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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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30th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 162, Hour 1
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We parted ways with the rogue at the beginning of a verdant cave system, coated in moss, and a thick green haze. We were reunited there with Minsc, Dynaheir, and the mastermind of our rescue - Imoen! I hugged her so hard I thought I would break one of her ribs. She assured me she didn't believe that I killed Skie, I told her what I knew, how I was terrified that it was true, that perhaps my blood made me kill and then black out? Imoen would tell me more later, but for now we needed to escape. We traversed the cave, and exited into the night, looking through the moonlight to our next adventure - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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29th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 161, Hour 23
Corwin visited me at my cell to impart some choice words. "your mongrel fathers can't protect you anymore, you're all stuck here together. Filth rolling with filth." I considered this our platonic "breakup", and was glad to be finally rid of her, if upset that we were locked in a cell. Later in the night we got visited by a hired thief, he'd been sent by Imoen to break us out! - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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29th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 161, Hour 20
TRIAL SUMMARY ACCUSER: Duke Silvershield DEFENDANT: Aurelia, "Hero of Baldur's Gate" CRIME: The murder of Skie Silvershield RULING: On account of possessing the murder weapon, being at the scene of the crime, and furthermore being a bhaalspawn, we find the defendant GUILTY
SENTENCE: Imprisonment until permanent decision.
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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Chapter 13 Manipulations 28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 23
I write this quickly as I can, I need to get up and move. A Duke's daughter is dead. After we escaped Avernus, Caelar closed the portal like she promised. We arrived at Dragonspear Castle to find the Dwarves of Dumathoin, good to their word, were assisting the Coalition's forces. Not that there was much left to do - half the castle was in ruins, and the remainder of Calear's army had largely fled when the building collapsed. The crusaders who did get captured or killed, were the more fervent believers. They were rowdy prisoners and chanted prayers for Caelars returns at high volume The duke's daughter was dead. I couldn't focus. M'Khiin has left the group, she wasn't let in and decided to bid her adieu. Jaheira and Khalid were checking in at a Harper stronghold in the city. Ferrum and Yuze were here with me. I don't know where Minsc, Dynaheir or Imoen are... The duke's daughter was dead. She lay crumpled at my feet, partially hidden in the darkness. My hand was balled around a shaking knife, slick with blood. What have i done? - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 6.5
M'Khiin inspired me. She was hanging there, seemingly helpless, but found a way to fight back. Ghostly figures tore the scaly devil to chunks, and while momentarily distracted I came at Belhifet. From somewhere withing me I felt a change. A familiar warmth, yet different somehow. When hammer met devil, silver light flooded the room, originating from my hammer. The impact tore a hole in Belhifet's middle, and cleaved him in half. As the white flames guttered, we turned our attention to the cage beyond our battlefield, and the uncle and niece that spoke with eachother. Caelar had finally got what she wanted. The cage door crumbled at her touch, turning to mist, releasing the tortured man. Aun Argent was gaunt, with sunken eyes peering out from a pallid face. The subject of how to close the circle came up, and Yuze confirmed what Aun informed us: That someone would have to stay behind to close it from this end. Caelar volunteered. No one stopped her, it solved our problem of how to get back, and was a form of justice in a way. I don't have faith that the powers that be, that the mortals who make decisions will be able to use their power responsibly. I do have faith, that I have the power to intercede on behalf of those in need without Helm's help. If it wasn't Helm whose divine light flooded my weapon... whose was it? - Ferrum
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 6.5
