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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6596220" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 94: BETRAYALPC Roster:  Chalkan, half-elf ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer             Delphyne Babelberi, human witch (wizard)/arch-witch             Rale Bodkin, human rogue             Telgrane, half-fire elemental human conjurer/archmage             Thunderwolf, human fighterNPC Roster: Desdemona Honeytongue, human wizard"A visitor to see you," announced the Guild page as he escorted a scruffy-looking individual into the Wing Three common living area and then departed with a frown.  The visitor, a low-life thug named Byrek, wore a three-day growth of beard, a sleeveless jacket, and had the hilt of a dagger prominently jutting from his belt."Which one of you's Rale?" he asked, looking among the assembled adventurers.  "Ah, that must be you," he replied, answering his own question.  "I got a message for you."  Reaching into his grimy vest, he pulled out a folded piece of parchment, passing it over to Rale.  The rogue took it without breaking eye contact, his expression showing his feelings towards this swaggering intruder.  But, not willing to open the parchment in case it was trapped with a fire trap or some sort of magical glyph or symbol, he professed an inability to read, passing the folded sheet over to Telgrane.  The archmage, going along with Rale's ploy, opened the sheet and read it aloud to the others.Rale returned eye contact with Byrek, who smirked back at him in an insolent fashion.  Rale's clenched fists demonstrated his desire to cut this scruffy thug into ribbons.  Seeming to enjoy Rale's helplessness immensely, Byrek said, "The boss says all of you are to accompany Rale to pick up his little tramp.  I don’t think you want to go against his wishes.  And don't be thinking of trying anything stupid, because he's watching us even now."Delphyne and Telgrane immediately glanced at each other, their unspoken expressions declaring, "A scrying spell!"  The archmage looked around and spotted a magic sensor, invisible to all but his own enhanced eyes, floating above them in the middle of the living room."Let's go!" commanded Byrek, enjoying the feeling of power he held over these adventurers.  He led them out of the Headquarters building and down the street, having them walk ahead of him so he could keep an eye on them.  He called out directions, leading the group into the less savory section of the city.  "It figures," sneered Delphyne.  "I would expect someone like you to come from the Styes.""Keep walking, less talking," replied Byrek.The young thug led the group down twisting alleys and through filth-laden puddles in the muddy streets, eventually arriving at their apparent destination: a decrepit-looking warehouse guarded by a similarly scruffy-looking thug, Scroat.  Seeing their arrival, Scroat pulled a bar off the sole visible door into the building, ushering the group inside and then barring it shut again once they were through the doorway.  Then, their primary duty finished, Byrek and Scroat stood watch on either side of the warehouse door, making sure nobody else entered and, more importantly, that nobody inside left before their business had been completed."Any troubles?" asked Scroat, maneuvering to find a knothole in the side of the wooden wall through which he'd be able to see the excitement within."Nah, piece of cake," replied Byrek.  "Easiest 50 gold I ever earned."  He, too, scrambled to find a place in the weather-worn warehouse wall through which he could watch the upcoming festivities.Inside, the warehouse was all but empty, with only a few abandoned crates in the back of the room, stacked up against the far wall.  The only light came from the occasional hole in the roof, keeping the entire area cloaked in shadows.  A group of hooded figures stood in the shadows back by the crates.  The one on the far right of the line held a glowing dagger to the throat of a kneeling Desdemona Honeytongue, his other hand keeping a tight hold on her hair to prevent her from escaping.  She whimpered in fear.  The heroes recognized the type of dagger the hooded figure wielded: it was a soulslayer weapon - anyone slain by it would have her soul absorbed into the weapon, and from that point on it would be impossible to restore her to life without first gaining hold of the dagger and finding a way to release her from within its confines.The figure holding the dagger called out to the group from across the warehouse.  "Let's get the preliminaries over with first.  Don't worry; you'll get your fight to the death, and who knows?  Maybe you'll even come out victorious.  But first, I want to make the introductions, so you can see just who it is killing you, and why.  Any spellcasting, attacks, or interruptions of any kind and Rale's little tramp here gets it.  But before we begin, let's establish one thing: go ahead and try to activate your Guild rings.  Their power's negated here in this building.  Go ahead, try – I'll wait.""No need," replied Telgrane, whose enhanced vision had already noticed the fact that the warehouse interior was covered in a series of dimension lock spells.  