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Story Hour
The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7629138" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 50: BEHIND THE PLANE DOOR</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 15</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 15</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 26 June 2019</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>"Now <em>that's</em> more like it!" exclaimed Syngaard upon answering the summons from his ring and seeing two emeralds at each of the conscripts' place settings around their main table in the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>. He took his seat - he was the last to arrive as usual, he noted - scooped up his gemstones, and dropped them into the coin purse at his belt in a single, practiced motion, then indicated to Karen that he wanted a mug of ale. "So, what's up?" he asked as the illusory waitress brought him his not-at-all-illusory beverage.</p><p></p><p>Skevros explained, "Two nights ago, a prisoner attempted to break out of the palace dungeons. He had apparently been digging a tunnel with a spoon when he hit upon an underground dungeon complex hitherto unknown to those residing in the castle."</p><p></p><p>"I was unaware we have dungeon cells under the castle," observed Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"I would anticipate nearly every castle has dungeon cells below them," replied Skevros, somewhat surprised that the knowledgeable elf was this naive about the need for a place to house prisoners to the kingdom. "In any case, the hole he had dug was not yet large enough to permit him passage into the dungeon complex, but it was large enough for a black pudding to enter his cell and, we presume, devour him."</p><p></p><p>"So instead of eating dessert, this time the dessert ate him," commented Syngaard wryly. Skevros only frowned and began explaining the details of the ooze creature known colloquially as a "black pudding," causing the bald fighter to wave him off and return his attention to his ale. "Yeah, yeah, got it - eaten by a blob monster. Go on."</p><p></p><p>"I spent yesterday expanding the escape tunnel and cleaning out the lower dungeon level the prisoner had inadvertently breached. However, there is a door down there beyond which I could not go, for the doorway is a permanent <em>gate</em> leading to another plane of existence. Were I to pass through it I would no longer be within the confines of the kingdom of Durnhill and the <em>mark of justice</em> would slay me outright."</p><p></p><p>"Couldn't you at least have stuck your head through the doorway?" complained Syngaard. He could already tell this mission was going to be exploring the other side of the doorway, leading to who-knew-which plane - some intel on what to expect would certainly be helpful!</p><p></p><p>"There was no need: I could see through the doorway perfectly fine. It leads to a library." Syngaard just snorted - that sounded incredibly boring! Still, for two emeralds, just to go check out some room full of books? A sudden thought hit the scarred fighter. "This ain't the kind of library where the books fly off the shelves and attack you, is it?" he groused. That very thing had happened to Galen, Kaspar, and him in the last library Syngaard had gone to; it was the sort of thing guaranteed to get you to swear off reading books entirely!</p><p></p><p>"I am uncertain; that is where you will come in," replied Skevros. "Another thing: except for the planar doorway and the tunnel dug by our would-be escape artist, I found no other legitimate entry to the dungeon level beneath the castle."</p><p></p><p>"That don't make no sense," argued Syngaard. "How'd it get built in the first place if there's no way into the place?"</p><p></p><p>"Easy," replied Orion. "You dig down, build your dungeon, then seal up your original entrance when you're done." Turning to Skevros, she asked, "So we're assuming the plane on the other side of the door was the only way into the dungeon?"</p><p></p><p>"Until the recent tunnel was dug, that is correct. And one final thing: the walls of the library were composed of what looked to be clouds."</p><p></p><p>"Clouds?" repeated Kaspar. "Then...presumably it's on the Elemental Plane of Air?"</p><p></p><p>"That is definitely one possibility," agreed the king's adviser. "Certainly not the only one, though. Come: I will walk with you to the castle." </p><p></p><p>The group headed over to the castle, where Skevros led them to the lower levels beneath the centuries-old structure. "So, did you find anything in the dungeon worth fighting?" Syngaard asked.</p><p></p><p>"A variety of oozes and constructs," Skevros replied. "Things that could easily have been there for hundreds of years."</p><p></p><p>"No undead?" asked Galen. Skevros shook his head in the negative. "Well, that's good," muttered the paladin.</p><p></p><p>At the planar doorway, the group's spellcasters began their preparations for imminent battle: <em>magic circle against evil</em> spells on Daleth, Todd, and Galen; <em>stoneskin</em> spells upon Daleth, Todd, and Orion; and a <em>death ward</em> on the paladin. Carl, summoned from the Ethereal Plane by Orion, lapped up the <em>mage armor</em> potion she offered him once she was sitting in the <em>ghost touch saddle</em> and could physically interact with the spirit of her trusty riding dog, loyal even after death. Daleth cast the final spell, a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> linking the conscripts mentally together, and indicated their readiness to Skevros. "In you go, then," said the king's adviser, extending his hand to the planar door. "Good luck, everyone!"</p><p></p><p>Syngaard took point, stepping through the <em>gate</em> spell and entering the library. Sure enough, there were books on the shelves with some weird writing on them, but the scarred fighter hardly gave them a glance; he was more interested in the room's walls. They were indeed seemingly composed of cloud-stuff, kind of like a <em>solid fog</em> or <em>acid fog</em> spell shaped into a vertical plane. He allowed his gaze to follow the wall up to the ceiling, some 30 feet high - it was made of the same cloud-stuff. Hesitantly - and ready to pull his hand back if he felt any acid secretions - Syngaard pushed his hand into the wall, which gave somewhat; he was certain he could probably push his way through the entire wall and into whatever room lay just beyond, but it would be slow going, just like it would be traveling through a <em>solid fog</em> spell. Also, his hand felt tingly inside the cloud-wall, as if the cloud structure was building up a static charge.</p><p></p><p>Daleth had followed the fighter into the room and cast a <em>true seeing</em> spell upon himself from his <em>staff of divination</em>. "I believe this an electrical version of an <em>acid fog</em> spell effect," he announced - causing Syngaard to pull his hand out of the wall as if he'd touched a hot griddle. Daleth just smirked and cast a <em>protection from energy</em> spell upon himself and Todd, guarding them against the worst of any potential electrical attacks they might encounter in the near future.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar entered the room and examined the names of the books printed on their spines. "These are all in Elven," he announced.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed," replied Daleth, looking at random titles on the shelves. "They seem to be books on magical theory."</p><p></p><p>"Spellbooks?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Not as in books of spells; rather, books about spells, and spell theory," Daleth explained. Syngaard shrugged; it all sounded the same to him. "I don't see no way out of here," he said, "unless you elves can winkle out some secret doors or something." Daleth and Kaspar circled the oddly-shaped room, finding nothing along those lines.</p><p></p><p>But Orion had approached a floating, red orb hovering motionlessly above a raised platform. It reminded her of the red orbs that had provided additional healing magic to a group of wizards they'd fought early in their adventuring careers. "Guys, check this out," she suggested.</p><p></p><p>"It's evil," Galen announced. "This whole place is evil!" He was getting evil auras from the entire area, but nothing indicating the red orb was any worse than the rest of the library. With a look of determination, he bravely put his hand upon the floating orb - and then through it, for the orb proved to be completely insubstantial.