Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9672640" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 96: FIELD TRIP TO HELLPC Roster:Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 20             Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 10/eldritch knight 4             Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 10/paladin 10             Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 14             Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 20Game Session Date: 18 May 2025 - - -"I've been going over your responses to the questionnaires," the lich Pendlebrook informed the five newcomers to the Forbidden Lands the next morning in the bunker they were using as a temporary headquarters.  "They've made for some very interesting reading."  Then, putting the sheets away, he added, "But that's all going to have to be put aside for a bit, I fear.  Something has come up: a drow wizard from Spiraclast, one with whom we've been dealing for some time now, has been slain, and the killer apparently took a project we commissioned from him.  We've been instructed by the Conclave to retrieve it; more specifically, I've been instructed by the Conclave to retrieve it, and I'd like you to come with me.  What do you say?""Sure," replied Wakuren.  "What exactly was taken?""It's a variant of the standard immovable rod," the lich replied, holding his skeletal hand horizontally about three feet above the ground.  "It's longer than normal, about so high."  The half-orc frowned, wondering why such a device would need to be larger than normal, but he said nothing."Sure, we're in," reiterated Thurloe."Good," replied Pendlebrook.  "There are some within the Forbidden Lands who are still a bit leery about allowing you entrance into our society.  This will go a long way towards showing you belong here.""Mother Bones for one, no doubt," Xandro hazarded."She is indeed a suspicious one," Pendlebrook allowed."So, where do we start trying to track down this immovable rod?" asked Alewyth, eager to begin the search for the stolen item."Oh, no need for that," reassured Pendlebrook.  "We know exactly where it's been taken - it's in Hell.  We leave immediately."  And he led the group back to the door that linked up with the interior of the sphinx colossus, the only means of entry or exit into or out of the Forbidden Lands of which they were aware.Once outside on the desert sands once again, Wakuren immediately made sure his wood colossus was exactly where he had left it.  "Will we be able to take the colossus with us?" he asked the lich hopefully."Quite impossible - it's much too big" was the reply.  Wakuren frowned, but began casting spells - as the others were doing - in preparation for a trip to Hell.  He cast magic circle against evil on himself and protection from evil upon Xandro, then further enhanced himself with entropic shield and shield of faith spells.  Alewyth cast her own magic circle against evil and entropic shield spells upon herself, and granted Thurloe a protection from evil spell, then applied her wand of stoneskin to each of the five heroes.  She followed up with a prayer spell covering the whole group.  Thurloe cast a resist fire spell upon himself and a Randor's telepathic bond spell upon most of the group, while Zander cast a mislead spell upon himself and Petey, stepping invisibly to the side of his illusory double.  Then he and the spellsword each applied shield spells to themselves via Thurloe's wand.  Xandro didn't bother with any spellcasting, but slipped into invisibility via his magic ring.And, once their preparatory spells had been cast, the lich started casting a planar gate spell that led the six of them directly into a well-furnished waiting room.Thurloe looked around at the comfortable-looking furniture, the trays of food, and the rich tapestries and carpeting.  "Hell's a lot more pleasant than I imagined," he observed.  And then he saw the two attendants approaching, and added, "Much more pleasant."The two women could easily pass for angels of the highest order: they had lovely faces, shapely figures, and beautiful feathered wings sprouting from their backs.  The spellsword began to wonder if the lich had messed his spell up and accidentally sent them to the Celestial Planes, but then Pendlebrook spoke to the erinyes devils.  "We wish an audience with Lord Korobraxos."  Thurloe amended his supposition, as that didn't sound like the name of anybody he'd expect to be in charge of the Heavens.One of the erinyes smiled, nodded, and said she would go see if "the Great Lord" would see them, while the other directed the visitors to make themselves comfortable.  