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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2297460" data-attributes="member: 1210">Demon Hunt (pt 2)7:30 p.m., the Valley of Hobbes, DorhausThimbleton and Hobbes are pouring over a collection of maps of impressively-distant lands, deeply immersed in planning, when a tabaxi messenger enters the tent.  In the rolling, sibilant tongue of the cat-folk he speaks.  “My Lord, visitors have come.  Drelvin’s killer is here again, and his friends.  They say it is very important.”Hobbes’ face reaches a studied calm, but his heart fills with rage.  “I told him not to return here,” he snarls. His voice betrays his emotions.“Hey, calm down, Hobbes,” Thimbleton urges.  “I’ve met him.  He means well.  And Malford told me what happened to Drelvin.  He was a good friend- but it was an accident.  That guy didn’t mean to kill him.”Hobbes spits.  “He is gone.”Thimbleton sighs and nods.  “I know, but they tried to bring him back.  Listen, let’s just go find out what it is they want.  We sort of owe them one- after all, they are the ones who told the Queen that Belmondo is missing.”Hobbes nods after a moment.  “You are right.  He must be here for something important enough to risk my wrath.  I’ll hear him out.”  He looks at Thimbleton steadily.  “As always, old friend, your counsel is wise.”***When Hobbes arrives, the Bloodsword dripping in its scabbard, Thimbleton is right behind him.  The party explains their quest- they are seeking information on the identity of a powerful demon who has tampered with them in the past.  Once they give what details they know, Thimbleton nods briskly.  “It’s a good thing I’m here!” he exclaims.  “I can shed some light on part of what was going on, at least- I think I know what the lever used to make Cyrax betray us was.”Thimbleton explains that, in the early days of his adventuring career, he and a band of stout adventurers including Desgren, Tharron, Cyrax, Dexter and Malford had stormed the Temple of Elemental Evil.  It was a huge, sprawling complex of evil and foulness, and while they were in there, they found a magical cloak that allowed the wearer to turn himself into a gargoyle.  “The problem with the cloak of the gargoyle was that it eventually turned his mind into that of a gargoyle as well.  Well, when this happened he flew off and we thought we’d lost him- but later he returned, in his elven form again.  He told us he’d had to make a deal to be restored; it was never made clear exactly what the deal was, but from the pieces I’d put together, I suspect it was this same demon.  Let me check my journals and see if I have a note of the name.”  He greater teleports away.  Twenty minutes later he is back.“Seclaidra,” he says.***8:45 p.m., Sigil[/b]In Sigil, everyone recognizes our heroes.  Fiends pointedly get out of the way of them in the street.  Awed glances follow them.  Everybody knows- they killed Asmodeus.  The notoriety is... interesting.After spending some time getting lost on the streets of Sigil (Inoke is sure he knows the way to the Eyebrary), our heroes stumble across the bound form of the giant blue four-armed creature that they fought once before.  At the time it was a clockwork servitor, bound to the forces of Law as they prepared a major assault on the Eyebrary.  Now it is in a mostly-abandoned section of the City of Doors, bound in place.  Our heroes debate freeing it, but it hates buildings and they decide not to risk getting kicked out of Sigil.When they finally reach the Library of Boccob, the doors swing open to admit them.  The Eye of Boccob, as he calls himself, or the Eyebrarian, as the party calls him, quickly helps them find out a few things about Seclaidra.  She is apparently a queen of succubi and mistress of an entire layer of the Abyss.  She is known to have acted indirectly much more that directly.  They compare their notes on her with his concerning the time around the Second Coming of Dexter and fill in a few more details.  Apparently, from the Eyebrarian’s deductions, Seclaidra had sent dreams of herself garbed as an angel to trick Desgren and Tharron into raising Farenth, but why she did this is unknown, since Farenth did not seem to know that she was aiding him.  Moreover, the fact that Cyrax was betrayed by Farenth after being coerced by Seclaidra into betraying Dexter to Farenth leaves in question whether Farenth even knew that Cyrax was going to aid him.  Why, then, was Seclaidra aiding Farenth?Farenth was a servant of Bleak.  Seclaidra is very old- claiming to predate Bleak- but has worked to further mutual interests with Bleak on a number of occasions.  It’s the only thing our heroes can put together on that score.  Regardless, the Eye of Boccob has one more, very key, piece of information: Seclaidra’s layer of the Abyss is the 109th.By now it has gotten fairly late, and our heroes are fatigued.  They secure rooms in a nearby boarding house for the night and soon are abed.***8/2/371 O.L.G., 9 a.m., SigilOver breakfast, the party talks strategy.  Lillamere comes up with a good one. “Superior teleport,” he says.  “It’s not a divination but it can take you to a person’s location.”“Will that work?” wonders Inoke.“That’s a very interesting idea,” remarks Horbin.  “Let’s put it into play,” smiles Chakar.“After breakfast,” insists Gerontius, waving a forkful of sausage in the air.***1 p.m., the 109th layer of the AbyssOur heroes plane shift in to a blasted landscape.  Purple lightning etches a dull red sky with no sun.  Jagged fingers of rock thrust spear like from the ground.  Gnarled, misshaped rocks are everywhere.  The ground is covered in black jagged gravel.The party casts a succession of buffing spells, preparing to do battle.  Once they are ready, Lillamere unrolls a scroll he purchased an hour before in the markets of Sigil.  The writing on the scroll burns with an unearthly orange fire as he reads the superior teleport.And, in a flash, they arrive at a scene fairly swarming with mariliths and succubi.  The demons are gathered around a large sarcophagus on a wind-swept mountain side of the jagged stone.  Immediately our heroes spring into action, starting to deal devastating wounds to the demons.  Which one is she? wonders Horbin grimly, and then the entire party feels a powerful enchantment wash over them.  Fortunately, they are all mind blanked except for Veil, who is a construct, and none of them are affected.Then the succubus who just tried that turns to the mariliths near the sarcophagus and cries out, “Release the undead god!”Next Time: Oops, an undead god!</blockquote>

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