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A Deal with the Devil (-descendant)

Last week, the party teleported onto the ship that would carry them to the ruins of Temple of Truth, an ancient library on the Moravian coast. They greeted the ship's crew and began sailing towards the ruins, hoping to find the ritual that was used to alter the Book of Creation so they could fix it. They sailed quickly up to the coast, and before long they stood outside the library's ruined walls.

Lord Khallus stealthily1 approached the walls and looked into the inner courtyard through a gap in the walls. Inside, he saw a balcony above a large, ornate door leading into the Temple. Lined up on the balcony, kneeling with hoods over their heads, were about fifty Moravians. They were chained together on the balcony and remained silent, even when Lord Khallus beaned one of them on the head with a pebble. He went back to the party and reported the strange sight. Tiberius levitated to the top of the walls to get a better view while the rest of the party deliberated what to do. They decided to approach cautiously, and as they came closer to the wall, a booming magical voice called out: "These prisoners are my gift to you".

The voice introduced itself as Nosferatu, the legendary assassin that the party had completely failed to apprehend in Galia. Mortin summoned a wall of whirling blades which attacked a large number of prisoners, and they remained in place until Nosferatu commanded them to step back. The assassin explained that he wanted to work out a deal with the party. He had been working for the Moravian Empire for some time, and he was ready to be done - but they had a magical hold on him preventing him from simply leaving. If the party was willing to perform a ritual to remove his Moravian augmentations and controlling magic, he would give them the ancient tome containing the knowledge of the Book of Creation, and dispose of the large Moravian force that had organized to protect the tome. In addition, he required that the party not use the power to alter the Book of Creation to ruin him - he wanted a place in the new world that would arise after the Moravian Empire fell2. If the party refused, he would be forced to release his horde of Moravians, kill the party, and find someone else to help him.

The party considered the offer, and questioned Nosferatu about his allegiances and history to determine if they could trust him. They decided that they were willing to perform the ritual for him, but that his offer wasn't good enough - they could have retrieved the tome themselves without his interference. Additionally, they didn't trust him not to backstab them as soon as they performed the ritual. Nosferatu countered by offering to teleport the party directly to Torvid, so they could end the threat to their island. To ensure that both sides would trust each other, he offered bind himself and the party into a Shadow Pact, forcing both sides to honor their deal. The party decided that this was a reasonable offer, and agreed.

Nosferatu materialized on the balcony with the prisoners, and quickly performed the ancient ritual to weave a Shadow Pact. Both he and the party swore not to betray each other and to fulfil the terms of their agreement. With that done, Nosferatu told Reggie how to perform the ritual, and the party joined him on the balcony for the ritual. They noted that he was a tiefling - a human with fiendish heritage in the not so distant past. He assured them that he was unrelated to the ancient demon lord that fueled the Moravian Empire's unholy augmentations. Fortunately Reggie's magic was strong, and when the ritual was finished, Nosferatu's Moravian essence was purged.

With the ritual finished, he readily handed over the ancient tome to the party and butchered the Moravian prisoners. While Lorelei, Antimony, and Lord Khallus studied the tome, he went inside with Pabst and Mortin to kill the remaining Moravians he had hidden in the ruins in case the party had proved violent. Along the way, he showed them hidden alcoves with treasure and long-forgotten magic items. When he finished, he returned to the party, and together they teleported to Torvid's hidden lair.

Join us this week to finally fight the famous Torvid!

  1. But not too stealthily, because he's Lord Khallus.

Stupid Awards

Lorelei Antimony Lord Khallus Mortin Tiberius Pabst Wanderlost Everyone Everyone except Mortin and Wanderlost
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