"You scaly shit!" M'Khiin hung upside down, able to move nothing but her face. Hephernaan gloated "Good, you're mouthy. I like to hear mortals scream-" M'Khiin's face began to do something very strange. Her eyes looked about in circles, clockwise, then counter clokwise, then clockwise again. Her nose scrunched and relaxed to a quick rhythm and she sang her rousing song in goblin. Both devils stared at her incredulously, our party paused too, bewildered. M'Khiin stopped making faces, looked at Hephernaan and opened her mouth. Blue light shone bright from the back of her throat and through ghostly blue flames she grit her teeth and said: "I hear when devils die in hell, they die for good." Azure flame spirits erupted from her mouth and engulfed the devil mage. They restrained him, grabbing his arms and legs, taking his staff from him. Before his master could turn to save him, the phantom warriors tore Hephernaan limb from limb. M'Khiin fell out of the air, Hephernaan's magic released. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 6.5
"The Aasimar is mine!" The towering devil launched into battle, going straight for Caelar. We all stepped back to watch. Should we save her? Caelar ducked and dodged the devils enormous hands. Then, past the devils, her eyes focused. Off to the edge of the plateau was disturbed earth, ground up in a path that ended in a rusted cage. There was a living man in it. "Uncle!" Caelar cried Belhifet smiled, the edges of his mouth curving back, back, back, to reveal rows upon rows of jagged teeth. "Bow to me Caelar. If you give me yourself freely, I shall free our Uncle. He made the deal with me the first time to set you free, it's only fitting you return the favor." Hephernaan looked back and forth between his master and Caelar, waiting to see what would happen. His scaled hands gripped his staff, his posture exuding vigilance. "We could do this the easy way." The lackey hissed. "Caelar... You've hurt a lot of people up to this point. It can end here. I cannot speak for the gods - but any sacrifice you make here would be one small step to making amends " Caelar looked in her peripheral at Ferrum, gears turning in her head at a furious pace. "Are we going to play by the rules of a devil who held a child hostage, stole away your family? Or are you going to take whats yours? You can free your uncle with a contract Caelar, yes it's true. Belhifet's death will also nullify your Uncle's existing contract." Caelar looked at our group, back at our foes who waiting, coiled, ready to spring into action. They were more afraid of us than they let on. We had numbers. an Aasimar, and me, a Baahlspawn. "And you all would aid me? Whatever my sins, whatever the consequences I face, you would save my uncle?" Belhifets smile vanished, he saw he had lost. His face contorted into a snarl, and before Ferrum could respond, the battle had begun. We fought furiously, bruised and battered as we were. Ferrum's strikes were relatively feeble by now, and Jaheira had exhausted her ability to change into a wild shape. She now spun and danced with her scimitars gleaming in the red light of hell. M'Khiin imbued her sword with glowing blue spirits once again, and danced with sword swinging around her as if by some invisible rope. Her hands pulled and turned the blade, but from afar, never touching the hilt. The goblin spun her whole body, somersaulting at Belhifet's flank while her sword orbited her body. Currently engaged with Khalid and Jaheira, the great devil took a gash to his left shoudler, roaring out in pain. "That's enough from your feral witch Aurelia!" Hephernaan flew away from the fray, hovering several feet above the ground. He spun his staff with a smug grin, and wrenched M'Khiin off her feet, shooting her backwards to his side. As suddenly as she launched, M'khiin stopped. Her head whipped backwards painfully during her stop. I felt my throat closing in panic, she was only here because of me! - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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Chapter 12 Justice 28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 6.5
In the wake of Ferrum's sparring match, we stopped to clean ourselves up. In the watchful gaze of the portals flaming eye, we passed around healing potions, Ferrum took some time to massage my wrists, and we geared up to chase after Hephernaan. The party was alternately confused and frustrated at the information I gave away, but Yuze and I pointed out that we now knew that Caelar's uncle was likely being held wherever Hephernaan was. I also explained Hephernaan's plot, and that regardless of what happened to Caelar, he also needed to be stopped, before he brought a a fiery horde straight to Faerun. "But how can we kill a devil here, if we can't even kill them on our own home turf?" M'Khiin rasped "An interesting fact Yuze taught me about devils..." Yuze smiled at his daughter "Is that if you kill them in hell, they die for good. "She must have gone off to slay the mage then! She's a nut and a murderer, but a righteous nut." "After that speech she gave, I doubt she would put killing Hephernaan over saving her Uncle." Yuze countered. M'Khiin nodded in agreement, and became silent. Her face smoothed out into a contemplative expression somewhere in the mid-distance. The reality of where we were finally started to sink in. Jaheira