Session 18
“Mr. Kurgoth goes to Celestia”
After an uneasy and tense night in the confines of the Rope Trick, the party exited, returning to the blasted remains of Tilverton. Seemingly waiting for them was Hor'ahun leaning against some rubble.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Noir.
The Githzerai scowled, "Bah! This whole place is filled with stinking humanoids, not one flayer to be found. I couldn't even see a single living drow."
"Well now that you're back, I think we should pay this Kurgoth fellow a visit. From his minion's reaction to the mention of Kiaransalee, he clearly opposes the drow. Perhaps we could recruit him to our cause," Entropy offered.
Noir's eyes lit up, "Not a bad idea. Listen, I've been thinking that we should disguise ourselves as . . ."
"NO! No more disguises! They have done nothing but hamper us thus far. From now on we must approach situations on our own merits. We no longer need to hide behind worthless facades. Let the world know that I worship Tyr!" Joachim proclaimed.
Entropy was skeptical, "OK, a couple of ground rules first. One, Noir had better hide the Balor's vorpal sword. Assuming he was working for Kurgoth, we don't want the big boss to know that we are killing off his most powerful minions. Second, this is a diplomatic mission. It involves a give and take. Kurgoth is probably neither honorable nor decent; however, we both have something to offer each other. I swear to Shar, if you guys deliberately provoke Kurgoth then it's your ass. I won't bail you out of that one."
Agreeing to the sorcerer's stipulations, the party used their various modes of flight to invisibly approach the coliseum. As they flew they saw the vast army of humanoids arrayed below them.
Finally reaching the edge of the massive structure, they cautiously peeked over the top hoping to catch a glimpse of something. And they were not disappointed!
Apparently there was a gladiatorial match in progress. In the middle of the massive sand arena stood an elephant covered with metal barding. Approaching it were three ogres wearing hide armor and brandishing huge longspears.
"Hardly a fair fight, that beast has no chance," Hor'ahun observed.
Indeed the ogres seemed to have the upper hand as they had the elephant completely surrounded. If the animal attacked any single one of them, it would be promptly impaled by the remaining two. Deciding that he would be the one to take the elephant's attacks, one of the ogres rushed the beast. Before he could reach it however, he fell backwards as a large boulder thrown from the stands hit him squarely in the chest.
In surprise, the party traced the boulder's path back to its source. The sight was not quite what they were expecting:
Everyone's jaw dropped in shock as they saw the horrific creature laugh as the elephant ran over the fallen ogre -- crushing his skull.
The fiend bellowed in Undercommon, "Come on! Surely you can do better than that!"
Surrounding him were a retinue of Fire Giants and Ogres and they too seemed highly amused by the scene.
"What in the Nine Hells is that *THING?*" Noir asked to no one in particular.
Well educated in extraplanar knowledge, Entropy chimed in, "Well it's clearly a fiend. I suppose it must be Kurgoth. Perhaps he is part Fire Giant, but who knows? Maybe we can ask him."
"Noir and I will parlay with him. You and Hor'ahun fly about 50 feet above the central platform Kurgoth and his company are standing on. In case the negotiations turn violent, we may need you to intervene quickly," Joachim suggested.
The companions agreed and the Githzerai and sorcerer went to their assigned positions. Taking a deep breath, Joachim landed on the top tier of the coliseum and rolled up his flying carpet. The cheering had died down a little for the elephant had made short, bloody work of its opponents -- with considerable help from Kurgoth.
Noir and Joachim approached the group of giants until they were about 100 feet away. Dispelling their invisibility, Joachim spoke in a commanding voice, "Lord Kurgoth, we humbly request an audience with you to discuss a matter of vital importance!"
Whirling around in surprise, Kurgoth's flaming hair became a true inferno as his minions quickly drew their weapons. Before they could act, Kurgoth held up his hand, "Hold your weapons! Who are you human and why would the great Kurgoth Hellspawn care a whit what you have to say!"
Responding in Undercommon, Joachim explained, "Mighty Kurgoth I am Joachim Dethick, High Inquisitor of Tyr the god of justice! We have been sent here on a mission of vital importance. Our goal is the destruction of the Kiaransalites for they are performing a ceremony called the "Great Revenance" that will alter Faerun as we know it. We know that you oppose these drow as well so we propose an alliance."