Zander took a seat on a plush couch and reached over towards a plate of grapes, but Alewyth slapped his hand away.  "Do you really wish to eat anything found in Hell?" she whispered."The Great Lord has agreed to see you," announced the first erinyes a few moments later.  She ushered the six through a pair of double doors and down a lengthy hall, at the end of which sat an enormous pit fiend upon a massive throne."A good day to you, Lord Korobraxos," said Pendlebrook, bowing low to the huge, red-skinned devil.  A pair of massive, batlike wings stretched out behind the Great Lord as he looked down upon his visitors.  "I wish to discuss the actions of one of your minions.""Proceed," granted Lord Korobraxos.Pendlebrook began his tale.  "The undead of the Forbidden Lands commissioned a magic item from a drow wizard named Valmuk.  It was overdue, so we sent a representative to go fetch it.  He found Valmuk slain, ripped to shreds, as was his assistant.  In the chamber where their bodies were found, a summoning circle had been made, and it included a planar binding trap.  Apparently Valmuk summoned and attempted to control a pit fiend in your service.  But the devil broke free, slew the two wizards, and made off with items from the wizard's tower - including the item we had commissioned.  I seek only the return of the property Valmuk had created for us, under commission.""And you know this was one of my pit fiends...how?" demanded Lord Korobraxos."His name was inscribed in the magic circle," Pendlebrook answered.  "Mardiak.  I seek only to question Mardiak and see about regaining my immovable rod."  He waited a moment before adding, "If Mardiak is amassing magical items without your knowledge, it's possible he intends to make a play for your throne....""I see.  Mardiak and his troops have been placed on watch duty at one of the Burning Rivers."  The pit fiend plucked a jewel from his wrist and tossed it over to Pendlebrook.  "This will grant you access to Mardiak, and show you to be under my protection during your stay."  He then waved the group away with a dismissive gesture of his hand.  Taking the hint, Pendlebrook bowed low again and returned the way he had come, the five adventurers following suit.  Thurloe was no longer questioning whether this was Heaven or Hell - the massive devil on the enormous throne was enough evidence for him.  And now the "Burning River?"  That didn't sound like someplace you'd find on a celestial plane!Once out of the throne room, Pendlebrook cautioned the others about Mardiak.  "I fully expect the meeting with Mardiak to lead to combat.  I, however, will not be engaging the pit fiend or his forces unless it becomes an absolute necessity.  Instead, I intend to use this as a field test of your own combat abilities.""Figures," grumbled Thurloe under his breath.Pendlebrook continued: "Watch duty is far beneath the station of a pit fiend, so Mardiak is likely already being punished by Lord Korobraxos for some unknown transgression.  He'll likely be quick to anger.""Do we attack him at once?" asked Alewyth."No, I'd like to see if I can just get that immovable rod back the easy way, if possible.  I'll do the talking, and we'll see where it leads."  The lich turned to the five.  "If you wish to cast any more preparatory combat spells before we go see Mardiak, now is the time."  Xandro cast three heroism spells, upon himself, Thurloe, and Wakuren.  Thurloe spent the time trying to recall whether devils were immune to electricity, and seemed to remember electricity and sonic attacks were the way to go against devils in general.  He passed that along to the others over the telepathic link to Alewyth, Xandro, and Wakuren - it was a new spell for the spellsword, and he didn't yet have the spell down well enough to include the whole group - and asked Petey to pass the info on to Zander.  The pseudodragon's innate telepathic abilities were why Thurloe had opted to skip over Zander when casting his spell in the first place."Here we go, then," warned Pendlebrook, then used the gem to transport the group instantly to the Burning River.The name wasn't a misnomer by any means: the group found themselves on one side of a flowing river of lava interspersed with several islands of rock rising up from the flow; hopping from island to island were a pair of bearded evils and another pair of barbed devils, taking great pleasure in pushing back those damned souls seeking to rise up out of the flowing liquid rock.  On the other side of the Burning River sat the pit fiend Mardiak, oblivious to the sudden arrivals as he concentrated on a series of objects on the stone floor before him.  