</p><p></p><p>As soon as his hand entered the orb, a flood of information filled the paladin's mind: the layout of the entire library, complete with a working knowledge of how these color-coded <em>teleport nodes</em> worked and which ones were linked to which. The library in whole was rectangular in build, but the individual eleven rooms were oddly-shaped (as might be expected when the walls were made of compressed clouds) with no doors at all in the entire library save the one the conscripts had entered from the dungeon level below their castle. Galen passed on this information to the others over the telepathic link. <This room is called the Entry Library,> he explained. <Stepping onto this platform allows us to go to one of two other rooms which contain red <em>teleportation nodes</em>.> One of those rooms was a dead end, while another led to a room with a <em>teleportation node</em> of a different color, allowing access to other rooms beyond it.</p><p></p><p>"So we can only go to the rooms with the right colored floaty-ball-thing?" asked Syngaard. "That's going to take longer." The group quickly decided they'd hit the "dead end" rooms first when possible, to preclude the need to double back to a room they'd already explored. Galen volunteered to be the first to check out each room. "The fact that I'm picking up evil emanations from all directions makes me the most likely candidate to deal with whatever evil might be present," he reasoned - and Syngaard saw no reason to argue against that. Since Daleth had the other <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell active, they put him at the end of the line so they'd have that particular brand of protection at either end of their formation. Orion and Carl would follow directly behind Galen, with Syngaard behind them and Kaspar right before Daleth - it was assumed his greater speed would best allow him to catch up to the others, rather than tempt him to get too far ahead of the group if he were earlier in the line-up. That all decided, Galen stepped onto the platform and disappeared from view.</p><p></p><p><I'm in the Summoning Chamber--> Galen began before breaking off that thought entirely. Standing before him was a barbed devil, tearing apart wooden bookcases and shredding the books and scrolls stored within. Inscribed on the floor beside the spine-covered devil was a summoning circle. <Barbed devil!> Galen called over the telepathic link as he charged behind the fiend, bringing his <em>sword of Zehkar</em> down in a <em>smite evil</em> attack. Unfortunately, the devil spun at the paladin's approach and managed to dodge out of the way at the last possible second. He roared in anger, but then grinned evilly as he realized he now had a much better target for his rage than wooden bookcases....</p><p></p><p>A pair of sharp claws ripped across the breastplate of Galen's plate armor, digging deep grooves in the metal. But then Orion was in the Summoning Chamber behind the paladin, tossing an <em>electrified dagger</em> from her <em>bag of blades</em> at the hulking fiend. It didn't look like the dagger itself did much damage - in fact, it bounced off a protruding spine from the fiend's chest and clattered to the floor - but it discharged its electricity as it did so, and that at least caused the fiend to roar in pain.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard entered the room next and charged at the barbed devil, bringing his morningstar down on the creature. His attack broke off several of the find's numerous spines, but there were plenty of others to poke at the bald fighter as his weapon struck the barbed devil's body and as he snarled in pain from the stabbing pain in his hands, Syngaard suddenly recalled why he hated fighting these hamatulas. Still, his morningstar attack seemed to have done more damage to the fiend than his sharp spines did to the fighter, so all in all Syngaard considered it a win.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar suddenly materialized in the room and attacked the barbed devil with a stunning fist attack. His strike hit true (damaging the monk's hand in the process), but the hamatula managed to shrug off the stunning attempt. Then Daleth arrived on the platform behind Kaspar and, taking a glance at the situation, decided his best way to contribute was by casting a <em>greater invisibility</em> spell upon Galen, the one wielding the weapon best suited to slay a fiend from the lower planes.</p><p></p><p>Galen shifted position slightly and channeled another <em>smite evil</em> attack through his sword, stabbing from a different direction and getting through the fiend's defenses - again, at a cost, for there was no way to hit the fiend with a hand-held melee weapon without exposing your own hands and forearm to the bristling spikes emanating from the barbed devil in all directions. But then the fiend retaliated in an unexpected fashion: rather than lashing out at any of its enemies, seen or unseen, it stepped away and blanketed the area in an <em>unholy blight</em> spell effect.</p><p></p><p>The conscripts all felt the effects but Orion got the worst of it in two different ways: while the others were drained of some of their vitality, she was physically sickened by the cloying miasma of the spell and mentally anguished that she had failed to activate the <em>collar of false life</em> she had had crafted for her ghost-dog before riding him into battle. Carl was slain outright by the <em>unholy blight</em>, leaving the halfling to fall slowly to the room's floor, mentally kicking herself for her forgetfulness.</p><p></p><p>But despite her sickness, Orion channeled her anger into her next throw and the <em>electrified dagger</em> she snatched from her <em>bag of blades</em> struck true. It only transferred its electrical charge before falling to the floor without having pierced the beast's flesh, but that was sufficient for the halfling's purposes - and she didn't stab herself on the barbed devils spines in doing so.</p><p></p><p>That whole "don't stab yourself" concept seemed like a pretty good one to Syngaard, so instead of charging the fiend and slamming it with his morningstar, he opted to whip out his Dick instead. Activating the <em>bronze griffon</em> and tossing it in the barbed devil's direction, Dick took full griffon form right in the fiend's face and snapped his beak at him but the devil managed to dodge out of the way at the last moment. Kaspar followed suit by summoning John directly behind the fiend, who was now flanked on either side by a griffon and a giant stag beetle. </p><p></p><p>Daleth cast a <em>magic missile</em> spell through his <em>metamagic rod</em> and the missiles each struck true, eliciting a roar of pain from the devil. Then Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard sprang forward to finish off the fiend. Oddly enough, despite having been found in a room with a permanent summoning circle inscribed on the floor, the barbed devil's body did not disappear upon its death. "It must have been <em>gated</em> here," suggested Daleth, knowing that had it merely been summoned it would have disappeared back to its home plane upon its death.</p><p></p><p>Galen took his <em>illumium scabbard</em> in hand and applied healing energy to those of the group who needed it. He then stepped back to the <em>teleportation node</em> with the red sphere hovering over it and used it to teleport over to the one other room in the library that had a red globe <em>teleportation node</em>.</p><p></p><p>This was the Alchemical Lab, featuring large vats of a silvery-white liquid being slowly added to, drip by drip, from overhanging spouts whose containers were being heated - rather like a tea kettle. Galen noted the liquid in the vats wasn't radiating evil like the rest of the room - odd. <It's safe!> he called over the link, and the others soon joined him. "Interesting," observed Daleth, examining the substance. "It looks to be a good-aligned variant of the <em>silversheen</em> mixture. Apply this to a metal weapon and it should be extra efficacious against any other fiends we might encounter in the next hour or so."</p><p></p><p>"Effy-cayshus? What the hell's that supposed to mean, Wizard-Pants?"</p><p></p><p>"It means," replied the elf, grabbing the morningstar from Syngaard's grasp and dipping its weapon head into the substance, "that you will now be able to inflict even more damage upon the next barbed devil you see."