Teleporting from inside the warehouse would be impossible while they were in place.  However, he also noted that the entire back wall and the crates just before it was broadcasting an aura of illusion magic.  He wondered the meaning behind that, but then the primary antagonist began speaking again."I guess I'll go first," the figure menacing Dez said.  "Telgrane: you don't know me, but you've done me a great harm, by stealing my property, and for that you're going to die."  Releasing Dez's hair for a moment but keeping the blade of the soulslayer dagger at her throat, he pulled back his hood.  "It's me, Infernia – Arcturian, your first human master."Standing at Telgrane's side, Infernia gave a gasp of surprise at this revelation.Addressing the fire elemental, Arcturian continued.  "I want you to know, Infernia, in the battle to come, if you turn on your new master and come begging to me when it's all over, I might – might – just let you live to serve me once again.""I would never betray you, Master!" insisted Infernia, looking down at Telgrane.  He just gave her a nod of understanding, realizing there was likely a lot to this story and there was no time to get into it just now.  But he trusted his familiar implicitly and stared at Arcturian, sizing him up.  It was obvious that he'd be focusing his attacks on this Arcturian when the battle started up.The next figure stepped forward and removed her hood.  It was an all-too-familiar face: Chalkan's half-sister, Caeline Laniela.  "Sorry, Chalkan," she said sheepishly, "but you well know that killing someone doesn't always mean they stay dead.  Elandimor's back alive, and he's willing to let me back into his good graces if I bring him the White-Wood Whisperbow – and your head.  Listen, I'm sure your companions can find a way to resurrect you later on, right?"  She looked embarrassed to be among the group of robed kidnappers, but she gripped her bow tightly and had an arrow notched and ready to pull back and let fly."Son of a bitch," snarled Chalkan.  "You may be my half-sister, but I am going to kill you for this," he promised Caeline.The next figure in line removed his hood, revealing a stout dwarven warrior wielding a greataxe.  He looked Thunderwolf straight in the eye and said, "I just want yer sword, Xanthros, boy.  No hard feelings, but it's cheaper to take it from yer corpse than try to buy it off ye."The next figure in line was no taller than the dwarf, but kept her hood on as she spoke to Delphyne.  "You stupid, insipid little child.  The stories are all true, you know: a witch gains her magical abilities by selling her soul to a fiend.  Or, in your case, my naive little Prattle" – at which point she removed her hood, revealing the wrinkled face of Esmerelda Blinx – "having your grandmother sell it for you."  Delphyne felt a shiver of cold run down her spine at the sight of this betrayal, unwilling to believe the grandmother who had raised her since she was eight years was doing this.  The elder witch continued, "I want you to meet your new master, the one who will be enjoying your everlasting torment in the Nine Hells."  She waved a withered hand to the wall behind her, through which stepped a massive form, 12 feet tall with wings unfurling lazily from around its body.  Even in the dim light, it was unmistakably a pit fiend."I am Astimius the Soul-Flenser," the devil stated with a wide grin, staring hungrily at Delphyne.  "I look forward to an infinity of entirely delicious moments, just you and I."  Delphyne merely squinted her hatred at the pit fiend and at this impostor, for surely her beloved grandmother - who had risked her own life trapped in the stuffed form of her rabbit doll, Babbit, just to help save her granddaughter from the enemy who had killed the old witch - was not here now, threatening Delphyne with an eternity of torment.  Whoever this was, it was an illusion or something - it had to be!Arcturian spoke again.  "And that leaves you, Rale.  Do you know who wants you dead?"  In answer, he removed the blade from Dez's throat and took a step back.  Dez climbed to her feet and addressed Rale.  "I do, you disgusting reprobate.  You may consider this my resignation from service as your consort."Then, as if an afterthought, she added, "And by the way: yes, size does matter, and no, that doesn't happen to all guys at some time or another!"Rale's jaw clenched at this sudden betrayal, half believing in his mind that this couldn't be happening.  Was there someone controlling Dez - a dominate person spell, perhaps?  Could pit fiends do that?  Was this whole thing some elaborate illusion?"Well, now that that's all in the open," smirked Arcturian, "I suppose there's nothing preventing us from getting it on.  Now, Infernia!"Infernia jumped at the sound of her name, realizing a moment too late that Arcturian was merely trying to implant the idea that she was in cahoots with her erstwhile master, somehow back alive again years after she had killed him in his sleep.  But she needn't have worried: Telgrane wasn't the least bit worried that Infernia, standing at his side, might do him harm.  