The four erinyes devils before him in an arc took immediate notice, however, and swung their flaming longbows in the heroes' direction."My Lord," warned one of the winged archers.  "We have company."Mardiak looked up and scowled in the direction of the six figures on the other side of the Burning River.  Focusing his attention on Pendlebrook, he snarled, "What do you want, dead thing?""Merely the return of the device you took from the tower of the drow wizard Valmuk after you slew him and his apprentice.""I know of no such device.""It's there, at your feet, along with the other items you removed after finishing your violence.  What was the instigation, may I ask?  The affrontery of having placed you inside a planar binding trap?""No mortal tries forcing me to do their bidding without paying the price!""And how was it you managed to escape the summoning circle?  I am reliably informed it was properly inscribed - and attuned to you specifically.""It was," admitted Mardiak.  "As was the planar binding trap.  But the fool wizard failed to properly protect his apprentice's mind.  I was able to convince her to approach, and as soon as her foot broke the circle, I was free.  And yes, once freed, I slew him and dragged his wretched soul here where it belongs!"  He indicated the Burning River between them.Xandro, invisible due to his ring, whispered suggestions to Pendlebrook.  "And the apprentice?" the lich asked."I slew her as well - why not?  She'd served her purpose.  Well," he amended, "I did have one other purpose for her, right before she died...."  Alewyth's brow furrowed in disgust at the pit fiend's words and the look of pleasant reminiscence on his face at the thought of what he'd put her through before she died.  But then Mardiak continued, "And no reason I shouldn't have ransacked the wizard's home and taken anything of value with me - isn't that what you mortal 'heroes' do after you've slain an enemy?  We're not so different, you and I."  And here he smirked, showing his glistening fangs."I don't really care what you do with the other items you took from Valmuk's tower," said Pendlebrook.  "But I want the immovable rod we commissioned from him.""And I," replied Mardiak, "do not care about the desires of undead things who are cheating Hell of the torment they so rightly earned.  I'm keeping everything I took from that fool wizard."Thurloe suddenly decided to add his considerable brilliance into the mix.  "What if we trade you the lich for the immovable rod?" he asked the pit fiend, stepping forward towards the shore of the Burning River.Before Mardiak could respond - and while the faces of the spellsword's companions expressed shock and disbelief at the idiocy of his suggestion - Pendlebrook turned to Thurloe with a tilted head (expressing "Are you serious?" in a manner needing no facial expressions; a good thing for a lich with no face but a skull) and began muttering to himself.  Too late, Thurloe recognized the arcane syllables spilling from the lich as the words to a flesh to stone spell, and then he transformed instantly to a stone statue where he stood.  The others felt his immediate disappearance from the mental link they had shared with him, and felt lucky that the spell didn't wink out when he became petrified."No deal.  Best scram before I forget that little bauble the dead thing carries shows he's under Korobraxos' protection."Zander, invisible, stepped closer to Thurloe and cast a haste spell on the group while he still had everyone within range.  As a decoy, he sent his illusory duplicate forward by the edge of the Burning River, hoping it might at least draw the attacks of some of the devils, since it looked as if combat was indeed about to occur.  Xandro pulled the Dardolian Lute from his back and began playing the song of inspirational courage, certain that in the vast cavern, none of the devils would be able to pinpoint its point of origin; he just hoped none of the devils could see through his invisibility effect.  (Unlike Wakuren and Alewyth, training on the various powers of the many fiends inhabiting the Lower Planes had not been a part of his formal training.)The heroes weren't the only ones to pick up on the feeling of imminent combat.  With broad grins at the prospect, the bearded and barbed devils focused their attention on the living mortals foolish enough to willingly enter Hell; they well knew it would be simplicity itself to have "accidentally" assumed the gemstone from Lord Korobraxos only applied to Pendlebrook and not the mortals accompanying him.  