</p><p></p><p>"Well, okay then," said Syngaard, taking back his morningstar. Orion dipped her <em>nightflame short sword</em>'s blade into the silvery-white substance while Daleth scrounged around some vials from the lab and filled them with the substance for future use. "<em>Bless weapon</em> will do the same thing for me," Galen said, applying the spell to the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>. Then he crossed the room to the next <em>teleportation node</em>, this one with a yellow orb floating above it. There were two other rooms with yellow orbs, one of them a dead end, so that's where Galen headed first. This was the Rest Chamber and its table and two chairs were empty of visitors. Galen noted that sound was oddly subdued in the area - a quite practical effect for a library, he noted. But, seeing nothing of import in the room, he teleported over to the other room with a yellow orb, the Abjuration Library, the others following behind him.</p><p></p><p>The most notable thing about the Abjuration Library was the complete shambles it was in: the place was torn apart, with smashed bookcases and shredded pages strewn all about. The trail of destruction led to one of the cloud walls; apparently whoever had torn this place apart had gone straight through the walls, as slow and painful a process as that might have been. According to the mental map of the library Galen had stored in his mind, the other side of that wall housed the Treasure Vault - now <em>that</em> was a place worth visiting! And fortunately, the treasure Vault was accessible via a blue-orbed <em>teleportation node</em>, of which there was one right there in the Abjuration Library. (Why the marauder hadn't used the node instead of going through the cloud wall was beyond the paladin; perhaps they were dealing with particularly stupid foes?)</p><p></p><p>There was only one way to find out. Galen stepped onto the <em>teleportation node</em> and immediately stood in the Treasure Vault. As far as treasure vaults went, this one was somewhat underwhelming, given there was but a single chest up against one wall; the most prominent features of the room were the six statues of demonic figures in the middle of the chamber, in a pattern to suggest ceiling-support columns although they didn't reach to the ceiling, which like the rest of this cloud-library was 30 feet from the floor.</p><p></p><p>Orion followed Galen into the room. <Um, guys,> she said over the mental link. <That statue over there, the one closest to the chest, is radiating waves of positive life force energy. It's alive!> Galen focused his own enhanced sight in that direction and only then noticed that one particular statue was radiating more evil than the background level of the rest of the room.</p><p></p><p><Blabbermouth!> came an unknown voice over the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em>. <You've ruined the surprise! I'll have to bite your head off for that!></p><p></p><p>The others rushed into the room and Daleth, with his <em>true seeing</em>, called out, <The statues are all illusions - and there's another barbed devil inside that one!></p><p></p><p>"Crap!" muttered Syngaard. Barbed devils, with their lengthy spikes, were starting to become one of his least favorite combat foes. You couldn't even hit the damned things without tearing up your own hands and arms! He'd need something long, like a spear or a halberd, to take one down while still staying out of range of those damned spikes - and he couldn't see himself lugging around a weapon that long all the time.</p><p></p><p>While Syngaard was grousing to himself, Galen was springing forth into battle. Channeling another <em>smite evil</em> surge through his <em>sword of Zehkar</em>, he did an enormous amount of damage to the fiend, who immediately put biting Orion's head off further down the list of Things To Do in the Immediate Future - first he had to deal with this blasted paladin! He scratched at the Hieronean's face with a set of wicked claws; blood trickled into Galen's eyes but he didn't let that stop him. An <em>electrified dagger</em> struck the fiend mere moments before Syngaard prepared himself for the impending pain and let the barbed devil have it with the full force of his swing, the morningstar's weapon-head shearing off a few barbs on its way to smashing into the fiend's body. Beside him, Dick snapped at the fiend, ignoring the spikes stabbing at him as he did so. Kaspar followed Orion's approach and stuck to ranged weaponry, his <em>tenryutsume</em> charging up the shuriken he threw the fiend. (The monk was certain the flames would be ignored by the barbed devil, but Orion's daggers had already shown these hamatulas were not immune to electrical attacks.)</p><p></p><p>Daleth tried a two-pronged approach, casting a <em>quickened slow</em> spell upon the devil (which the fiend was able to resist) followed up immediately by a <em>magic missile</em> spell <em>empowered</em> through his <em>metamagic rod</em> (which struck with accuracy, breaking through the devil's inherent resistance to spells). But it was the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> which brought the barbed devil down - and like the other one, this one's corpse remained where it fell.</p><p></p><p>The battle over, those wounded by the fiend drank up healing potions of various strengths to restore themselves, while Orion headed over to the treasure chest. After assuring herself it wasn't trapped, she put her lockpicks to good use and soon had the chest opened, revealing coins of varying denominations, mostly gold. "Odd," remarked Kaspar, watching the halfling dump the contents of the chest into her <em>bag of holding</em> (they'd divide it up equally once they got back to Durnhill). "Those coins are all of elven mint."</p><p></p><p>The next room in line was the Evocation Library. There the conscripts found a similar trail of destruction leading to one of the cloud walls - these barbed devils apparently did not like books! (Which begged the question: then what were they doing here in the first place? They hadn't been summoned, that was apparent.)</p><p></p><p><Let's move on,> suggested Galen. He stepped onto the <em>teleportation node</em> - this one yellow - and transported over to the Lesser Magic Library. This one was also in a shambles, but the destruction of the room was still undergoing, as a bone devil had lifted a bookcase over his head and hurled it at one of the outer cloud walls, where it stuck about 12 feet above the floor. With the fiend's back turned to his direction, Galen charged the bone devil but it heard him coming and swung about, striking out at him with a clawed hand that the paladin was able to duck beneath before bringing his longsword in for a lateral blow, a <em>smite evil</em> surge powering the strike. The skeletal fiend shrieked in agony.</p><p></p><p>Orion entered the room behind Galen and sent an <em>electrified dagger</em> flying at the bone devil as she raced around to get into a flanking position - it was times like these that she particularly missed having Carl with her! Then Syngaard appeared on the <em>teleportation node</em>, racing forth immediately with a big grin plastered on his scarred face at finding himself an enemy that <em>didn't</em> poke you in the hands when you attacked it - although the big, scorpionlike tail sticking out from the bone devil's butt showed it was also capable of a particular type of poking of its own. Dick appeared on the platform next and likewise raced forward, flapping his wings to race over Galen's head and snap at the looming bone devil's face with his beak.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar put his incredible speed to good use, running around and striking the bone devil from behind, flanking him with Galen (and, arguably, Dick) but failing to hit the creature in such a way as to stun it, even for a moment. Daleth materialized on the platform and tried taking the bone devil out with a <em>disintegrate</em> spell, but the beam from his fingers missed the creature by no more than an inch.</p><p></p><p>Surrounded by enemies on all sides, the bone devil regarded group for a moment before focusing his attention on Syngaard. "My master will allow my freedom if I bring him your head," he grinned, striking at the scarred fighter with both sets of claws while his tail stinger came flying over his crouched back to stab Syngaard in the chest. But even though the strikes all hit, Syngaard managed to scoot back enough that the attacks each just barely hit him, and the stinger didn't even puncture deep enough for its venom to enter the fighter's system. "That all you got?" he taunted. "Your master's gotta be really disappointed in you!"</p><p></p><p>"I will prove my worth to the Hope Ender!" roared the bone devil - and then roared even louder as Orion's <em>nightflame short sword</em>, coated in the <em>holy silversheen</em>, pierced his lower spine. Dick hovered in place and snapped at the bone devil's face, his attacks ineffective other than keeping the fiend distracted enough for Syngaard to put his full strength into a bevy of blows with his morningstar, bashing away at the fiend's left knee, hoping to hobble it. Kaspar struck out with a flurry of blows, each lightning-quick, but the bone devil had seen one hope of redemption in slaying Syngaard, so that's where he kept his focus. The bald fighter was kept on the defensive, giving ground slowly to the ongoing attacks.