INTERLUDE PART TWO: ACHERON IS A NICE PLACE TO VISIT, BUT…
Jenya sat rubbing her temples at her desk in the temporary office she’d procured at the abandoned estate outside Cauldron. Across from her, Rusty calmly blew the foam off his third mug of dwarven ale. “Tell me again,” Jenya finally said, staring at the dwarf thru her interlocked fingers, “where exactly have you been for the past two months, and then explain once more, slowly, how that could possibly be, since I last saw you one hour ago.” Rusty sighed, sitting his flagon down on the desktop. He had already been thru this once, but he could understand the high priestess’ incredulity. He wouldn’t believe such a tale himself if he hadn’t lived through it. “Tell you what,” the old priest said, pulling his pipe and his tobacco pouch from his belt, “I’ll skip the details, and just hit the high points fer ya. Maybe that’ll make it easier to get yer head around. It all started after we killed the dragon…”
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“Before we knew what was happenin’, there was an explosion of color so bright it’d make yer head swim. Then the noise started. You’ve never heard such a commotion, not even in the busiest dwarven mine. Clangin’ and bangin’ that just kept gettin’ louder and louder. When the light finally faded, we found ourselves starin’ out over a landscape of cracked and fissured iron. The sky was slate gray, and these giant cubes was floatin’ all thru it. The bangin’ noise seemed to be comin’ from all around us. Before we could gather our wits about us, we saw we weren’t alone. Sittin’ on top’o one of the biggest, ugliest spiders you ever laid eyes on, was an honest-to-Hela drow elf! Now, I ain’t never actually seen one of the devils, but I heard plenty, so I was quick to set fer another fight. As it turned out, this particular drow lady wasn’t interested in scrappin’. She said her name was Edylyn, and she was an emissary from a drow city right here in the Realms. She was visitin’ some local warlord by the name of Imperagon, and was on her way back home. When we asked her where in the nine Hells we were exactly, she told us Acheron, the Infernal Battlefield. Well, that was disturbin’ enough, but we figured it wouldn’t be no problem gettin’ home, seein’ as how me and Gunther could Plane Shift. She told us that was a negative, though. Seems this Imperagon liked his privacy, and this particular cube-world we were on, Kolyoral, was his, and he’d rigged it so’s nobody could do any sort of extra dimensional travellin’ to it or on it. We asked her how she was goin’ home, and she said she planned on flyin’ to a distant cube, then leavin’ from there. She didn’t recommend we try it, though, as the skies were loaded with all sorts’o nasties, and the other cubes were just endless battlefields. She did tell us that Imperagon kept a permanent Gate in his fortress on the far side’o the cube, and she was pretty sure it would take you wherever you wanted. Before we let’er go, we asked her what sort of fella this Imperagon was, and would he be willin’ to let us use his portal. She said not likely, mostly because he was workin’ on forgin’ some great artifact, and he’d managed to enslave the spirits of thousands of forgemasters to do it. Nice, huh?”
“So, we took our leave of the drow lady, and set off across that blasted wasteland. I’m here to tell you, that’s the last place in all the planes that I’d ever want to visit again. No scenery to speak of, and plenty’o buggers wanderin’ around lookin’ fer their next meal. After about a week of this, we stumbled right into the middle of battle. It tweren’t one army against another, mind you, but a group of critters that looked like upright ants fightin’ a bunch’o two-legged frogs. As it turned out, the first group were called formians. The originally hail from Mechanus, but they’re spread out all over the place, lookin’ fer spots to settle new colonies. Not a bad bunch, but sort’o single-minded, if you know what I mean. They was squarin’ off against some slaad. They come from Limbo, and they're nothing but a bunch of maraudin’ wrecking machines. When we tried to break up the fight, the slaads turned on us. It didn’t take long for us to mop the ground with’em, and the formians were pretty grateful. That’s when we noticed the slave with’em, mainly cause he was human. When we asked about him, they said we could have him in payment for our help. That’s how we found Houshang. The formians offered to take us to their colony and their queen were we could rest up a bit. Course, things are never like you think they are, are they? No sir. That queen formian was grateful and all, but she wanted something more from us. Her hive was bein’ hunted down by some monsters they called steel predators…sort of like metallic lions. She told us if we was to get rid of these critters, she’d send some of her folk with us to guide us to Imperagon’s fortress. We didn’t have much choice really, so we took her up on it, and ended up takin’ on the granddaddy o’all steel predators. He gave us a run for our money, but we ain’t exactly new to this game, and we took care of business.”
