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28 Praedus 1120
A Cold Day In Hell
The days following the rescue of the Adventurers' Guild were ugly ones for Marhaven and for the heroes of the Chimera. Funerals for the 27 missing were planned and held while the three survivors were quietly sent to Nessen, where there was hope that the insanity afflicting them might be curable. An inventory of the Hall revealed that its most valuable non-living contents -- the library materials, the gear and magic items from the store, the safe -- were more or less undisturbed. Whatever unimaginable horrors had ravished the place, they were clearly more interested in consuming the occupants than in acquiring wealth. Or perhaps wealth has a different definition in the Far Realm. That search also turned up some unpleasant residue. Molds and slimes had taken root in much of the infrastructure, requiring large sections of the building to be burnt in order to prevent spreading infestation. Parts of the structure itself seemed to have taken on a weird semblance of life, as floorboards wriggled to avoid the flame and trusses flexed as if to be freed of the weight they bore. There was talk of razing the structure entirely and building a new one. In the meantime, the Guild was functionally closed to all but the most urgent business. The heroes were compensated by Marhaven for their pains, but the city's enthusiasm was almost insultingly weak. No one blamed the party for the dead; few outside of the group had any clue as to the motive for the abduction in the first place, and even the heroes themselves could not say whether they had missed any opportunity to save more. Still, from the perspective of the general population the recovery of the Guild was seen as a Pyrrhic victory at best. Only Adele Grimaldi, wife of the stricken research head, expressed sincere gratitude for the party's efforts. Several mornings after the recovery of the Guild, Strontium stood on the deck of the Chimera and, in what had become a daily ritual for him, activated the Compass of Fharlanghn to seek the location of Ramiel, spawn of Azazel. For over a week the Compass had returned the same answer, that Ramiel dwelled in the Styx between two layers of Hell -- an answer useless to the party because mortals cannot endure the foul waters of the Styx without losing their lives. On that morning, Praedus 26, however, the Compass flashed and Strontium received the first good news of the week: Ramiel now lurked in the dark ocean of Stygia. Such was the state of affairs that this news -- that to continue their quest to recharge the galadiir the party must seek a powerful evil creature on the fifth layer of Hell -- qualified as good. The heroes prepared themselves rapidly for planar travel and Strontium used the amulet of the planes to take them to Stygia. The group, minus the still-absent Mrs. Wilkins, arrived right on target in the city of Tantlin, a trading hub of sorts on Hell's icy fifth layer. The swarming crowd of mostly devils and tieflings paid scant attention to the group, which was considered fortunate given the norms for Hell. Strontium had a plan in mind. The sudden appearance of an ultra powerful being such as Ramiel, he reasoned, was bound to have been noticed. What the group needed was a source of information; someone in the know who would be willing to part with that knowledge for a price. They started in a magic shop a few blocks off the main thoroughfare. The interior was crammed with shelves and crates and displays bearing all manner of magic lore and wares. Strontium had a need anyway, and figured to use that to help grease the wheels. He chatted up the shop's proprietor, an amnizu called Nosfel, and negotiated for a ring of protection +2. For a 1,000gp premium over Material Plane pricing he purchased the ring, made of Baatorian green steel, and got the name of Zolai, a dealer in information who could be found at a local tavern called the Devil May Care. A bearded devil behind the bar pointed out Zolai, another amnizu who sat at a long table drinking something with a foggy head from a tankard with a lizard-like tail sticking out of it. Strontium ordered another round of whatever-it-was for the devil and the party sat down to negotiate for information on Ramiel. As is often the way with devils, however, Zolai proved adept at manipulating the conversation. It quickly became apparent that Zolai was learning more from the party than they were from him. Things turned ugly when Zolai, with an abnormal lack of subtlety for his kind, suggested they go visit his boss. Four barbed devils joined them, taking positions around the party. Nobody was surprised when the walk led down a dark, deserted alley. Zolai and Strontium exchanged some unflattering remarks and the barbed devils attacked. It would be the last mistake Zolai would make. The amnizu got off a quickened fireball that singed a few eyebrows. Strontium responded with a deadly Isaac's greater missile storm. Aria charged forward to deliver a stunning fist, but Zolai was so weakened by the missiles that it killed him outright. Quinn then cast drown on one of the barbed devils, which immediately fell to the ground twitching and gasping helplessly. The loss of their boss and one cohort within seconds prompted the two devils who could to flee at top speed. The one who didn't have a clear escape path backed off and begged for his miserable life. The heroes showed mercy to the last devil. While his buddy finished drowning, the overmatched creature answered questions from Strontium. It didn't know much, which explained why Zolai had been so eager to get more information from the party. There were rumors of a powerful newcomer in the depths, which had all of the existing power structure on edge and keen to learn what it was and what it wanted. Sheyruushk, the city of the sahuagin god Sekolah, seemed particularly uneasy; the party's revelation that the new power was an ancient, ultra-powerful sort of aboleth made sense and suggested it may be lurking in the waters near that city. Aside from that, the barbed devil had another piece of information that aroused the group's interest. He mentioned a disturbance at the Hall of the Vanquished, where two adventurer types had attempted to free the trapped soul of a paladin there so they could raise the paladin from the dead. Strontium and Aria heard this and wondered: their effort to resurrect Aria's father had failed because the soul was unavailable -- could it have been sent to this Hall of the Vanquished? Unfortunately there were more pressing matters at hend. The party got directions to the area of Sheyruushk and let the devil go. Before venturing below the water, though, they returned to Nosfel's magic shop. While Melian went inside to complete the purchase of a ring of protection +2 for himself Strontium mounted the severed head of Zolai on the store's signpost.