But Zander and Xandro were pleased to note none of the four rock-hopping devils were focusing their attention upon where they stood sheathed in their invisibility magic.Alewyth stepped forward, Sjondra in hand, until she stood directly behind the petrified spellsword.  She started rubbing her last vial of stone salve on him, restoring him back to flesh - and then chewing him out for his foolish words earlier.  "And just how were we to get back to the Material Plane without Pendlebrook?" she hissed.  "None of us have the planar gate spell prepared and ready to go!""I just figured nothing the devils could do to him would be permanent - he'd just remanifest wherever his phylactery was stored.""And by the time that happened, we'd all be dead - in Hell!" hissed the dwarf.  "For such a smart guy, you can be incredibly stupid sometimes!"  Thurloe had no answer for that; he merely activated the fly spell from his celestial armor but remained on the ground for now; it was enough for him to know he could take flight if it became necessary.  The chamber was large enough, in any case, with a ceiling height of nearly 100 feet.Wakuren, not seeing any way around it other than defeating these devils in combat and taking off with the immovable rod they'd been sent to fetch, initiated combat with a chain lightning spell, cast directly at Mardiak and hoping to hit all four of his erinyes guards as secondary targets.  But the spell fizzled upon hitting the pit fiend, the half-orc having failed to overpower the devil's innate resistance to spell energy.  But regardless of the lack of success of his attack, the mere attempt was all it took for the fight in Hell to commence on both sides.As one, the four erinyes devils spread their feathered wings and flew forward, spreading out as they did so to ensure they could not all be targeted again with a chain lightning or similar spell that required the potential targets to be grouped somewhat closely together.  Two of the angelic-looking devils fired their flaming arrows at Wakuren and the other two focused upon Zander Quilson - not his illusory image, but his invisible self, due to their innate true seeing abilities.  Both of these arrows struck the elf, but fortunately his stoneskin protection kept him relatively safe.  Wakuren, in the meantime, was able to dodge the flaming arrows sent his way.Mardiak remained where he was, surrounded by his newly-looted goods, but cast a mass hold monster spell at the heroes.  Its complete failure on all five fronts told him they were all shielded from such mental attacks, no doubt by protection from evil or magic circle against evil spells - an obvious protection for living mortals entering Hell, but worth a shot in any case; that idiot spellsword had already proven his lack of good common sense so there had been a chance he at least hadn't been properly protected from such attempts.Zander cast a meteor swarm spell, sending two meteors streaking towards one of the erinyes and another two at one of the bearded devils.  Recalling Thurloe's warnings, he appended the spell in mid-casting, changing the normal flames of the incantation to sonic energy.  The resulting sonic explosions caused some damage to the erinyes but brought both of the bearded devils nearly to their knees, as the waves of sonics washed over not only the targeted barbazu but the one standing nearby and a few other devils in the vicinity.  The bearded devils leaned heavily on their infernal glaives to stop from toppling over - surely a good sign!Thurloe cast a chain lightning spell of his own, targeting a barbed devil as the primary and arcing off to one of the erinyes and slaying one of the bearded devils.  He smirked at Wakuren, glad to have had more success in overcoming innate spell resistance than the half-orc had experienced with his own, similar, spell.  (Thurloe opted not to focus on the fact that Wakuren's spell had been targeted by a much more powerful enemy with a much higher resistance to spell energy.)But then a hitherto-unnoticed enemy joined the fray.  A hellcat, invisible in the reddish light emanating from the glowing lava of the Burning River, leaped forward and clawed at Alewyth from behind, raking her with its rear claws while it tried to bite through her shoulder.  Its attacks fared little against the heavily-armored dwarf, other than making her aware of its existence and forcing her to the conclusion she was the one best suited to seeing to its demise.Xandro remained invisible and continued his inspirational song, knowing just hearing his tune aided his friends in their attacks.  