</p><p></p><p>But this allowed Galen to position himself to best effect and let loose with the full power of the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>. The holy blade crashed down upon the fiend's spine in a blow fueled with the holy energy of Hieroneous, then brought immediately to bear again and again, each blow carving a deep groove in the bone devil's tough carapace. So powerful was the string of attacks that the fiend staggered in place, almost dropping to its knees. Daleth cast a <em>chain lightning</em> spell centered solely on the bone devil, and this visibly weakened it even further.</p><p></p><p>But still it continued its focus on Syngaard, which made it all the more satisfying to the scarred fighter when his final morningstar bash was the strike that finally took the fiend out. It crashed lifelessly to the ground, bleeding profusely from several places.</p><p></p><p>"Tell the Hope Ender that Syngaard says 'hi,'" the scarred fighter said, shaking devil ichor from the head of his morningstar.</p><p></p><p>"He won't be able to do anything of the sort," Daleth pointed out. "He's dead. It's not like he's going to form a new body back in Hell or anything."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, well it still sounded cool," Syngaard argued.</p><p></p><p>Moving on, Galen checked out the Spell Experimentation Area, finding it to be empty. That left only the innermost chamber in the entire library left, and one by one - Galen first, at his insistence - the conscripts teleported into the Inner Sanctum. There, they discovered a naked female figure sitting upon a stone platform, rocking inconsolably back and forth, cradling a pair of severed, feathery wings to her chest. A pair of bloody stumps jutting from her back showed that these wings were her own.</p><p></p><p>Galen immediately stepped forward to help, assuming this to be an angel, but then he noticed the unmistakable scourge of evil polluting her aura - this was no celestial being, but an erinyes: in fact, one the conscripts had met up with before.</p><p></p><p>"I was wrong," she muttered to herself. "Oblivion would have been better...."</p><p></p><p>"Hey!" remarked Syngaard, finally recognizing where he'd seen this woman before. "It's what's-her-face, the pretend vampire chick! The one with the two barbed devils we fought in those ruins!" Sudden realization hit the fighter. "Hey, I'll bet those were the same two barbed devils we fought before!"</p><p></p><p>"We killed one of them the last time we fought," Kaspar pointed out.</p><p></p><p>Orion, in the meantime, was examining a statue in the back corner of the room - it looked like the guys had the situation well in hand, and the wingless erinyes didn't look to be in the mood for putting up much of a fight. The statue, carved of a dark marble, bore more than a passing resemblance to Daleth and wore a robe seemingly made of the same cloud-stuff as the walls and ceiling of this library. A book sat on the pedestal holding the statue.</p><p></p><p>"So, what's your story?" demanded Galen of the erinyes. "How did you come to be here, and who did this to you?" He was using his gruff, no-nonsense voice but fighting the chivalrous urge to come to the aid of what looked to be - if you ignored the bloody wing stumps - a young woman in trouble.</p><p></p><p>"I failed the Hope Ender," she replied. "I was to have tricked you into signing a new blood pact - but I failed. For that, I was thrown in here, where he throws all who fail him. If we figure out what it is this place is protecting, we will be allowed to rejoin his armies. If not, we end up staying here until we build up the courage to try to break through the electric-storm walls. So far, none have made it through."</p><p></p><p>"So you don't know what this place is protecting?" Daleth asked.</p><p></p><p>"I do not."</p><p></p><p>"And you will stay here until you try making a break through the cloud-walls, which will electrocute you to death?" Galen repeated.</p><p></p><p>"I will," the erinyes answered. "Unless...." She looked up hopefully at the paladin standing above her. Galen waited for the inevitable attempt at seduction or promise of untold power if they'd only help her to escape and was surprised when it didn't come. "Unless," she continued, "you agree to kill me right now and get it over with. I would welcome a quick death."</p><p></p><p>"And I would be only too happy to provide it," the paladin answered, raising the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> high. As decapitations went, it was a smooth operation.</p><p></p><p>Daleth picked up the book at the base of the statue of the eerily-similar elf. It was a journal of one <strong>Lethad Stormsea</strong>, likely an ancestor of Daleth, given that their first names were anagrams of each other. The journal told of Lethad's discovery of the dungeon complex guarding a gate to the Nine Hells.</p><p></p><p>"Wait, what?" demanded Syngaard. "We're in the Nine Hells? Like, right now?"</p><p></p><p>"It would seem so," replied Daleth. "That door in the dungeon underneath the castle is likely a permanent <em>gate</em> directly here to the Nine Hells."</p><p></p><p>"That would explain the presence of the devils. And the fact that I'm detecting evil from everywhere around us," remarked Galen.</p><p></p><p>"I fought and killed devils in Hell," mused Syngaard in an awed voice. "THIS IS SO COOL!"</p><p></p><p>The journal further explained that Lethad decided to reinforce the <em>gate</em> by building his home on the Hell side, creating the 40-foot-thick <em>permanent maximized electric fog</em> spell effect all around it that would kill most devils attempting to breach his home and deterring most of the others from continuing. And any that succeeded would then be weakened to the point of being easy pickings.</p><p></p><p>Flipping through the journal's pages and skimming along, Daleth noted a particular note of disdain for the "lesser races," particularly humans, in the writings of the author. Looking over at the bumbling Syngaard, Daleth immediately appreciated how this likely ancestor felt - and then he looked at Galen and realized the entire human race could not be judged on the antics of one particular member. He decided further study would need to be made to determine just who exactly this Lethad Stormsea had been. But as the conscripts made their way back through Lethad's former home, Daleth noted the <em>teleportation nodes</em> had been affixed with repulsion wards preventing evil outsiders from coming into contact with them, which meant wherever a devil happened to land when the Hope Ender tossed them through the roof into the cloud-obscured library, that's where they were stuck unless they could survive a trip through the interior cloud-walls.</p><p></p><p>"It would seem the kingdom is safe from a fiendish invasion," Daleth observed. He was wearing the cloud-robe from his ancestor's statue; as might have been expected, it didn't even need to be resized as it fit the elven wizard perfectly.</p><p></p><p>"I imagine Skevros will wish to beef up the protections around the <em>gate</em> in any case, just to be sure," Kaspar opined.</p><p></p><p>"That would be wise," Galen agreed.</p><p></p><p>"I'm just glad to be going back home," Orion remarked. "I hope Carl won't be mad at me when he remanifests. Next time I'll have to remember to activate his collar before battle."</p><p></p><p>"I - killed - devils," Syngaard enthused, "<em>in Hell!</em>"</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was a fun adventure to go through. Once Logan started describing the "cloud walls" of the library I knew exactly which Paizo Flip-Mat he was using for the battle-mat: the flip side of the <em>Arcane Library</em> he'd already used for the Diviners Library where Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard once tried unsuccessfully to steal a book on the Mithral Mage and eventually had to bribe some students to steal it for them. I remember looking at the weird cloud-walls when Logan first purchased the Flip-Map and thinking it was a pretty silly layout; I doubted then it could be used in a serious adventure. But Logan proved me wrong: this was a cool set-up. And the fact that it was in Hell never even occurred to us, although I'm surprised none of us thought to try "flying" in the rooms since we had all assumed we were on the Elemental Plane of Air.