looked displeased if calm, but it was M'Khiin who stood out. Her dragonscale armor shone in orange streaks from the hellfire around us. She walked up to me, and took both my hands in hers. "Congratulations god-child. You're the first person I've walked into hell for." ------------------------------------------------------------------ We made for the plateau I had pointed out to Hephernaan, me climbing as gingerly as possible. Ferrum also seemed worse for wear. He confessed to pain in his arms, the weight of Caelar's powerful blows sending reverberations up his bones. On the plateau we were greeted by the self-satisfied smile of Hephernaan, and the excited grin of a massive devil. He towered over his human lackey, armored and crimson skinned, thick horns balancing an impossible amount of heft on his neck. Caelar climbed an adjacent slope up to the plateau, throwing a flying imp off her back and spearing it into the ground with her blade. "Hepharnaan! You treacherous snake!" "Snake? No, but you could call us cousins..." Hephernaans face seemed to peel back, his scalp sliding up and backwards, his limp hair falling back. His skin shed like a lizard's skin, burning away as it separated from his body. Amidst the embers and motes of smoke, stood a red scaled devil, lizardlike in appearance, barely taller than Ferrum, and with scaly wings. "That explains the stink of your magic! The smell of Avernus." "Rude little wormling - you will not speak to Belhifet that way!" "Enough prattle!" boomed the larger devil. "You have made your good on your end of the deal. I will give you your army to overrun the Faerun - but first, my prize!" Belhifet charged forward, clawed hands outstretched towards Caelar. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 6
Engulfed in flames my mind was dominated with one thought Is my daughter dead? We were launched head over foot out of the portal, my four companions, myself, and Caelar. Frantically I swung my head around, looking for the deep blue of her shirt. Crumpled, head between her knees, Aurelia looked up at me, and smiled weakly. Then she snapped to attention, wincing. "Caelar!" I spun around, dodging a sword swing from the mighty Aasimaar. My companions sprang to action. Strengthened by a small blue vortex of spirits, M'Kiin dueled Caelar with her glowing sword. Jaheira summoned roots from the ground to slow Caelar down, grasping at her feet and legs with gnarled vines. Yuze shot needles of ice at strategic points, aiming for the neck, and other joints in her armor. Khalid threw himself into the gray, attacking from Caelar's rear. She was becoming overwhelmed, beads of sweat appearing on her gleaming face. She strained herself, but she was keeping up. The 5 v 1 handicap was barely keeping them at a tie. "I will not leave my uncle here! I will save him from Avernus!" Caelar tore free of the vines, and bashed M'Khiin and Khalid away with her shield. The shining lady backed up into a defense stance, and then held her ground. "I thought you were here to save your soldiers?" Aurelia croaked the question from a rock nearer to us than she had started. Having crawled across the hard earth during our battle, she was not noticed. Red dirt covered the front of her leather vest and the knees of her pants. "You're not really here for them?" "I am! I am here to save them, to resurrect them, to ease them of punishment that should of been mine! They died Bhaalspawn, attempting to save my uncle, who was trapped here. As a child, I activated an infernal artifact and was transported to hell, enslaved by a devil. I only stand here now because my uncle took my place. That's why we went back, to save the man who saved me. Now I will correct both our failed initial mission, and save the soldiers who so loyally followed me to their doom." Everyone stood as still as their heavy breathing bodies allowed. Caelar's words hung in the air, her voice an invigorating, commanding tone. Was this part of how she led her crusade, can aasimar influence others? Would Aurelia be able to do this? "You- you brought an army down here to, all to save one man? This all started because you marched an army's worth of soldiers straight into the inferno?"" I huffed, my breath catching up with me. "I owe that man everything! As a proud Argent and loyal niece, I would have, and will do, everything within my power to save my uncle, as well as my loyal troops, who died for our noble cause." "What nobility? You wretched, overpowered child! In your naive ideals you have condemned hundreds to hell, sacrificed them all like sheep to the slaughter. In an act of abject *selfishness*. You disgust me aasimar! Truly it seems, the gods laugh and give the most power to the worst wretches in the land! " "Cretin! I will-" "You will fall to my hammer! If the gods will not administer justice, I will answer the call myself!" I swung and Caelar parried, a massive dent appearing in her shield. She took the impact and shrugged it off, squaring up for a counter attack.