The sole remaining bearded devil looked about him, gave a guilty look at Mardiak - its leader - and opted to teleport away.  It had been nearly slain by the elf's spell, and he well knew a death on his home plane was a permanent one; surely Mardiak would understand the logic of fleeing now, the better to serve him later?  (Personally, it would probably be best to keep out of Mardiak's sight for a few decades, if possible, the bearded devil decided.  Maybe he could heal up and join the front lines in an attack upon the Celestial Planes, far away from the ill-fated pit fiend who was already on Lord Korobraxos' bad side.)One of the barbed devils, or hamatulas, leaped forward and attacked Wakuren, while the other did likewise against Thurloe.  The spellsword, however, had a quickened ray of enfeeblement spell at the ready, and burst it into the attacking fiend's face as he attacked.  The many spikes and spines ripped across Thurloe exposed skin, but he took comfort in the fact the attack would have been even more successful if he hadn't weakened the devil considerably before it struck.  Wakuren swung his shield of Cal at the hamatula he was fighting, ignoring the pain from its many spikes and hoping he could slay it before the spines did too much damage to him.Alewyth swung her warhammer Sjondra at the hellcat, striking it once and then getting in another successful hit before it scampered away, leaving her to guess at its current location.  But the screams of pain she'd elicited from the invisible feline fiend told her she'd done much worse to it that it had been able to do to her as of yet.The first two erinyes successfully shot their flaming arrows at Wakuren, whose stoneskin and ring of fire protection negated any damage they might otherwise have done.  The other two surprised Xandro by targeting him, allowing the nimble rogue to understand his invisibility was useless against the flying devil-women, in any case.Mardiak, looking over the various battles going on but in no hurry to join them, casually cast a fireball where it could do the most harm: targeted such that its blast encompassed Wakuren, Xandro, Alewyth, and Thurloe.  Zander tried casting a horrid wilting spell at the pit fiend, but once again the fiend's inherent spell resistance prevented the spell from taking effect.Channeling extra strength from his torc of the titans, Thurloe sent his bastard sword Spellslicer into the side of one of the barbed devils, cutting up his own hands on the fiend's spines as he did so.  Still, more damage was dealt to the fiend than to the spellsword, so overall Thurloe called it a winning strategy.  Meanwhile, the hellcat found it rather difficult to get past Alewyth's defenses with its claws and teeth, given the heavy armor she wore.  And for her part, Alewyth swung her warhammer back and forth, hoping to make contact with the invisible feline, but her swings fell a bit short.Xandro snuck up behind a barbed devil and sent Deathwhisper stabbing deep into the fiend's back, allowing the stoneskin spell to shield him from the worst of the retaliatory barbs.  But the barbed devils were focusing their attacks on their current foes, Thurloe and Wakuren.  The half-orc slammed his shield of Cal against his foe, snapping off a few spines here and there, while the four erinyes pressed on their flaming arrow attacks against Xandro and Zander.  But again, the stoneskin spells allowed the arrows to plunk harmlessly off of their protected bodies.Mardiak casually tossed another fireball into the mix, this time engulfing Pendlebrook, Thurloe, Zander, and Petey in its explosive flames.  Zander tried another casting of horrid wilting at the pit fiend, with no better luck than he'd had with his first attempt.  Thurloe kept up his attacks with Spellslicer against the hamatula he was fighting, and Xandro did likewise against his own barbed devil foe, Deathwhisper finally making the killing blow.  Behind them, Alewyth struck the hellcat with a solid blow after it got in close enough to scrape her with its claws - not enough to do any real damage, but enough to allow the crafty dwarf to figure out its current location.Wakuren stepped away from his foe and cast a whirlwind spell, sending it at one erinyes (who dodged around the rapidly-spinning winds) and then through another one on its way over to a third.  That at least gave the flying archers something else to worry about for a bit, but then they continued their arrow barrages, this time targeting both Xandro and Thurloe.Mardiak caught up Pendlebrook, Wakuren, and Alewyth in another fireball spell - he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, and not overly concerned about the fates of his troops.  