</p><p></p><p>Sadly, Joey did not attend this gaming session - now that school's out for the summer, he got his days mixed up and had scheduled something else for a Wednesday night, forgetting that that was the night we played through the Durnhill Conscripts campaign. So, despite the stated goal up-front, at the start of this campaign, that whoever didn't show up would have their PC off doing other things that session, we had Dan run Daleth as well as Galen. This worked out for the best, as once again Joey hadn't shown up for a session in which Logan had designed some Daleth-specific treasure. (That robe of his ancestor's has several pretty cool magical properties, all of which tie into the "Stormsea" name.)</p><p></p><p>Finally, Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard all made it to 16th level at the end of this adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7629138, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 50: BEHIND THE PLANE DOOR[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 14 Galen Thorne, human paladin 15 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 15 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 15 Syngaard, human fighter 15[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 26 June 2019 - - - "Now [i]that's[/i] more like it!" exclaimed Syngaard upon answering the summons from his ring and seeing two emeralds at each of the conscripts' place settings around their main table in the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i]. He took his seat - he was the last to arrive as usual, he noted - scooped up his gemstones, and dropped them into the coin purse at his belt in a single, practiced motion, then indicated to Karen that he wanted a mug of ale. "So, what's up?" he asked as the illusory waitress brought him his not-at-all-illusory beverage. Skevros explained, "Two nights ago, a prisoner attempted to break out of the palace dungeons. He had apparently been digging a tunnel with a spoon when he hit upon an underground dungeon complex hitherto unknown to those residing in the castle." "I was unaware we have dungeon cells under the castle," observed Daleth. "I would anticipate nearly every castle has dungeon cells below them," replied Skevros, somewhat surprised that the knowledgeable elf was this naive about the need for a place to house prisoners to the kingdom. "In any case, the hole he had dug was not yet large enough to permit him passage into the dungeon complex, but it was large enough for a black pudding to enter his cell and, we presume, devour him." "So instead of eating dessert, this time the dessert ate him," commented Syngaard wryly. Skevros only frowned and began explaining the details of the ooze creature known colloquially as a "black pudding," causing the bald fighter to wave him off and return his attention to his ale. "Yeah, yeah, got it - eaten by a blob monster. Go on." "I spent yesterday expanding the escape tunnel and cleaning out the lower dungeon level the prisoner had inadvertently breached. However, there is a door down there beyond which I could not go, for the doorway is a permanent [i]gate[/i] leading to another plane of existence. Were I to pass through it I would no longer be within the confines of the kingdom of Durnhill and the [i]mark of justice[/i] would slay me outright." "Couldn't you at least have stuck your head through the doorway?" complained Syngaard. He could already tell this mission was going to be exploring the other side of the doorway, leading to who-knew-which plane - some intel on what to expect would certainly be helpful! "There was no need: I could see through the doorway perfectly fine. It leads to a library." Syngaard just snorted - that sounded incredibly boring! Still, for two emeralds, just to go check out some room full of books? A sudden thought hit the scarred fighter. "This ain't the kind of library where the books fly off the shelves and attack you, is it?" he groused. That very thing had happened to Galen, Kaspar, and him in the last library Syngaard had gone to; it was the sort of thing guaranteed to get you to swear off reading books entirely! "I am uncertain; that is where you will come in," replied Skevros. "Another thing: except for the planar doorway and the tunnel dug by our would-be escape artist, I found no other legitimate entry to the dungeon level beneath the castle." "That don't make no sense," argued Syngaard. "How'd it get built in the first place if there's no way into the place?" "Easy," replied Orion. "You dig down, build your dungeon, then seal up your original entrance when you're done." Turning to Skevros, she asked, "So we're assuming the plane on the other side of the door was the only way into the dungeon?" "Until the recent tunnel was dug, that is correct. And one final thing: the walls of the library were composed of what looked to be clouds." "Clouds?" repeated Kaspar. "Then...presumably it's on the Elemental Plane of Air?" "That is definitely one possibility," agreed the king's adviser. "Certainly not the only one, though. Come: I will walk with you to the castle." The group headed over to the castle, where Skevros led them to the lower levels beneath the centuries-old structure. "So, did you find anything in the dungeon worth fighting?" Syngaard asked. "A variety of oozes and constructs," Skevros replied. "Things that could easily have been there for hundreds of years." "No undead?" asked Galen. Skevros shook his head in the negative. "Well, that's good," muttered the paladin. At the planar doorway, the group's spellcasters began their preparations for imminent battle: [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spells on Daleth, Todd, and Galen; [i]stoneskin[/i] spells upon Daleth, Todd, and Orion; and a [i]death ward[/i] on the paladin. Carl, summoned from the Ethereal Plane by Orion, lapped up the [i]mage armor[/i] potion she offered him once she was sitting in the [i]ghost touch saddle[/i] and could physically interact with the spirit of her trusty riding dog, loyal even after death. Daleth cast the final spell, a [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i] linking the conscripts mentally together, and indicated their readiness to Skevros. "In you go, then," said the king's adviser, extending his hand to the planar door. "Good luck, everyone!" Syngaard took point, stepping through the [i]gate[/i] spell and entering the library. Sure enough, there were books on the shelves with some weird writing on them, but the scarred fighter hardly gave them a glance; he was more interested in the room's walls. They were indeed seemingly composed of cloud-stuff, kind of like a [i]solid fog[/i] or [i]acid fog[/i] spell shaped into a vertical plane. He allowed his gaze to follow the wall up to the ceiling, some 30 feet high - it was made of the same cloud-stuff. Hesitantly - and ready to pull his hand back if he felt any acid secretions - Syngaard pushed his hand into the wall, which gave somewhat; he was certain he could probably push his way through the entire wall and into whatever room lay just beyond, but it would be slow going, just like it would be traveling through a [i]solid fog[/i] spell. Also, his hand felt tingly inside the cloud-wall, as if the cloud structure was building up a static charge. Daleth had followed the fighter into the room and cast a [i]true seeing[/i] spell upon himself from his [i]staff of divination[/i]. "I believe this an electrical version of an [i]acid fog[/i] spell effect," he announced - causing Syngaard to pull his hand out of the wall as if he'd touched a hot griddle. Daleth just smirked and cast a [i]protection from energy[/i] spell upon himself and Todd, guarding them against the worst of any potential electrical attacks they might encounter in the near future. Kaspar entered the room and examined the names of the books printed on their spines. "These are all in Elven," he announced. "Indeed," replied Daleth, looking at random titles on the shelves. "They seem to be books on magical theory." "Spellbooks?" asked Syngaard. "Not as in books of spells; rather, books about spells, and spell theory," Daleth explained. Syngaard shrugged; it all sounded the same to him. "I don't see no way out of here," he said, "unless you elves can winkle out some secret doors or something." Daleth and Kaspar circled the oddly-shaped room, finding nothing along those lines. But Orion had approached a floating, red orb hovering motionlessly above a raised platform. It reminded her of the red orbs that had provided additional healing magic to a group of wizards they'd fought early in their adventuring careers. "Guys, check this out," she suggested. "It's evil," Galen announced. "This whole place is evil!" He was getting evil auras from the entire area, but nothing indicating the red orb was any worse than the rest of the library. With a look of determination, he bravely put his hand upon the floating orb - and then through it, for the orb proved to be completely insubstantial. As soon as his hand entered the orb, a flood of information filled the paladin's mind: the layout of the entire library, complete with a working knowledge of how these color-coded [i]teleport nodes[/i] worked and which ones were linked to which. The library in whole was rectangular in build, but the individual eleven rooms were oddly-shaped (as might be expected when the walls were made of compressed clouds) with no doors at all in the entire library save the one the conscripts had entered from the dungeon level below their castle. Galen passed on this information to the others over the telepathic link. <This room is called the Entry Library,> he explained. <Stepping onto this platform allows us to go to one of two other rooms which contain red [i]teleportation nodes[/i].