Joachim's offer was followed by derisive laughter from Kurgoth, "Puny human! I have a massive army at my disposal! You have only your wretched deity and that *woman* What can you possibly hope to achieve with such an impossibly small force?"
"We have more allies, hidden allies. They are poised to strike on my command."
"Well make them reveal themselves fool! I will not bargain with those I cannot see!"
"I am sorry Lord Kurgoth but we do not know if we can trust you yet. It would be prudent for my allies to remain hidden."
"NO! There will be no negotiation unless I can see all of you," stretching his incredibly muscled arms to encompass his retainers, Kurgoth continued, "You can see all of my advisors. I hide nothing from you!"
Frowning, Joachim knew he had to capitulate if negotiations were to continue. Yelling in Undercommon he instructed Hor'ahun to reveal himself and the Githzerai complied. He knew Entropy did not understand Undercommon and he wanted to keep her presence secret as his ace in the hole.
"That's it?! One ally! You must be foolish indeed if you think you can accomplish with three people what my army could not do in months. But you amuse me puny human, tell me of your 'proposal'"
"If you could provide us with some of your soldiers we can combine forces to assault the Kiaransalite's tower. Together, I am sure we can prevail!"
Kurgoth smiled, "Perhaps human, perhaps. However, let me ask you one question. My general and greatest advisor has recently gone missing -- by the name of Badrazel. You wouldn't happen to know where he is now, would you?"
Joachim began to sweat, this was obviously not going well. He could not lie, but he honestly did not know if the Balor's name was Badrazel. "I am sorry Lord Kurgoth, but I do not recognize that name. I'm afraid I cannot help you."
"Oh really now? My balor carried some extraordinarily potent weapons with him. If he . . . passed on . . . I would like them returned immediately!"
The Inquisitor nervously looked to Noir who was currently in possession of the vorpal greatsword. With the help of magic, the paladin disguised it as an ordinary weapon rather than reveal its original shape -- a bolt of lightning. Joachim knew he could not lie here, "I am sorry Lord Kurgoth, but we cannot return the weapon to you."
Chiming in on the discussion, Noir stepped forward, "We also lost a weapon Lord Kurgoth. It was a mighty sword specifically forged to destroy demonspawn. You wouldn't happen to know where it was would you?"
In response, Kurgoth hoisted a finely crafted longsword. It was the Fiendbane that the summoned Balor had "removed" from Noir. "Oh, you mean this little toothpick? It seems that we are at an impasse humans. Perhaps if you return the Balor's greatsword I will consider it a show of good faith."
"I've already told you that I cannot do that!" Joachim snapped.
Kurgoth shook his head in disbelief, "So, if I am to understand correctly, you want me to give you the services of my army *AND* return your accursed sword *AND* forgive the fact that you slew my greatest general without providing me any form of compensation?"
Joachim prepared for the worst, "Well, I wouldn't exactly put it in those terms . . ."
Before the Inquisitor could finish his sentence, he saw the unmistakable aura of magic around Kurgoth. He was casting a spell! Noir and Joachim could not react quickly enough to disrupt the fiend and, when the spell was completed, they saw that they were surrounded by two huge oozes. They were somewhat similar to the ones that Entropy had summoned, except that they were blood red and had the smell of brimstone about them.
The first one extended one of its pseudopods and seized Noir. The paladin tried to break away, but the creature was simply too large. She began to feel a burning sensation and she realized that her armor was being dissolved!
The second Ooze Paraelmental tried to seize the Inquisitor. Fortunately for Joachim, his cloak presented an illusion that displaced him a few feet from where he was really standing -- causing the Ooze to barely miss him.
Seeing that negotiations had plainly melted down, Hor'ahun flew to the top of the stadium so that he could hit all of his foes with a powerful psionic blast. He flew too close to an Ooze however, and the Paraelemental seized him. Like Noir, Hor'ahun also felt his armor being eaten by potent acid. Thinking fast, he manifested a psionic power that would teleport him a short distance away. Despite the intense pain of the acid, he managed to manifest the power successfully and instantly appeared 50 feet above Kurgoth's forces, armor still intact.
As their foes were clearly at a disadvantage, Kurgoth's minions charged. Numerous ogres surrounded them, howling with rage as they approached. Although they could not hit Joachim, they found that striking Noir, who lacked armor, was child's play. Several of them tried to crush the paladin's skull with their greatclubs and nearly succeeded in doing so. It was obvious that Noir was hanging onto her life by a thread.
