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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9769846" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 7: THE SHRINE OF MALEVOLACPC Roster: Amris Goodwitch, celestial elf witch (wizard) 3                     Avoroth Bleakborn, fiendish human cleric 3                     Gonkle Bu'Onk, fiendish orc fighter 3                     Wilbur Von Schattenwalde, shadow human druid 3Game Session Date: 1 October 2025 - - -"Line up for inspection!" commanded Avoroth Bleakborn, and the tone of his voice and the look on his face - not to mention the black onyx token showing he worked directly for Bel, the Lord of the First - caused the surviving members of the outpost of Calvar to jump to it."Who leads this group?" demanded the cleric, enjoying dealing with a group for once that actually respected his true power, even if their belief in his working directly for Bel was misplaced.  But a fiendish human took a step forward and saluted smartly.  "I am the highest-ranking person still alive, sir!" he replied."Well, I have to say, your previous commander did a fairly piss-poor job of running things!" snarled Avoroth.  "We arrived at your gates to find them wide open and your outpost under attack by demonic orcs!  Led by a babau demon with only a single arm!  I hesitate to guess how you would have fared had we not arrived in such a timely manner!""We certainly appreciate your assistance--" began the new Calvar commander, before Avoroth glared him into silence.  He swallowed hard, understanding he was not to speak until asked to do so.  But then Avoroth did just that, having him explain what he knew about the protection against fireballs provided to this part of Avernus, asking in such a way as to lead the frightened human to believe Avoroth was already well aware of the answer and was merely testing his knowledge.  The poor soldier told him everything he knew: that it was likely due to the Shrine of Malevolac, an artifact believed to have been constructed untold centuries ago; that it was over 500 miles away to the north; and that it protected men like themselves who were living beings, the offspring of the family of the original Calvar who sold his soul - and those of his family - for fiendish power while he lived, unlike the souls of the dead who had earned a place in Hell due to their actions while living.  Furthermore, it was allegedly the "source of life" in the area, the barren plains apparently getting more fertile and lusher the closer one got to the shrine.  Without its protection, all the fiendish people in the area would have had to have been transformed into pitiful petitioners of the plane, unable to assist in the Blood War in any capacity.  And with all that in mind, it seemed the demons were intent on finding and destroying the shrine to "even the playing field" so to speak, even though they also enjoyed the protections the shrine provided, which explained their increased attacks upon the local villages and outposts as they sought out information on its exact location.  Finally, the soldier explained about the shrine's defenses: it had three concentric barriers keeping out full-blooded fiends, half-fiends, and then lastly those of any fiendish blood whatsoever.  "I imagine that's why Bel, in his infinite wisdom, sent two non-fiends" - here the Calvar leader indicated Amris and Wilbur - "along for this most important mission."Avoroth had him draw him out a map to the Shrine, and the nervous soldier did so with shaking hands.  To further show their gratitude for their unexpected rescue (and perhaps just to get them out of the outpost that much quicker), four of the surviving soldiers presented the group of "Bel's inspectors" a quartet of fiendish horses to speed their travel, as well as some food for the trip.  After all, they were ensuring the safety of the shrine on Bel's behalf.After saddling up, Avoroth snarled back at the soldiers, "I expect to find this outpost better defended and maintained when next we return."  The soldier in command swore it would be so and closed the gates behind the group as they departed.  As they rode away, they could hear him calling out to the remaining troops to start smoking the dead - for in Hell, no source of potential food went unused.  (The very thought made Amris shudder as she wondered just what food supplies they'd been given by the Calvar troops for their journey.)Wilbur waited until they were well out of earshot of the outpost before turning to Avoroth and saying, with a smirk, "I do believe you rather enjoyed that, didn't you?""It served a purpose, that's all," replied the Boccobian cleric sternly.  "By keeping them fearful of my wrath, I prevented them from asking some rather obvious questions: like why we're traveling in the company of a celestial elf, or why I - who supposedly works directly for an Archduke of Hell - am wearing the garb of a cleric of Boccob.  Not that I didn't have answers for those questions, should they have arisen--""Like that I'm your slave?" piped up Amris, from the back of her new riding mount, a reddish horse she'd decided to name Flick.  "You seem to get a lot of pleasure out of using that explanation.""A useful lie," replied Avoroth.  "One easily believed, as shown by the groups of both the fiendish goblins and hobgoblins.""Just so long as you remember it's only a lie," remarked Amris.  "And the next time we end up on a celestial plane, I'll be sure to point out both you and Gonkle are my slaves.""I wouldn't advise that," sneered Avoroth in disdain.  "I very highly doubt that celestial beings are in the habit of employing slaves."  