“The queen was as good as her word, and she assigned the myrmarch…sort of a formian captain…that we rescued to be our guide. He was a decent sort. Called himself Glicknock-9. We just called him niner. It took about two weeks o’travellin’ across that blasted cube, and we had a run in with a pair o’blue dragons along the way, but we finally made it to the fortress. It was quite the sight, made completely out’o metal plates bolted together, and a big cloud of smoke and steam hovered over it. There was only one way in, and ole’ niner took his leave once he showed us. Well, to make a long story short, Imperagon’s folks were none to hospitable. He had a bunch’o them steel predators and quite a few steel golems hangin’ out as guards. Not only that, but he was entertainin’ some clients as well. It was a runnin’ battle from the time we hit the door. We made our way thru the fortress, and eventually found the slave pit were they was keepin’ the forgemasters. Their overseers were a bunch of flamin' boys straight from the plane’o fire itself. We had a time with’em, cause they had some help from a few elementals, and one’o the biggest steel golems you’ve ever heard of. Still and all, we put paid to’em. We thought after that the forgemasters would be grateful, but when we told’em they were free they said they couldn’t be freed till they’d finished the artifact. We asked’em what they were makin’, and they said it was a sword called the Blade of Fiery Might. They said it had once been wielded by the Grand Sultan of the efreet himself against the djinn. It was shattered at the end of that battle, and scattered across the multiverse. Turns out that Imperagon managed to recover the fragments and had almost completed the reforging. The forgemasters said that once it was finished, Imperagon planned to use its power to lead an army on an invasion of the prime material plane. We asked’em how we could stop this from happenin, and they told us that if they blade was destroyed, they would be free. Then they showed us the unfinished sword, and said that extreme cold could undo it. Needless to say, we poured every bit of cold magic we could muster into that thing, and sure enough, it shattered like ice. For some reason, Houshang didn’t seem too happy about that. Anyway, the forgemasters were set free, but we still had to find Imperagon’s Gate.”
“We kept on searchin’ the place, and finally we found a throne room, complete with the Gate on the far side. Sure enough, Imperagon was there, and he wasn’t alone. The warlord himself was a cross between a dragon, and a dwarf, if you can imagine! With him were a few more steel predators, a horned devil from the nine hells, and of all things, a celestial archon, who’d apparently turned his back on the Bright Lands. They were none-to-happy about us breakin’ their sword, and they meant to let us know about it. It was touch-and-go for a while there, and Gunther had to dole out a couple of his Revivify spells. Imperagon’s bunch almost had the best of us, when all of a sudden, from out of the Gate, out stepped Ikon! You met him earlier, right? Well, I’m here to tell ya that boy can sure swing a sword! He laid into those scoundrels, and before long the tide turned. We finished that business, made introductions all around, then stepped thru the Gate…and here we are!”
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Jenya sat back in her chair, and shook her head incredulously. “I still don’t know what to make of it,” she said, “but you’re here now, and you’re safe, and you have new allies to help you. Though I haven’t had near the adventures that you have, I’ve still been able to gather some further information for you. We know that the organization responsible for this catastrophe are the Cagewrights. They seek to turn Cauldron into the site of a permanent portal to Carceri, the home plane of their demodand masters. Their sign is called the Carcerian Eye, and as you now know, Lord Orbius Vhalantru was in league with this group. The tremors are the result of a ritual the Cagewrights are performing to achieve this end. It seems they have found a way to harness the latent power of the volcano to open the portal to Carceri. Judging by the fact that the volcano’s activity has so far been relatively calm, as far as volcanic eruptions go, I believe that the majority of the volcano’s energy is being siphoned into some sort of focus to power the final creation of the portal. I don’t know how much longer the Cagewrights need, but every second wasted is a second closer to Cauldron’s doom. Fortunately, not all is yet lost. You still have a chance to put a stop to their plans, but alas, I know not how much time you have left. My divinations have uncovered the approximate location of where the Cagewrights are performing their ritual; deep under Cauldron near the volcano’s core in a magically reinforced stronghold built to withstand the volcano’s activity. Alas, these same magical reinforcements prevent direct observation or divination about it or its contents, as well as block teleportation magic. Yet you cannot let this stop you; if they complete their ritual, we can’t get the citizens of Cauldron far enough away in time to avoid an unspeakable doom! I’ve been able to determine which of the lava tubes gives the most direct route to the proximity of their stronghold, an can supply you with the last of the Church’s healing stores, but beyond that, Cauldron’s fate is in your hands. There should be time for you to rest and recover, but don’t tarry much longer. Once you embark on this quest, I doubt you’ll have the chance to rest again until its resolved, so make sure to watch your resources closely!” Rusty sighed and shook his head, rising slowly to his feet. “You know,” he said, “once upon a time I thought that when I was an old man, I’d be able to sit back with my grandkids at my feet and tell’em tall tales of all the adventures I’d had during my life. I don’t see that time happenin’ Jenya, but maybe some day, you can tell’em for me.” With that, the old dwarf left the room and the mansion, and made his way back to his friends to break the news.