Finally, the High Inquisitor composed his thoughts and sprung into action. He knew that he could probably hold off Kurgoth's forces for a few seconds, but Noir would be dead before then. He called upon his most powerful spell; this incantation did not merely channel Tyr's divine power but it requested the direct intervention of the deity himself. "Lord of Justice, grant Noir and I deliverance from this onslaught lest we be destroyed!!" As he brought the spell about he touched Noir's hand.
In a flash, both disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the stadium, far beyond the melee range of their foes.
Kurgoth looked up, seeing the Githzerai flying above him. Observing the fact that this humanoid had teleported away from the Fiendish Ooze, Kurgoth knew he was a spellcaster of some sort. He knew a perfect solution to that problem . . .
His entire body pulsing with energy, Kurgoth brought another spell into being which he directed wholly at Hor'ahun. Suddenly, the Githzerai felt an incredible feeling of dehydration as the necromantic magic tried to suck all of the water out of his body. Gasping for breath, Hor'ahun immediately turned invisible. Inexplicably, he dove down towards the center of the group trying to recover the Finedbane.
In the meantime, Noir and Joachim were not spared the wrath of Kurgoth's minions. The Fire Giants in the group threw massive rocks trying to crush the pair. Although Joachim took only minor damage, Noir fell to the ground -- her soul nearly ready to depart to the Seven Heavens. Before she died, Joachim quickly channeled positive energy into her body and it completely mended her crushed bones and torn flesh.
Standing, Noir knew that rushing head on into the Kurgoth's group, even with her armor intact, was suicidal. She instead activated her winged boots and jumped off the edge of the coliseum. Her strategy was to go around the outside of the massive structure and engage her foes from the air.
Hor'ahun tried to avoid the massive greatswords of the Fire Giants as he recovered the Fiendbane. He could probably escape with it without a serious problem. But then he heard someone chanting a familiar spell. Hor'ahun froze in fear, she wouldn't dare!
Finally reacting to the flurry of action, Entropy began to cast a spell. Since she couldn't understand Undercommon, she had a hard time figuring out where exactly the conversation was going. However, she was sure that her companions had provoked Kurgoth and wanted to teach them a lesson. Seeing an invisible Hor'ahun in the middle of the Fire Giants, she saw the opportunity to make her displeasure known.
Right in the middle of Kurgoth's group appeared a massive tear in reality. Despite their immense strength, those Fire Giants and Ogres nearest to the rift could not helped but be pulled in. As the maelstrom extended its reach, it sent Kurgoth himself as well as his elephant careening through the hole. Only through a combination of great luck and skill did the Githzerai avoid the rift, flying away before it engulfed him. After all was said and done, only a handful of Ogres remained.
Entropy could not know where the rift led to, of course. But if she or Joachim tried to divine the outcome, even they would smile at the incredible irony. Kurgoth and his top lieutenants were sent to the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia. A plane where ultimate goodness was idealized, it was probably only a matter of time before Kurgoth caught the attention of a powerful celestial, perhaps even one of the great Solars. Kurgoth Hellspawn was no weakling however and was a brilliant tactician to boot. If anyone could find a way to exit Celestia in once piece, it was him.
Back in the Prime, the party made short work of the remaining forces. Much to their chagrin though, a pair of ogres ran out of the coliseum to alert the other regiments.
Entropy approached the group, "I should have expected this! What the hell did you say to him!?"
After Joachim recounted the conversation, Entropy was not amused, "That's it!! From now on I will personally handle all diplomatic interactions. It is obvious that the two of you cannot be relied upon to be civil to anyone who doesn't share your world view!!"
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As the flying party exited the coliseum they saw the hordes below them massing to enter the structure. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, they returned to the ruined Fane of Lolth to rest and discuss their next move.
As Joachim helped Noir put on her spare full plate armor, Hor'ahun mulled out loud, "I suppose our only option at this point is to approach the tower of Kiaransalee itself. Though if Kurgoth couldn't breach it with all his forces, I can't imagine we will have an easy time."
Suddenly, the party heard movement nearby. Using his medallion that could detect thoughts, Hor'ahun began to scan the area, "There are three creatures . . . humanoids I believe."