Amris just hmmphed in response.It took a little over 12 days of travel by fiendish horseback - Avoroth had named his black steed Victor, while Wilbur named his Blackie (the cleric rolled his eyes at his fellow human's lack of imagination) and Gonkle went with Runtlemeat - before the party found the shrine just where the map indicated: on the shores of the Lake of Suffering.  As they approached the shrine and dismounted their hellish steeds, Amris cast a detect magic spell through her familiar doll and had Pivot fly reconnaissance over the area, with instructions to land upon anything he detected as having a magical aura.  The owl did just that, landing upon each of the waist-high plinths ringing the shrine, which was a monolith rising up from the center of a platform straddling the edge of the Lake of Suffering.  The celestial elf tied Flick's reins to one of the plinths-stones, while Wilbur and Gonkle did likewise.Avoroth was about to do the same when he noticed a puff of dirt being kicked up off to the right - and nobody visible there to have done so.  "We have an invisible intruder!" he hissed to the rest of the group, and leaped back up onto Victor's saddle, directing him back around the entrance to the shrine to approach the invisible foe from behind, casting a shield of faith upon himself as they approached.  Wilbur cast a magic fang spell upon Tamaskan and the two of them crept towards the likely location of the unseen intruder.  Gonkle followed suit, his keen falchion in hand, ready for action, but he was slowed by the weight of his heavy armor and couldn't keep up with the fleet-footed druid or his dire fell fox companion.As Amris cast a mage armor spell upon herself (and, through the familiar doll, upon Pivot as well), the sounds of other spellcasting could be head from the direction the kicked-up dust had been seen.  The voice was quiet, as if the speaker was trying not to be heard, but it was definitely a male voice and the intonations and cadence made it sound like some sort of spellcasting.  Then, in addition, a definitely feminine voice started singing a haunting melody - so there were at least two intruders!Wilbur headed straight for the sounds of singing and was suddenly attacked by a full plate armor-clad human wielding a longsword, popping back into visibility from the attack.  The blade struck true, cutting through the druid's armor and into the flesh and muscle beneath.  He retaliated with a swing of his scimitar, but missed, the blade striking the fighter's raised shield.  Tamaskan had better luck, charging at the now-visible foe and biting down upon his wrist.Gonkle raced up and attacked the armored foe as well, while Avoroth, still astride Victor, cast a bless spell upon the group to aid them in their attacks.  Amris cast a magic missile spell that unerringly struck the fighter in the chest.  But then, in the midst of grunting in pain from the force missile, he suddenly doubled in size, towering above the assembled planar scouts like a giant.  Somewhere behind them, the singing continued.Wilbur retreated, dodging a swing from a longsword now twice its normal size, and cast a shillelagh spell upon his quarterstaff.  Tamaskan bit at the fighter again and slapped him with her flaming tail, and the group was surprised to see the tabard covering his full plate catch fire and begin to burn.  Roaring in fury, the giant took his anger out on the dire fell fox, slicing down with his overly-large blade to catch the tip of the weapon along her side.  But Gonkle hadn't given up any ground, and he stabbed out with his keen falchion, catching its tip between two pieces of his full plate and driving it in as deeply as he could, just above the knee.Avoroth decided the giant was receiving enough attention and opted to do something about the invisible songstress.  He cast a summoning spell, calling out, "I summon thee, Hellsting - seek out the owner of the song and bring her down!"  A monstrous scorpion as large as a man suddenly materialized, and it could feel the unseen woman's presence through the tiny vibrations made by her mere contact with the ground directly before him.  He struck his tail stinger forward, but the point struck only empty air, for the woman dodged the strike at the last possible moment.Amris cast a scorching ray spell, sending a blast of fiery energy to impact upon the giant fighter's already-burning tabard, and he erupted in a column of flame before toppling over to the ground, quite obviously out of commission.  Pivot swooped down from above and struck the area before the scorpion with his talons, getting in a lucky smite evil hit that definitely struck flesh before taking to the skies again.Another scorching ray went blasting across the battlefield, but this one had been directed at the celestial witch, rather than being cast by her.  Fortunately, she was able to dodge in time as the caster, a hooded spellcaster wearing dark blue robes with gold trim, became visible as the result of the unsuccessful attack.  But it wasn't just his own form that suddenly popped into view; as the spell he'd cast had been an invisibility sphere cloaking all three members of his group, the female singer also became visible, revealing she sported a delicate pair of horns growing from her head, a pair of batlike wings from her shoulder blades, and an outfit whose cloth content could easily be measured in a very small number of square inches.  "Succubus!" Avoroth called to his group from the back of his fiendish steed.The winged demon reached forward and placed a hand upon the armored giant laying unmoving upon the ground, casting a cure light wounds upon him.  