The Stygian ocean was briney, dark, and unpleasant compared to the waters of the Material Plane but the party plunged in out of necessity and swam for three hours in the general direction of Sheyruushk, being careful not to head directly for the city itself. As expected, they drew the attention of a posse of dark-hued sahuagin who directed the party in no uncertain terms to go away. The heroes backed off and approached from a different angle, but the sahuagin were not fooled. Again they intercepted and told the party they were not welcome in these waters. This party had not encountered sahuagin in their own world, so they had no real frame of reference, but it became clear very quickly that these were half fiend, and more deadly than their Material Plane counterparts. The sahuagin easily landed vicious blows with their tridents and seemed able to absorb a lot of damage. Then, after the first exchange, they were joined by a pair of fiendish dire sharks who swooped in and grabbed Quinn and Audas in their powerful jaws. Quinn was swallowed quickly though Audas eventually wriggled free. Strontium scored first blood with a sonic magic missile volley that finished off the leader, who had taken a couple of strong blows from Caenus. He followed that with an empowered magic missile that killed another sahuagin before losing a lesser missile storm to the enemy's spell resistance. Meanwhile, Caenus chased the shark that held Quinn in its belly, grabbing on and mounting the beast to stab at it with his halberd. Quinn helped by using healing sting from inside the shark, taking strength from it to heal the damage caused by its stomach acid and constricting muscles. A few more stabs from Caenus and the creature died, leaving Quinn able to cut herself free. The second shark swallowed Aria, but the battle was clearly going against the sahuagin side. Another sahuagin died from Audas's vitriolic blast and Melian and Strontium finished off the second shark to enable Aria's escape. The last living sahuagin tried to flee but was grabbed by Audas and held. Under questioning, the survivor revealed that the city was on high alert because of the rumored presence of a new, powerful force in the deep water. A fiendish kraken dispatched by the city's rulers to investigate had failed to return, which they took to mean the new being was of significant power. It was suspected that this being had taken up residence in a cave at the very bottom of the Stygian sea. The sahuagin was more than happy to give directions, figuring he was pointing the party toward their own destruction. A long downward swim later, the party located the opening to the cave. They also located the fiendish kraken, which seemed perfectly healthy and bent on guarding the cave opening. Quinn opened hostilities with an ice storm, though the primary value in it was to prove that the creature was highly resistant to cold. A vitriolic blast from Audas and a greater missile storm from Strontium got the kraken's attention, and it created a whirling vortex in the water that caught Quinn and left her spinning uncontrollably at its center. Caenus charged in and landed several good blows to go with more spell and vitriolic power from Strontium and Audas. The creature gave Caenus a powerful return shot from a barbed tentacle, released a massive cloud of jet black ink into the water, and sped away into the cave. The heroes took a moment to regroup and then inched their way through the blackness into the cave. As they emerged from the cloud they saw the kraken waiting to one side and, before them, a gargantuan aboleth-like creature. A cold, emotionless voice entered their minds. You've gone to a lot of trouble just to die or become my slaves. Explain yourselves. The party made their case to Ramiel. It considered their words and, after a nerve-wrackingly long pause, agreed to recharge the galadiir. There were, however, conditions. Ramiel took control of Caenus and required that the party stand guard at the cave entrance with the kraken, and took possession of the Compass of Fharlanghn, which they'd used to locate Ramiel. It then retreated into a deeper area of the cave, putting up what looked like a sphere of annihilation to block the path and taking Caenus along as a guarantee against hostile action. A full day later the passage opened and Caenus stepped through holding the galadiir, which now glowed more brightly than before. Ramiel did not put in an appearance, but through telepathy instructed the party to leave now. Strontium pledged the group's silence as to Ramiel's location, but the elder aboleth replied that it didn't matter, it would be gone in an hour anyway. With Caenus released from his temporary enslavement, the party used the amulet of the planes to return to Marhaven. They had two goals now: return to Uriel to complete the recharging of the galadiir, and learn all they could about the Hall of the Vanquished on Stygia.
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