Zander, tired of casting horrid wilting spells at the pit fiend only to have them fizzle out, tried a different approach: he cast a spell at his pseudodragon familiar, Petey, confident that he at least wouldn't fight against the spell's effects.  And sure enough, he didn't: as the polymorph any object spell took effect, Petey flew off his master's shoulder as he expanded into the form of a gold dragon the size of a large horse.  He charged at the barbed devil fighting with Thurloe, and while the fiend turned his attention to this new threat, Thurloe slew it with a powerful stroke from his bastard sword.With the barbed devil he'd been fighting now dead, Xandro leaped onto one of the stone islands jutting up from the Burning River, slowly making his way over to the nearest of the erinyes devils.  Wakuren sent his whirlwind over to another erinyes, this one the farthest away from the one Xandro was after, and then he turned his attention to Xandro's intended foe and the erinyes closest to that one.  They were close enough together the half-orc was able to encompass the pair of them in a single casting of the blade barrier spell.  One of the two managed to escape the blades in time (and sent a flaming arrow at Xandro, not liking how close he was getting to her), while the other one perished, her angelic feathers being sprayed in all directions as the force-blades cut her beatific body to ribbons.  The other two erinyes devils shot their arrows at Thurloe, hoping to take him out.Right as Alewyth finally slew the hellcat she'd been fighting, she was engulfed in another fireball - Mardiak's third of the fight thus far - as well as Thurloe and Xandro.  Zander, hoping to catch the pit fiend while his attention was elsewhere, tried with a third horrid wilting spell - and this time he was successful, dealing the pit fiend a heavy blow.Petey flew up to one of the erinyes targeting Thurloe and bit her in the midsection, while Thurloe cast a lightning bolt spell her way, carefully avoiding getting Petey in the spell's area of effect.  And Xandro had finally made it to his own winged foe, stabbing up at her with Deathwhisper.  Alewyth, her hellcat foe now dead, activated her butterfly brooch and started fluttering over in Xandro's direction to give him what aid she could.  Wakuren also took to the air, although in his case it was via an air walk spell - and he started heading directly over at Mardiak.  He allowed his concentration on his whirlwind spell to fade and it wandered off; the spell hadn't been as effective as the half-orc had hoped, but it was his first time trying that particular spell out.The erinyes wriggled out from Petey's grasp and flew straight up, trying to get far enough away from the gold dragon to be able to shoot at it, but Petey followed her, flying and snapping.  The other two erinyes shot their flaming arrows at Xandro and Thurloe.Mardiak, not liking the idea of Wakuren making it over his way, targeted the air walking half-orc with all four flaming spheres from a meteor swarm spell, the only one he could manage in any given day.  And then his eyes bugged out and his fang-filled mouth hung open in shock as the cleric/paladin of Cal shrugged off one of the most powerful spells known as if it were nothing.  (In reality, it was the half-orc's ring of fire protection and stoneskin spell that kept him relatively intact from the meteor swarm attack; the rest of it was sheer bravado on his part and a - quite successful - attempt to dishearten the pit fiend.)  Pendlebrook, despite having vowed to stay out of the fight, cast a dimension door spell and appeared on the far side of the Burning River, over by Mardiak to watch Wakuren's approach.Zander cast another chain lightning spell at Mardiak, overcoming his resistance to spell energy and giving him a full-on blast of electricity that didn't even bother arcing to anyone else (not that there was anyone else within range).  Petey, in the meantime, was biting at the erinyes he'd caught back up with, and Thurloe had flown up to attack the same she-devil with his bastard sword, leaving her staggering and all but collapsing to the Burning River below.  In a desperation move, she tried to teleport away, but the spellsword cut her down with Spellslicer, and that left only two of the feather-winged devils still in combat.Xandro managed to slay the erinyes he'd been stalking, and then he started hopping from rock to rock over toward Mardiak.  Alewyth followed course with her temporary butterfly wings.  But naturally, Wakuren got there first, and he slammed his shield of Cal into the pit fiend's face.  