Then, with a flap of her leathery wings, she rose about 15 feet into the air, no doubt believing herself out of the reach of the group's melee weapons.Wilbur went after the robed spellcaster, hitting him with his shillelagh-enhanced quarterstaff.  Tamaskan braved the burning tabard - not much of a threat to a creature whose own tail blazed with flames at all times - and ripped out his throat, ensuring no amount of magical healing would bring this particular combatant back to the field of battle.  Gonkle, having been about to do something similar, instead switched targets and raced across the battlefield, taking out the blue-robed spellcaster with a single strike of his keen blade.That left only the succubus, and Avoroth was determined this winged foe wouldn't escape him as that quasit had done back outside the lich's lair they'd uncovered weeks ago.  Casting a spiritual weapon spell, a quarterstaff composed of solid force energy manifested in the air between them, before striking forward and slamming the succubus across the face.  She cried out in pain, looked about her and saw she was the last one alive from her trio, and further realized her group's plans - to destroy the Shrine of Malevolac - was no longer viable, for their human fighter was now dead, and of the three of them, he'd been the only one capable of approaching the monolith at the center of the shrine.  "I surrender," she called down to Avoroth, raising her hands and showing the cleric she didn't even carry any weapons.  "Don't kill me!""Then land here before me as a sign of good faith," commanded Avoroth, pointing to the ground before Victor.  "Do so, and I promise not to kill you."  The woman - a half-fiend human, daughter of a nalfeshnee demon, not a succubus at all but rather a bard - complied, making sure to arch her back to put her figure on full display.  "Tell me why you and your companions were here, sneaking around invisibly," the Boccobian cleric demanded, utterly ignoring her quite pathetic attempts to distract him with her appearance.  She admitted they'd been sent by her demonic father to destroy the shrine, putting a finger to her lips in a pouty, "I've been naughty" gesture, while thrusting out her hip to one side, the better to display her curves."Well, it looks like you won't get that chance after all," announced Avoroth.  "However, while I did promise not to kill you, I do not like the idea of a demon like you knowing the exact location of the shrine the forces of the Abyss would like to see destroyed.""But you did promise," the half-fiend wheedled, twisting her shoulders back and forth seductively.  "You gave me your word....""So I did," agreed Avoroth.  "So Gonkle, if you'd like to do the honors...?"  The woman spun around in a sudden panic, wings ready to fly her to safety, when the fiendish orc fighter brought his keen falchion swinging in a sideways thrust that nearly severed the head from her dainty shoulders.  She fell to the ground, hands clinging to her severed throat, when Avoroth said, "Ah, what the Hell," and sent his spiritual quarterstaff flying in to finish the job; its tip got her in the eye and only stopped when it hit the opposite side of her skull's interior.  She fell over, dead."Demons don't put a whole lot of weight into promises, in any case," the cleric scoffed, dismissing his spiritual weapon spell.Having attained their goal - finding the Shrine of Malevolac - Amris pulled out one of her two scrolls of sending and sent word back to her mentor Aurora that they'd discovered what they'd been sent to find, while also warning her of its multilayered protections against those of a fiendish nature.  Moments later, while the planar scouts were busying themselves looting the slain bodies of their enemies for anything of value (the armor-clad human fighter had been wearing boots of striding and springing to increase his speed in such heavy armor, which Gonkle took as his own, for the same reason), Aurora and a team from Elsewhere teleported in, having focused upon the phony "symbol of Bel" Avoroth carried with him."Excellent!  Fine work, team!" enthused Aurora, looking at the various arcane markings carved on every face of the central monolith of the shrine.  "Our team here's got some work to do in figuring out how this works - you can hang around and we'll make sure you all get teleported back to the outskirts of Elsewhere, or you can head back now on horseback, if you prefer.  Your call!""I'd rather we stayed here with you for now," offered up Amris.  Even with a much shorter trip due to their fiendish mounts, the witch did not look forward to many more weeks on the road, riding on a horse of a distinctly fiendish nature and surviving off of rations of questionable origin from the Calvar outpost."That works for me," agreed Avoroth.  Even if it took several days waiting here while the Elsewhere team of experts deciphered the monolith, teleporting back to Elsewhere got him back to trying to figure out the workings of the damaged Elsewhere compass much quicker than traveling back on their fiendish mounts could get them home. - - -This was a rather short adventure, consisting as it did of a single fight with a trio of foes.  Still, Logan managed to surprise us a few times, first with the "normal human" fighter in Hell and then with the succubus who wasn't really a succubus, but rather a half-fiend human bard.  But Vicki was happy, because the early end time got her in bed by 9:00 PM, something she prefers when possible.We're close enough now to 4th level that we'll definitely be leveling up at the end of our next game session, which should be our last one on Avernus - we'll be advancing the clock to the next Shift Day after that.</blockquote>

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