> One of those rooms was a dead end, while another led to a room with a [i]teleportation node[/i] of a different color, allowing access to other rooms beyond it. "So we can only go to the rooms with the right colored floaty-ball-thing?" asked Syngaard. "That's going to take longer." The group quickly decided they'd hit the "dead end" rooms first when possible, to preclude the need to double back to a room they'd already explored. Galen volunteered to be the first to check out each room. "The fact that I'm picking up evil emanations from all directions makes me the most likely candidate to deal with whatever evil might be present," he reasoned - and Syngaard saw no reason to argue against that. Since Daleth had the other [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell active, they put him at the end of the line so they'd have that particular brand of protection at either end of their formation. Orion and Carl would follow directly behind Galen, with Syngaard behind them and Kaspar right before Daleth - it was assumed his greater speed would best allow him to catch up to the others, rather than tempt him to get too far ahead of the group if he were earlier in the line-up. That all decided, Galen stepped onto the platform and disappeared from view. <I'm in the Summoning Chamber--> Galen began before breaking off that thought entirely. Standing before him was a barbed devil, tearing apart wooden bookcases and shredding the books and scrolls stored within. Inscribed on the floor beside the spine-covered devil was a summoning circle. <Barbed devil!> Galen called over the telepathic link as he charged behind the fiend, bringing his [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] down in a [i]smite evil[/i] attack. Unfortunately, the devil spun at the paladin's approach and managed to dodge out of the way at the last possible second. He roared in anger, but then grinned evilly as he realized he now had a much better target for his rage than wooden bookcases.... A pair of sharp claws ripped across the breastplate of Galen's plate armor, digging deep grooves in the metal. But then Orion was in the Summoning Chamber behind the paladin, tossing an [i]electrified dagger[/i] from her [i]bag of blades[/i] at the hulking fiend. It didn't look like the dagger itself did much damage - in fact, it bounced off a protruding spine from the fiend's chest and clattered to the floor - but it discharged its electricity as it did so, and that at least caused the fiend to roar in pain. Syngaard entered the room next and charged at the barbed devil, bringing his morningstar down on the creature. His attack broke off several of the find's numerous spines, but there were plenty of others to poke at the bald fighter as his weapon struck the barbed devil's body and as he snarled in pain from the stabbing pain in his hands, Syngaard suddenly recalled why he hated fighting these hamatulas. Still, his morningstar attack seemed to have done more damage to the fiend than his sharp spines did to the fighter, so all in all Syngaard considered it a win. Kaspar suddenly materialized in the room and attacked the barbed devil with a stunning fist attack. His strike hit true (damaging the monk's hand in the process), but the hamatula managed to shrug off the stunning attempt. Then Daleth arrived on the platform behind Kaspar and, taking a glance at the situation, decided his best way to contribute was by casting a [i]greater invisibility[/i] spell upon Galen, the one wielding the weapon best suited to slay a fiend from the lower planes. Galen shifted position slightly and channeled another [i]smite evil[/i] attack through his sword, stabbing from a different direction and getting through the fiend's defenses - again, at a cost, for there was no way to hit the fiend with a hand-held melee weapon without exposing your own hands and forearm to the bristling spikes emanating from the barbed devil in all directions. But then the fiend retaliated in an unexpected fashion: rather than lashing out at any of its enemies, seen or unseen, it stepped away and blanketed the area in an [i]unholy blight[/i] spell effect. The conscripts all felt the effects but Orion got the worst of it in two different ways: while the others were drained of some of their vitality, she was physically sickened by the cloying miasma of the spell and mentally anguished that she had failed to activate the [i]collar of false life[/i] she had had crafted for her ghost-dog before riding him into battle. Carl was slain outright by the [i]unholy blight[/i], leaving the halfling to fall slowly to the room's floor, mentally kicking herself for her forgetfulness. But despite her sickness, Orion channeled her anger into her next throw and the [i]electrified dagger[/i] she snatched from her [i]bag of blades[/i] struck true. It only transferred its electrical charge before falling to the floor without having pierced the beast's flesh, but that was sufficient for the halfling's purposes - and she didn't stab herself on the barbed devils spines in doing so. That whole "don't stab yourself" concept seemed like a pretty good one to Syngaard, so instead of charging the fiend and slamming it with his morningstar, he opted to whip out his Dick instead. Activating the [i]bronze griffon[/i] and tossing it in the barbed devil's direction, Dick took full griffon form right in the fiend's face and snapped his beak at him but the devil managed to dodge out of the way at the last moment. Kaspar followed suit by summoning John directly behind the fiend, who was now flanked on either side by a griffon and a giant stag beetle. Daleth cast a [i]magic missile[/i] spell through his [i]metamagic rod[/i] and the missiles each struck true, eliciting a roar of pain from the devil. Then Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard sprang forward to finish off the fiend. Oddly enough, despite having been found in a room with a permanent summoning circle inscribed on the floor, the barbed devil's body did not disappear upon its death. "It must have been [i]gated[/i] here," suggested Daleth, knowing that had it merely been summoned it would have disappeared back to its home plane upon its death. Galen took his [i]illumium scabbard[/i] in hand and applied healing energy to those of the group who needed it. He then stepped back to the [i]teleportation node[/i] with the red sphere hovering over it and used it to teleport over to the one other room in the library that had a red globe [i]teleportation node[/i]. This was the Alchemical Lab, featuring large vats of a silvery-white liquid being slowly added to, drip by drip, from overhanging spouts whose containers were being heated - rather like a tea kettle. Galen noted the liquid in the vats wasn't radiating evil like the rest of the room - odd. <It's safe!