Mardiak went into a battle-frenzy, slashing out with his claws, battering with his oversize bat-wings, and biting with his elongated fangs, but Wakuren was still there at the end of his frenzied attacks, seemingly as fresh as ever.The last erinyes fell to another of Zander's chain lightning spells, once again targeted against but a single foe due to the distances between their fiendish enemies.  The elf didn't mind, though; as a high-powered sorcerer, he had plenty of spellcasting he could still do before needing to rest and recharge.Petey, looking about and seeing only Mardiak still in the fight, opted to help the other heroes get to him rather than engage the pit fiend in direct combat himself.  He called out telepathically to Xandro - who had once again activated his ring of invisibility and thus couldn't be seen by the pseudodragon-in-gold-dragon-form - and the rogue guided Petey over until he was close enough for Xandro to leap up onto his back, readying Deathwhisper for use once they got within range of their final foe.  Thurloe changed directions in mid-flight and started heading over to Mardiak as well, casting a chain lightning spell of his own on the way.  It fizzled out upon reaching the pit fiend, but that's the way it went sometimes.But with all of the heroes zooming in on Mardiak, it was Alewyth - the one still the farthest away from the pit fiend - who dealt the final blow while fluttering over the Burning River.  She cast an implosion spell at the pit fiend, overcame his innate resistance to spells, and watched as his body collapsed into a floating point and then vanished altogether."Sorry, guys," she said.  "I know you were all looking forward to giving him a whack or two."Pendlebrook picked up the immovable rod and then started rummaging through the other items Mardiak had pilfered from the drow wizard he slew.  "Well, well, well," the lich exclaimed.  "What have we here?"  He hefted an ornate club with runes in the shapes of skulls and bones etched all along its surfaces.  "An undead bane club?  Seriously?""I can destroy it for you if you like," offered Alewyth, holding Sjondra in her hands as she alit on the far side of the Burning River, beside the lich."By all means," agreed Pendlebrook, placing the offending weapon on the stone floor of the cavern.  Alewyth smashed the magic club to pieces with her sundering warhammer.  "You are all welcome to divide the other spoils amongst yourselves," the lich offered, and the dwarf gathered up a magical pearl of power, an ornate necklace of adaptation, an iridescent spindle ioun stone, and a mummified hand wearing a ring of mind shielding.  They'd figure out who would get which item later.On a whim, Pendlebrook engaged in the casting of a few more spells: a detect creature to determine that the soul of Valmuk was there in the Burning River nearby, and a detect thoughts to determine his exact location.  Finally, after crossing to the rock jutting up from the Burning River closest to the dead wizard's damned soul, he cast a Randor's telepathic bond spell, allowing the two to communicate.  <Was the immovable rod made to our exact specifications?> he demanded of the drow spellcaster.  Valmuk insisted it had been, and then started crawling up out of the slow-flowing lava to join the lich up on the small island of rock."Ah, ah, ah!" scolded Pendlebrook.  "You were on the approval list to be allowed to join the Forbidden Lands and become an undead, but what do we find you engaging in?  Trafficking with devils, building anti-undead weapons, and entangling your soul with Gareth the Betrayer instead of embracing Akari?  No, Valmuk, I believe you are exactly where you need to be!"  And with that, the lich kicked the soul of Valmuk back into the bubbling lava.  <I will be informing the devils in charge of this area of your attempted escape from your designated punishment - and any further attempts to leave the Burning River will no doubt be treated with an even worse punishment!>Then he turned back to the mortals who had accompanied him to Hell.  "Are we ready to return to the Forbidden Lands?" he asked.It turned out the five dreamwalkers absolutely were. - - -We bumped this session to Sunday since there was a graduation party on Saturday (our normal gaming slot) for the daughter of a married couple Dan and Vicki have known for decades (since Dan, his friend, and I were all missileers up at Minot AFB ND in the mid-eighties, in fact). - - -T-shirt worn: My Doctor Who TARDIS shirt (well, one of them) - I don't have anything particularly tied to Hell, so I went with a vehicle that can traverse the planes.</blockquote>

Verification