In response, three figures emerged from the shadow. All female, two of them were drow and the third a goblin. One drow female, short even by drow standards, strode forward and completed the Githzerai's thought, "Drow to be exact. Greetings travelers, we have been monitoring your progress in our fair city. I must say we are quite impressed with your power. Perhaps we have mutual interests we can discuss."
The paladin stepped forward, "And why should we trust you dark elf? Is your race not know for its duplicity?"
"Indeed we are, but we are also known for our pragmatism. We will not hesitate to ally ourselves with outsiders if it will advance our cause," countered the drow. "But we cannot speak here, the Kiaransalites have eyes everywhere, we must go where it is safe. But I go ahead of myself, allow me to introduce the group. I am Wisp and this is Logala," she indicated the other drow female who seemed to twitch every few seconds, "and Guk," the goblin just nodded at them. "May I ask your names?"
"I am Joachim Dethick, High Inquisitor of Tyr, the god of justice," the cleric proudly stated, "This is Noir and the Githzerai is Hor'ahun. And the woman is . . ."
"Call me 'Blessed'," Entropy said with a smile on her face.
"Will you accompany us?"
"I already told you, we cannot trust . . ."
Joachim cut off Noir, "Wait! We have done nothing but make more enemies in this city. Allies would be a blessing, no matter how distasteful their beliefs. Lead on Wisp, but no treachery or you will not live to regret it!"
Nodding, Wisp led the group out of the Fane of Lolth.
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Over the next half an hour the party was led to a secret location, but it was obvious that their "guides" were taking the long way, hoping to throw off any pursuers. They tracked through ruins, sewers, and finally reached an inn blasted by some powerful spell.
"Wait here," Wisp instructed as she disappeared into the dark structure.
A few minutes later she returned, "They are ready. Come."
Jumping into the hands of fate, the party followed her.
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They were led to a small chamber in which stood three male drow. Wisp began, "May I introduce Hamadh, Karas, and Chirikk."
Karas, stepped forward. "Well met humans, I am a priest of Vhaerun and we are members of a resistance movement called The Hidden. Before Kiaransalee's minions took the city, the Lolth clergy at least tolerated us. But now, Irae T'sarran turns any drow she meets into horrid undead monstrosities. She even permits them to keep their house insignia as if to mock them."
The drow with a sheathed greatsword, Hamadh, continued, "We, of course, oppose Irae at every opportunity but our group is limited in size and strength. We have seen your power and we respect it. If you were to contribute some magic to bolster our cause, we can help you enter the tower. It is protected by the most powerful wards and approaching them without the password is a journey into oblivion."
Entropy pushed her way forward, "I tire of this discussion. What do you want exactly?"
Hamadh smiled, "As I said, we are small in number and our resources are wearing thin. What can you offer for our invaluable information?"
The sorcerer turned to the third drow male. He appeared to be a wizard, with arcane runes on his robe. However, judging from his wrinkled face and hands, it was obvious that he was extremely old -- perhaps having lived for centuries. Entropy spoke to the Wizard in the language of the Lower Planes. She knew that any drow arcanist could converse in Abyssal and, more importantly, she did not want her companions to know what she was saying.
Speaking in the guttural tongue, Entropy began, "I assume you are Chirikk, correct?"
The old drow nodded and Entropy removed one of the three amulets she wore. She threw it to the wizard who deftly caught it, despite his advanced aged. The wizard held up the amulet and saw that it was in the shape of a demon head.
"We procured this item in the Fane of the demon god Ochremeshek. Although it can only be used once, it is very potent. It allows the wearer to alter the fabric of reality and twist fate to his benefit. Whenever you suffer a grievous blow or a misfortune it may save your life. Chaos and Evil for Ochremeshek!"
The wizard nodded in appreciation, "Impressive, it is a good start."
Entropy reached into her portable hole and pulled out a stone, glowing with unholy green power. "A tenday ago, my companions and I entered the Demonweb and slew Laveth, the daughter of Lolth. Laveth was trying to steal some of her mother's power for herself in a ritual called 'The Harrowing.' We slew her before she finished, so she could not direct the full force of her deific powers against us."
She gingerly passed the stone to the wizard, "This stone is the essence of her power. Do you realize what this means? I am giving you the power of a demigod! Use it as you will."
Chirikk let out a low whistle in appreciation. "Indeed this is extraordinarily powerful as you say. I consider it sufficient payment," switching back to Common, he spoke to Hamadh, "You may tell them."