> he called over the link, and the others soon joined him. "Interesting," observed Daleth, examining the substance. "It looks to be a good-aligned variant of the [i]silversheen[/i] mixture. Apply this to a metal weapon and it should be extra efficacious against any other fiends we might encounter in the next hour or so." "Effy-cayshus? What the hell's that supposed to mean, Wizard-Pants?" "It means," replied the elf, grabbing the morningstar from Syngaard's grasp and dipping its weapon head into the substance, "that you will now be able to inflict even more damage upon the next barbed devil you see." "Well, okay then," said Syngaard, taking back his morningstar. Orion dipped her [i]nightflame short sword[/i]'s blade into the silvery-white substance while Daleth scrounged around some vials from the lab and filled them with the substance for future use. "[i]Bless weapon[/i] will do the same thing for me," Galen said, applying the spell to the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]. Then he crossed the room to the next [i]teleportation node[/i], this one with a yellow orb floating above it. There were two other rooms with yellow orbs, one of them a dead end, so that's where Galen headed first. This was the Rest Chamber and its table and two chairs were empty of visitors. Galen noted that sound was oddly subdued in the area - a quite practical effect for a library, he noted. But, seeing nothing of import in the room, he teleported over to the other room with a yellow orb, the Abjuration Library, the others following behind him. The most notable thing about the Abjuration Library was the complete shambles it was in: the place was torn apart, with smashed bookcases and shredded pages strewn all about. The trail of destruction led to one of the cloud walls; apparently whoever had torn this place apart had gone straight through the walls, as slow and painful a process as that might have been. According to the mental map of the library Galen had stored in his mind, the other side of that wall housed the Treasure Vault - now [i]that[/i] was a place worth visiting! And fortunately, the treasure Vault was accessible via a blue-orbed [i]teleportation node[/i], of which there was one right there in the Abjuration Library. (Why the marauder hadn't used the node instead of going through the cloud wall was beyond the paladin; perhaps they were dealing with particularly stupid foes?) There was only one way to find out. Galen stepped onto the [i]teleportation node[/i] and immediately stood in the Treasure Vault. As far as treasure vaults went, this one was somewhat underwhelming, given there was but a single chest up against one wall; the most prominent features of the room were the six statues of demonic figures in the middle of the chamber, in a pattern to suggest ceiling-support columns although they didn't reach to the ceiling, which like the rest of this cloud-library was 30 feet from the floor. Orion followed Galen into the room. <Um, guys,> she said over the mental link. <That statue over there, the one closest to the chest, is radiating waves of positive life force energy. It's alive!> Galen focused his own enhanced sight in that direction and only then noticed that one particular statue was radiating more evil than the background level of the rest of the room. <Blabbermouth!> came an unknown voice over the [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i]. <You've ruined the surprise! I'll have to bite your head off for that!> The others rushed into the room and Daleth, with his [i]true seeing[/i], called out, <The statues are all illusions - and there's another barbed devil inside that one!> "Crap!" muttered Syngaard. Barbed devils, with their lengthy spikes, were starting to become one of his least favorite combat foes. You couldn't even hit the damned things without tearing up your own hands and arms! He'd need something long, like a spear or a halberd, to take one down while still staying out of range of those damned spikes - and he couldn't see himself lugging around a weapon that long all the time. While Syngaard was grousing to himself, Galen was springing forth into battle. Channeling another [i]smite evil[/i] surge through his [i]sword of Zehkar[/i], he did an enormous amount of damage to the fiend, who immediately put biting Orion's head off further down the list of Things To Do in the Immediate Future - first he had to deal with this blasted paladin! He scratched at the Hieronean's face with a set of wicked claws; blood trickled into Galen's eyes but he didn't let that stop him. An [i]electrified dagger[/i] struck the fiend mere moments before Syngaard prepared himself for the impending pain and let the barbed devil have it with the full force of his swing, the morningstar's weapon-head shearing off a few barbs on its way to smashing into the fiend's body. Beside him, Dick snapped at the fiend, ignoring the spikes stabbing at him as he did so. Kaspar followed Orion's approach and stuck to ranged weaponry, his [i]tenryutsume[/i] charging up the shuriken he threw the fiend. (The monk was certain the flames would be ignored by the barbed devil, but Orion's daggers had already shown these hamatulas were not immune to electrical attacks.) Daleth tried a two-pronged approach, casting a [i]quickened slow[/i] spell upon the devil (which the fiend was able to resist) followed up immediately by a [i]magic missile[/i] spell [i]empowered[/i] through his [i]metamagic rod[/i] (which struck with accuracy, breaking through the devil's inherent resistance to spells). But it was the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] which brought the barbed devil down - and like the other one, this one's corpse remained where it fell. The battle over, those wounded by the fiend drank up healing potions of various strengths to restore themselves, while Orion headed over to the treasure chest. After assuring herself it wasn't trapped, she put her lockpicks to good use and soon had the chest opened, revealing coins of varying denominations, mostly gold. "Odd," remarked Kaspar, watching the halfling dump the contents of the chest into her [i]bag of holding[/i] (they'd divide it up equally once they got back to Durnhill). "Those coins are all of elven mint." The next room in line was the Evocation Library. There the conscripts found a similar trail of destruction leading to one of the cloud walls - these barbed devils apparently did not like books! (Which begged the question: then what were they doing here in the first place? They hadn't been summoned, that was apparent.) <Let's move on,> suggested Galen. He stepped onto the [i]teleportation node[/i] - this one yellow - and transported over to the Lesser Magic Library. This one was also in a shambles, but the destruction of the room was still undergoing, as a bone devil had lifted a bookcase over his head and hurled it at one of the outer cloud walls, where it stuck about 12 feet above the floor. With the fiend's back turned to his direction, Galen charged the bone devil but it heard him coming and swung about, striking out at him with a clawed hand that the paladin was able to duck beneath before bringing his longsword in for a lateral blow, a [i]smite evil[/i] surge powering the strike. The skeletal fiend shrieked in agony. Orion entered the room behind Galen and sent an [i]electrified dagger[/i] flying at the bone devil as she raced around to get into a flanking position - it was times like these that she particularly missed having Carl with her! Then Syngaard appeared on the [i]teleportation node[/i], racing forth immediately with a big grin plastered on his scarred face at finding himself an enemy that [i]didn't[/i] poke you in the hands when you attacked it - although the big, scorpionlike tail sticking out from the bone devil's butt showed it was also capable of a particular type of poking of its own. Dick appeared on the platform next and likewise raced forward, flapping his wings to race over Galen's head and snap at the looming bone devil's face with his beak. Kaspar put his incredible speed to good use, running around and striking the bone devil from behind, flanking him with Galen (and, arguably, Dick) but failing to hit the creature in such a way as to stun it, even for a moment. Daleth materialized on the platform and tried taking the bone devil out with a [i]disintegrate[/i] spell, but the beam from his fingers missed the creature by no more than an inch. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, the bone devil regarded group for a moment before focusing his attention on Syngaard. "My master will allow my freedom if I bring him your head," he grinned, striking at the scarred fighter with both sets of claws while his tail stinger came flying over his crouched back to stab Syngaard in the chest. But even though the strikes all hit, Syngaard managed to scoot back enough that the attacks each just barely hit him, and the stinger didn't even puncture deep enough for its venom to enter the fighter's system. "That all you got?" he taunted. "Your master's gotta be really disappointed in you!" "I will prove my worth to the Hope Ender!" roared the bone devil - and then roared even louder as Orion's [i]nightflame short sword[/i], coated in the [i]holy silversheen[/i], pierced his lower spine. Dick hovered in place and snapped at the bone devil's face, his attacks ineffective other than keeping the fiend distracted enough for Syngaard to put his full strength into a bevy of blows with his morningstar, bashing away at the fiend's left knee, hoping to hobble it. Kaspar struck out with a flurry of blows, each lightning-quick, but the bone devil had seen one hope of redemption in slaying Syngaard, so that's where he kept his focus. The bald fighter was kept on the defensive, giving ground slowly to the ongoing attacks. But this allowed Galen to