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A Deal With (regards to) The Demon

Last week, the party continued their long trek towards the ritual site in the Sunwake Mountains. That night, they were awoken by the sound of soft footsteps approaching their camp from a distance. The party prepared to counter an ambush, but were surprised when the intruder crested a hill bearing a white flag of surrender. It was dressed in robes worn by the worshippers of Theodolus, and remained at a distance as it announced that it meant no harm. He introduced himself as an emissary of Theodolus, and claimed that there had been a big misunderstanding and that Theodolus had no grudge against the party, especially if they were in the mountains for a particular reason that Theodolus agreed with. After some pointed prodding and inartful hedging, the figure implied heavily that Theodolus wanted to stop Demogorgon's plans to consume Elysium, and the party agreed that they thought that was a good idea. He asked them to accompany him in the morning to visit the High Priest of Theodolus to discuss matters further, and promised them that they would not be attacked. The party agreed after some hesitation, and they finished resting the night without further incident.

In the morning, the follower of Theodolus1 led the party to meet the High Priest of Theodolus, Taethorn. He welcomed the party to the Sunwake Mountains and offered to lead the party to a place of power that Demogorgon had laid claim to deep in the mountains. In exchange, he merely asked that the party stop killing his followers on sight. The party agreed, and they began travelling together to reach the site. Along the way, he warned them of the dangers that lay ahead on the mountain path, including the terrifying purple wurms that were said to consume even dragons. However, before encountering any such creatures, the party realized that Taethorn had personally travelled to their destination, so Lester teleported them there directly and they skipped the whole thing2.

When the arcane mists of the teleport ritual dissipated, the party found themselves overlooking a vast crevasse. Thousands of feet down, a strange mist blocked their sight from reaching into its true depths. The party puzzled over the correct plan to reach the bottom, with serious consideration being given to simply jumping off and seeing what happened. Craggles killed time by tossing boulders and beer down into the abyss while Azoreas performed a ritual to consult Bahamut and Lester performed a ritual to summon a magical eye. The dragon god implied that they should travel down, but with some caution, and not by leaping bravely into the unknown. In addition, he bore a warning: their arrival was expected. Meanwhile, Lester's arcane eye floated down into the crevasse and into the mists beyond, sinking ever deeper into darkness. Before it reached the bottom, however, its journey was cut short by the sudden appearance of a scythe-wielding devil3 that sliced the eye into pieces. Undaunted, the party began climbing down the narrowly winding cliff face, led by Aedan's pathseeking abilities.

Deep into the abyss, the party finally made contact with the strange mist and found it acted as a strange poison that chilled the body with arcane power. Brand was able to burn it away with his aura of fire, allowing the party to make progress unscathed, but maintaining the aura indefinitely was taxing to him. After climbing down a great distance, the party was forced to rest to give Brand time to recover, so Craggles smashed open a small tunnel in the cliff face for the party to take shelter in.

As the party recovered, their rest was interrupted by a sudden horde of devils that appeared out of nowhere4 on the cliff face. They immediately attacked the party in their tiny cave, but the party was excited to finally have a situation where their tendency to all have primarily ranged attacks was finally an unmitigated advantage, and drove them back fairly quickly. Most of the devils retreated, but their leader was dimensionally locked by Aedan, which allowed the party to easily finish it off. Join us this week as the party continues their climb into the strange mist...

  1. In retrospect, this section would have been much easier to write if he had told you his name.
  2. They still had to travel overland until late the next morning to get in range of the teleport ritual because of the sheer distance they were traveling, but that still let them avoid a great deal of boring random encounters valuable loot and interesting side quests.
  3. Devils, like demons, are inhabitants of the Abyss. However, while demons are agents of chaos, with most sowing wanton mischief and destruction wherever they go, devils are lawful and strictly obey rules and hierarchies. Demons and devils have been waging eternal war on each other for control of the Abyss, and hate each other with the fury that only true evil can muster.
  4. Also like demons, many devils can teleport freely.

Stupid Awards

Brand Taito Craggles Lester Azoreus Aedan Devils Everyone
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