Hamadh began, "Irae is performing a ritual of some sort, exactly what it is I do not know. However, she has protected her tower with a Forbiddance spell which repels the most powerful unless they know the password and it is this, Isztava Morthaum. Because of this powerful abjuration, Kurgoth's forces could not even scratch the tower so they laid siege to it instead."
Karas continued, "Irae is powerful in the ways of undeath. She has taken many drow, flayed their bodies and twisted them into ghouls of incredible power. They are unlike any undead we have ever seen. To aid you in your mission we will launch an assault on the tower, which will be a diversion of course. We will draw off as much of Irae's forces as we can, while you enter unnoticed."
The party agreed it was a good idea and they began to plan the operation in detail with their newfound allies.
Before the companions left the compound to take positions outside the tower, Hamadh gave them one final bit of information. "Beware the power of Irae. Although the cult of Kiarnasalee is a small one, this priestess is *the* main conduit for her deity's wrath. Some say she is an avatar of the goddess herself. Oh, and one final thing, Irae is an albino drow."
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"What did you give them Entropy? The Hidden seemed pretty eager to help us," Noir asked. The party waited in an area of ruined buildings a few hundred feet from Irae's tower. They were waiting for the signal from the drow so that they could quietly enter.
"Let's just say I gave them exactly what they wanted," was the cryptic reply.
As they waited for the signal the companions talked about their strategy once they entered the tower. However, they should have been paying attention to their surroundings, for five undead creatures silently approached them and attacked -- taking the party totally by surprise.
Although Entropy was invisible, the ghouls had no problem seeing her. One of them jumped on top of her before she could even react. Her feeble struggles were no match for the strength of her foe who promptly pinned the sorcerer to the ground.
Another undead approached Hor'ahun and leapt upon him as well. However, the Githzerai managed to avoid being grappled. Two more tore into Noir with surprising ease and the final one attacked Joachim.
The party could not see Entropy, only the abyssal ghoul on top of her. In horror they saw it extend a long tongue and heard a scream as it smacked against the sorcerer's skull. Similarly, Hor'ahun was wrestled to the ground, presumably to be subjected to the same fate.
Although Noir and Joachim tried to hit the ghouls, they were surprised that only a few attacks pierced the tough skin of these creatures. Noir, in particular, was quickly being overwhelmed by them.
Finally, the initial onslaught ended and the party reacted. On the ground, Entropy felt the creatures tongue slam against her head. Suddenly she began losing her self control. No matter! She had to extricate herself or face death. Concentrating, she chanted the words to a spell and teleported from underneath the ghoul to 20 feet above it.
Hor'ahun similarly escaped, teleporting about 100 feet away. As Noir and Joachim continued to attack their enemies, they were not sure they could hold out against so many.
Suddenly, the ghouls surrounding the holy warriors began to fall . . . upwards! Entropy had reversed gravity in the region and, with nothing to hold on to, the undead fell upwards and began to oscillate as they reached the top of the spell's area. Unfortunately, Entropy found that she could not muster the willpower and concentration to target her spell correctly and she caught the paladin in the area of effect.
As Joachim and Hor'ahun engaged the two remaining ghouls on the ground, Noir tried to combat the ones in front of her, albeit upside down. To allow the paladin a respite to heal herself, Entropy called forth a wall of force around Noir.
After a few minutes, the companions managed to dispatch the undead with potent spells and weapons. However, the creatures had inflicted serious damage and, in Entropy's case, not all of it was physical. One surprise during the encounter was Noir's attempt to turn the undead. With her powerful personality, the party was accustomed to undead fleeing or, in some cases, exploding with divine energy following her turning attempts. However, in this case not a single one of the abyssal ghouls even flinched.
The party had a spare moment to heal themselves when they heard the distant sounds of combat. The diversionary assault had begun!
Joachim began to have second thoughts, "If this is any indication of the undead we are to face, I am afraid to say that I am unprepared. Give me just one day to prepare and we can cut through them like a scythe."
Entropy shook her head, "I doubt we will have that luxury. Surely this diversion attempt can only be attempted once. Who knows if we can pierce the defenses of the tower without help? This is it! Hopefully we will be able to use a Rope Trick once we are inside."
Hoisting their weapons, the party rushed towards the tower and into the claws of Kiaransalee.