position himself to best effect and let loose with the full power of the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]. The holy blade crashed down upon the fiend's spine in a blow fueled with the holy energy of Hieroneous, then brought immediately to bear again and again, each blow carving a deep groove in the bone devil's tough carapace. So powerful was the string of attacks that the fiend staggered in place, almost dropping to its knees. Daleth cast a [i]chain lightning[/i] spell centered solely on the bone devil, and this visibly weakened it even further. But still it continued its focus on Syngaard, which made it all the more satisfying to the scarred fighter when his final morningstar bash was the strike that finally took the fiend out. It crashed lifelessly to the ground, bleeding profusely from several places. "Tell the Hope Ender that Syngaard says 'hi,'" the scarred fighter said, shaking devil ichor from the head of his morningstar. "He won't be able to do anything of the sort," Daleth pointed out. "He's dead. It's not like he's going to form a new body back in Hell or anything." "Yeah, well it still sounded cool," Syngaard argued. Moving on, Galen checked out the Spell Experimentation Area, finding it to be empty. That left only the innermost chamber in the entire library left, and one by one - Galen first, at his insistence - the conscripts teleported into the Inner Sanctum. There, they discovered a naked female figure sitting upon a stone platform, rocking inconsolably back and forth, cradling a pair of severed, feathery wings to her chest. A pair of bloody stumps jutting from her back showed that these wings were her own. Galen immediately stepped forward to help, assuming this to be an angel, but then he noticed the unmistakable scourge of evil polluting her aura - this was no celestial being, but an erinyes: in fact, one the conscripts had met up with before. "I was wrong," she muttered to herself. "Oblivion would have been better...." "Hey!" remarked Syngaard, finally recognizing where he'd seen this woman before. "It's what's-her-face, the pretend vampire chick! The one with the two barbed devils we fought in those ruins!" Sudden realization hit the fighter. "Hey, I'll bet those were the same two barbed devils we fought before!" "We killed one of them the last time we fought," Kaspar pointed out. Orion, in the meantime, was examining a statue in the back corner of the room - it looked like the guys had the situation well in hand, and the wingless erinyes didn't look to be in the mood for putting up much of a fight. The statue, carved of a dark marble, bore more than a passing resemblance to Daleth and wore a robe seemingly made of the same cloud-stuff as the walls and ceiling of this library. A book sat on the pedestal holding the statue. "So, what's your story?" demanded Galen of the erinyes. "How did you come to be here, and who did this to you?" He was using his gruff, no-nonsense voice but fighting the chivalrous urge to come to the aid of what looked to be - if you ignored the bloody wing stumps - a young woman in trouble. "I failed the Hope Ender," she replied. "I was to have tricked you into signing a new blood pact - but I failed. For that, I was thrown in here, where he throws all who fail him. If we figure out what it is this place is protecting, we will be allowed to rejoin his armies. If not, we end up staying here until we build up the courage to try to break through the electric-storm walls. So far, none have made it through." "So you don't know what this place is protecting?" Daleth asked. "I do not." "And you will stay here until you try making a break through the cloud-walls, which will electrocute you to death?" Galen repeated. "I will," the erinyes answered. "Unless...." She looked up hopefully at the paladin standing above her. Galen waited for the inevitable attempt at seduction or promise of untold power if they'd only help her to escape and was surprised when it didn't come. "Unless," she continued, "you agree to kill me right now and get it over with. I would welcome a quick death." "And I would be only too happy to provide it," the paladin answered, raising the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] high. As decapitations went, it was a smooth operation. Daleth picked up the book at the base of the statue of the eerily-similar elf. It was a journal of one [b]Lethad Stormsea[/b], likely an ancestor of Daleth, given that their first names were anagrams of each other. The journal told of Lethad's discovery of the dungeon complex guarding a gate to the Nine Hells. "Wait, what?" demanded Syngaard. "We're in the Nine Hells? Like, right now?" "It would seem so," replied Daleth. "That door in the dungeon underneath the castle is likely a permanent [i]gate[/i] directly here to the Nine Hells." "That would explain the presence of the devils. And the fact that I'm detecting evil from everywhere around us," remarked Galen. "I fought and killed devils in Hell," mused Syngaard in an awed voice. "THIS IS SO COOL!" The journal further explained that Lethad decided to reinforce the [i]gate[/i] by building his home on the Hell side, creating the 40-foot-thick [i]permanent maximized electric fog[/i] spell effect all around it that would kill most devils attempting to breach his home and deterring most of the others from continuing. And any that succeeded would then be weakened to the point of being easy pickings. Flipping through the journal's pages and skimming along, Daleth noted a particular note of disdain for the "lesser races," particularly humans, in the writings of the author. Looking over at the bumbling Syngaard, Daleth immediately appreciated how this likely ancestor felt - and then he looked at Galen and realized the entire human race could not be judged on the antics of one particular member. He decided further study would need to be made to determine just who exactly this Lethad Stormsea had been. But as the conscripts made their way back through Lethad's former home, Daleth noted the [i]teleportation nodes[/i] had been affixed with repulsion wards preventing evil outsiders from coming into contact with them, which meant wherever a devil happened to land when the Hope Ender tossed them through the roof into the cloud-obscured library, that's where they were stuck unless they could survive a trip through the interior cloud-walls. "It would seem the kingdom is safe from a fiendish invasion," Daleth observed. He was wearing the cloud-robe from his ancestor's statue; as might have been expected, it didn't even need to be resized as it fit the elven wizard perfectly. "I imagine Skevros will wish to beef up the protections around the [i]gate[/i] in any case, just to be sure," Kaspar opined. "That would be wise," Galen agreed. "I'm just glad to be going back home," Orion remarked. "I hope Carl won't be mad at me when he remanifests. Next time I'll have to remember to activate his collar before battle." "I - killed - devils," Syngaard enthused, "[i]in Hell![/i]" - - - This was a fun adventure to go through. Once Logan started describing the "cloud walls" of the library I knew exactly which Paizo Flip-Mat he was using for the battle-mat: the flip side of the [i]Arcane Library[/i] he'd already used for the Diviners Library where Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard once tried unsuccessfully to steal a book on the Mithral Mage and eventually had to bribe some students to steal it for them. I remember looking at the weird cloud-walls when Logan first purchased the Flip-Map and thinking it was a pretty silly layout; I doubted then it could be used in a serious adventure. But Logan proved me wrong: this was a cool set-up. And the fact that it was in Hell never even occurred to us, although I'm surprised none of us thought to try "flying" in the rooms since we had all assumed we were on the Elemental Plane of Air. Sadly, Joey did not attend this gaming session - now that school's out for the summer, he got his days mixed up and had scheduled something else for a Wednesday night, forgetting that that was the night we played through the Durnhill Conscripts campaign. So, despite the stated goal up-front, at the start of this campaign, that whoever didn't show up would have their PC off doing other things that session, we had Dan run Daleth as well as Galen. This worked out for the best, as once again Joey hadn't shown up for a session in which Logan had designed some Daleth-specific treasure. (That robe of his ancestor's has several pretty cool magical properties, all of which tie into the "Stormsea" name.) Finally, Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard all made it to 16th level at the end of this adventure. [/QUOTE]
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