Instead, he focused his attention directly on Arcturian and began the words to a spell.But the other side was already prepared for Arcturian's signal, and they attacked en masse.  Astimius spoke a few words in a Hellish tongue, and a mass hold monster effect went flying at the opposition, successfully catching  both Rale and, surprisingly, Telgrane in its clutches before he could finish his spell.  Both figures froze into sudden immobility."I will protect you, Master!" promised Infernia, stepping protectively between Telgrane and the pit fiend, even though the devil was all the way down at the far end of the warehouse.Esmerelda Blinx cast a spell at her granddaughter, and managed to get past the inherent spell resistance that Delphyne's magical garb afforded her.  She stood, dazed and confused, staring in wonder at the chaos all around her, her intellect bleeding away as the feeblemind spell took hold.  Instinctively, she wandered over to stand behind Thunderwolf, a thumb in her mouth and her only thoughts - if they could even be credited as such - being a slight concern over where her stuffed bunny might be hiding.  She missed her stuffed bunny.  He was soft.Caeline took a shot at her half-brother, Chalkan, who nearly dodged entirely out of the way while he grabbed for an arrow of his own; hers pierced the side of his arm as he returned fire.  And the dwarf, in the meantime, went barreling towards Thunderwolf, a greataxe in one hand and a tanglefoot bag swinging over his head in the other.Dez took the opportunity to blast Rale with a lightning bolt spell, and then, as if reading his very thoughts, yelled at him, "You don't know everything I'm capable of, Rale!"  And it was true: the rogue had been thinking that the lightning bolt spell wasn't one that he had been aware that Dez knew, as Dez's spell selections had generally been made based on how they would help her on the stage.  As such, she tended to focus on illusions, but this was definitely no illusion, for Rale felt the electricity surge through his paralyzed body.  Screw this! thought the rogue.  Despite being magically prevented from moving, he mentally activated the rod of thievery he held in his left hand and faded from view.  Then, invisible, he mentally activated the winged boots he wore and lifted himself into the air above the rest of the combatants.  He might not be able to fight back - yet - but he sure as hell wasn't going to allow himself to be an immobile target for Dez's spells!Chalkan became a blaze of motion, firing off a hail of arrows that struck at each of the enemy combatants.  A lucky hit snagged Esmerelda in the throat and she fell to the ground, drawing her last ragged gasps of breath.  And then, incredibly, as she hit the ground her entire form seemed to become liquid, her features and even her clothing sinking into a sleek, gray-skinned body with an oversized head.  Rale, still invisible and still flying through the air at the upper edge of the warehouse, saw the sudden transformation back into doppelganger form and everything clicked into place.  He wished Telgrane had been able to cast a Rary's telepathic bond spell so he could inform the others, but there had been no opportunity before the battle began and Telgrane was as unable to move as was the airborne rogue.But just because Telgrane couldn't move didn't mean he couldn't fight.  Channeling the fiery energies he held within his half-elemental body, he summoned forth a firestorm that covered all of the enemies but Morros the dwarf, who had moved up to face Thunderwolf and was even now being peppered with arrows.  As the dwarf's lifeless body fell to the ground and resumed its doppelganger form, the rest of the combatants blossomed into a wave of flames.  Astimius was naturally unfazed by the attack, but the others took serious amounts of damage; Infernia was pleased to see Arcturian stagger under the onslaught of her beloved Master.  She sent a blast of energy from her own major circlet of blasting screaming over at her former master, but Arcturian had a spell turning spell active and it rebounded directly back at the fire elemental.  Infernia staggered from her own blast, and despite Telgrane's inability to speak - for he was still having a difficult time breaking free from the devil's magical immobilization, she could feel his concern for her through the link they shared as master and familiar.  Begrudgingly, she reached over to her Master's belt, popped open the lid to the tinderbox he wore there, and resumed cinder form, leaping into the metal box.  The lid closed above her, and she was safe for the moment.The next to fall was Arcturian.  He had a bevy of protective spells up, from the common mage armor and shield spells to the more esoteric ones like protection from energy (focused on sonic attacks, having heard of Telgrane's penchant for converting the energy from his various combat spells into sonic energy) and protection from spells.  He had come to this fight expecting to outclass Infernia's new master in front of her, and he was spectacularly prepared for such a combat.  