Hagan said, slipping the circlet the King had given him once he found out it was too late for his own use. The magical headgear staved off mental deterioration that came with age, but only if it was attuned to the wearer before the dementia set in. When the heroes had gotten it, it had already been far too late for it to have had any effect upon the king. "Very well, then," Galrich agreed, slipping it onto his forehead. "If nothing else, it'll keep the hair out of my eyes when I'm fighting! And I bet it makes me look pretty dashing, huh, Aerik?" "Very dashin' indeed, Me King," the dwarven guard replied. - - - I really surprised the players when Lord Shambleton and Mr. Fletcher showed up at their headquarters during their absence. But they were down with helping them out; I think they rather liked them a bit, even after their earlier combat over the soul of Laerornith. But had I known they were going to skip out on the fight at the end with the mariliths and balor, I would have either made it a requirement for their payment or beefed up their proxies in the Demon Chess match. But by the time the match was over the players were all looking a little tired so I didn't want to force an additional battle that would have taken an hour or more to run. That's the way it goes sometimes - I honestly had no idea how long the Demon Chess match was going to take when I wrote the adventure. But, having accidentally planted the idea in everyone's heads with the plot hook, at the end of the session just about everyone had a taste for apple pie. - - - T-Shirt Worn: My "Chaotic Evil Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry" shirt - my go-to T-shirt with adventures dealing with demons. [/QUOTE]
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