It therefore came as a complete surprise for him to realize he had not done as much in the way of preparing against more standard attacks as he could have, and Chalkan's continued barrage of arrows from the White-Wood Whisperbow cut him down in the span of seconds.  Pierced by nearly a dozen arrows in as many seconds, the sorcerer collapsed in a pool of his own blood.  He did not transform upon his death, for this was no mere doppelganger but Infernia's true original master, who had hired the doppelganger group as backup with which to get his revenge upon Telgrane and a bunch of his companions as well.Once Arcturian's lifeless body had hit the floor, however, a strange thing happened: a visible cloud arose from his body, nebulous and shifting in form but recognizable as the sorcerer's tortured face upon a gaseous body.  This ghostly form raced backwards across the warehouse, to be absorbed into a ring that the pit fiend Astimius wore upon his thumb.  The devil looked down at his left hand and smiled a wicked smile, anticipating the fun he would have with this new acquisition, for upon his summoning by the sorcerer Arcturian, he had been promised the souls of those slain here in the warehouse.  Arcturian no doubt had intended for the souls of five of these adventurers to be the pit fiend's payment, but Astimius had no preferences: a mortal soul was a mortal soul, and he'd have centuries of enjoyment from whichever ones he could get his hands on.  Flexing his left hand, the pit fiend smiled even broader at the sight of the other four such rings he wore on that hand, then decided to go collect some more.  Spreading his wings, he flew across the warehouse to land in front of Thunderwolf, who unsheathed Xanthros in the light of this new threat.The fighter got in a good thrust with his sentient longsword, but then Astimius was set to rend his flesh for the effrontery - up until a spell suddenly struck him in the head, overcoming his ability to resist the effects of such magics and sending him away.  One moment he had been ready to gut Thunderwolf; the next he was in a misty labyrinth, with twisting passageways stretching off in all directions.  Cursing as only a devil could, he turned to find his way out of the accursed maze spell.Telgrane had snapped out of his magically-induced paralyzation just in time.Rale was just seconds behind him; once he was back to being able to move his limbs at will he landed next to the archmage and resumed visible form.  With the pit fiend trapped inside the maze spell, the group had a moment to catch their breaths and regroup.  While Chalkan traded arrow-shots with Caeline, Telgrane used a limited wish to undo the effects of the feeblemind spell cast by the doppelganger sorcerer who had worn the form of Esmerelda Blinx.  Delphyne snapped back to her own faculties, and then gladly blasted Dez to pieces with one of her most powerful spells.  She was only a bit disheartened to see "Dez" revert to doppelganger form upon her death, but it still felt pretty good to have been able to do that, even if it wasn't the real Desdemona Honeytongue.In the meantime, Caeline, the last of Arcturian's doppelganger minions, was brought down by none other than Chalkan, whose bow had been put to exceptional use during this entire ambush.Rale pulled out a scroll from his pack and offered it to Telgrane.  "Magic circle against evil," he explained.  "Cast it on one of us, and then the pit fiend shouldn't be able to get to us, as long as we stick together.""Better yet," replied Telgrane, "We know where the pit fiend is going to reappear once it finds it was back from the maze."  He walked over to the spot where Astimius had disappeared.  "If we cast it here, focused inwards, he won't be able to leave.  And then we can just wait for the duration of Arcturian's summoning spell, or planar ally, or whatever he used to get that thing here, to expire."  It was a good plan, so that's what they decided to do.  However, the scroll had gotten creased inside Rale's pack, obscuring one of the symbols, and as a result the casting of the spell was ineffective, for Telgrane misread one of the verbal components to the spell.There was a fair bit of anxiety among the heroes after that, since they had no other magic circle against evil spells prepared and Rale had had just the one scroll.  They readied their weapons and spells, standing in a circle around the point in space where Astimius would reappear.Inside the extradimensional maze, Astimius was getting frustrated; it shouldn't be this difficult to escape this magical construction.  But try as he might, each time he thought he'd found the way out it turned out to be a dead end.Back in the warehouse, Delphyne had a question.  "Hey, I thought this place was covered in dimensional lock spells," she said.  "How'd you get a maze spell to even work?""Dimensional lock spells can only cover so much of an area," the archmage replied.  "Arcturian had to cast the spell multiple times to cover the entire warehouse.  I merely dispelled the dimensional lock spell covering the area where the pit fiend was standing, before hitting him with the maze.""So where is he?" asked Rale.  "Are we going to stand here all day, waiting?""We don't know how long ago Arcturian summoned the pit fiend, or how long he'd be allowed to stay here on the Material Plane," explained Telgrane.  "Maybe the original spell wore off, and he returned to the Nine Hells.  Or maybe he's still in the maze, trying to get out.""Shouldn't he have been able to have gotten out by now?" asked Delphyne."I'd have thought so," admitted Telgrane, puzzled.Inside the extradimensional maze, Astimius the Soul-Flenser had taken a final turn and the exit stood open before him.  "At last!" he grumbled, flapping his wings to exit the confounding structure.  He left the arcane labyrinth, resumed his original position in the warehouse......and then immediately vanished again, this time returning to his own dwelling in the Nine Hells.  He only had time to get out a "Bloody Hell!" as his mortal opponents faded from view from around him as quickly as they had come into focus.In the warehouse, the heroes gave each other puzzled glances.  "Is he gone?" Thunderwolf asked."I guess so," admitted Telgrane.  "Come on, I want to see what's behind that back wall - it's really just an illusion.""Oh yeah, so it is!" replied Rale, focusing his gaze hard upon the back wall, which shimmered under his focused concentration.There was another ten feet of warehouse behind the illusory wall spell, which contained a wooden crate chained shut with a padlock.  Telgrane cast two knock spells in quick sequence, unlocking first the padlock and then the crate's top.  Rale pulled off the top, only to discover, curled up and still unconscious after having received a blow to the head, one Desdemona Honeytongue.Chalkan cast a healing spell upon her, and she sat up, woozily, one hand holding the back of her head."She's alive!" cried Rale happily."Oh, yippee," grumbled Delphyne quietly to herself. - - - I think I had some worried players at first with this adventure.  "Dez's" initial betrayal (and "I quit!" speech) got a laugh from everyone at the table, but I could see Dan trying to figure out how this had happened in the game world.  Likewise, Vicki was surprised to see "Esmerelda Blinx" show up, alive and now apparently evil, but I don't think she believed for a moment that that was really Delphyne's grandmother, thinking it had to be an illusion or something.  Jacob seemed to fully "buy in" to the idea that Chalkan's half-sister was trying to kill him, and he was just determined to get Chalkan to kill her before she could kill him.  Besides the concept of "this is all an illusion," Dan threw out doppelgangers as a possibility, and I just put on my best poker face and pressed on.This adventure came about as a result of Logan deciding, on the spur of the moment when running Telgrane and Infernia through "Eye of Vecna" that Infernia had had another master before Telgrane.  That prompted me to want to do something with that information, which led to Arcturian's death, resurrection (one of his own colleagues had had him raised from the dead), and desire for revenge against Inferina and whoever was using her as his familiar in the meantime.  The doppelganger group just gave me something fun to throw at the other players at the same time.I was a bit concerned when the battle erupted and three of the PCs were almost immediately taken out of the fight, especially since Astimius was wearing those "soul capturing rings."  I was afraid at least one of the PCs would end up dead with his or soul captured by Astimius, who would then toddle off back to Hell (even if slain), which would mean an immediate rescue attempt and me scripting up a new adventure post-haste.  But things turned out okay on that front, although we had several characters (Delphyne and Infernia) in single-digit hit points during the course of the battle.In any case, I'm sure Astimius is having a whole lot of fun with Arcturian's soul down there in the Nine Hells.  Oh, which reminds me: I owe everyone a story about Arcturian and Infernia.  Arcturian was originally a neutral-aligned sorcerer with the Improved Familiar feat, and summoned Infernia as his familiar.  The fact that she took on the form of a Small female human (with curving horns) was originally at Arcturian's request; now it's just a form with which Infernia is used to.  (And thus it was the form she arrived in when Telgrane summoned her to be his own improved familiar.)  But over time, Arcturian became obsessed with increased personal power, and his alignment changed from neutral to neutral evil.  Infernia fought the shift in alignment as she became first concerned and then repulsed by the means Arcturian was using to increase his own power.  As a result, as Arcturian gradually shifted to evil, Infernia found her own beliefs shifting towards good.  Eventually, she decided to take matters into her own hands (quite literally), and late one night she removed the ring of fire protection Arcturian wore, then burned him to death in his sleep.I'm sure Telgrane will be sure to keep that in mind, should he ever decide to toy with the idea of shifting his alignment over towards the evil side of things....</blockquote>

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