This woman took hits like an ogre! The party ran in to attack, but would not make it before Caelar swung her sword in retaliation, catching my hammer and wrenching it from my hand. In a fluid movement, she pulled my arm behind my back, and put her sword to my neck. "Tell me where Hephernaan went Aurelia! Tell me or your guard here loses his head. Every battle i have spied you in, he has always been by your side. So don't try and tell me the orc isn't important to you." "That way" Aurelia pointed an outstretched finger to a plateau in the near distance. Calear threw me to the ground and sped off in the direction Aurelia pointed, sprinting with all the efficiency and speed of a royal messenger. - Ferrum
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 6
All the moisture was sucked out of the air, I was spinning, and tasted sulfurous dirt. Finally able to speak, I moaned in pain. I was in Hell. Red-brown clouds dominated the sky, and red cracked earth extended in all directions, cluttered with rock formations, hill and valleys. The portal flared, and spat out Hephernaan. I limped to my feet and attempted to flee, my arm in no condition to fight. I feared the man had pierced tendon. Before I could go a meter I was slammed to the floor again, face down, unable to breathe. Hephaernaan flipped me up, using his staff like a conductors wand, and threw me back into a flattened rock formation. "I need you to stay here." Shackles sprung from the rock, binding me in place. "That should hold." Hephernaan released the crushing gravity from my body, and I hung freely from the chains, gasping again for air. Hephernaan grabbed my face, and held it up so my eyes met his. "Your blood will help me build an empire, and an army of hellspawn will fight for it. We will make great partners indeed." The mage let go of my face, and walked away disappearing into the landscape. Panic began to rise, our mission! And Hephernaan's plans! Yuze had taught me a little about devils while I was still at Candlekeep. If they invaded the material plane, they could fight recklessly, because a mortal blow there would only teleport them back to Avernus. They could be unstoppable! I began the careful and painful task of dislocating my left wrist. Using the shackle as a fulcrum of sorts, I did what was needed and slipped my aching hand free. With a sickening pop it reset. I frantically reached into my picket, pulled out the remote rune detonator, and set it off. Once the rune disintegrated, I repeated the process with my right hand. I picked up the trick from Safana, while cleared out the last of Sarevok's followers. Slowly I slid down the rock, and crumpled into a squatting position. I hung my head between my knees, and said a prayer to Helm while I gathered my strength. No sooner had I finished my prayer, I heard the portal activate. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 5
Ferrum and I grew hoarse from yelling for Aurelia. Inside the barrier Hephernaan hovered over the flaming portal, Aurelia lost within. Caelar called for Hephernaan to lower the barriers so that she could let her soldiers march with her into the Hells. The magic stunk, something was wrong with it that I couldn't put my finger on. What was different about his magic? Hephernaan looked back at her, and replied languidly: "No." "What?" "Your usefulness is done, I have my own agenda." And with that he released himself from flight, and fell through the portal. Caelar screamed obscenities and hammered the barrier from her end of the portal. There was no more time to waste. Inspired by an impending sense of doom, I came up with a plan. Jaheira, M'Khiin and I all poured our various magics into Ferrum's Hammer. "We may not have any strength potions, but this may be enough. Strike after I've worn it down a bit with some firepower." A shockwave rocked the entire castle, knocking everyone in the room flat. The explosives! Does this mean? She can't be dead. Scrambling to my feet I directed a flaming blast at the barrier, which it skittered over, discoloring it as it went in long red streaks. The colors quickly began to fade to normal. The room shook violently, chunks of ceiling falling down and bouncing between the layers of magical battier.
"Now!" Ferrum swung, and created an deafening gong sound. The barrier came crashing down, raining green shards that turned to smoke upon contact with the floor. All 6 of us, friends and foes, threw ourselves into the portal. - Yuze
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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Chapter 11 To Hell With it All 28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 5
Following our failed parlay, we began one of the last steps of our plans. Attempt to kill Caelar Argent. Jaheira took a wildshape, a large horned bovine of some kind, and charged into the table straight for Caelar. Caelar moved with shocking speed. Her glowing aasimar eyes flared, and she drew her sword, cleaving through the table, and sawing off one of Jaheira's horns. M'Khiin locked swords with one of the guards, and Ferrum dented the others with his hammer until they stopped moving. Retreating through a door behind her, Caelar fled into the joining room. The low ceilings sprang up into vaulted panels painted in faded and peeling scenes. Carved into the tiled floor, two to three inches deep, was an enormous ritual circle, with Hephernaan, Caelar's mage at it's head. "Shit! Back up! Get out! Get out! It's a trap!" Yuze yelled frantically, recognizing the infernal writing on the floor immediately. We were too late though. Hephernaan raised his staff, and a translucent green barrier coated the perimeter of the room, sealing us in, and Caelar's surviving soldiers out. Yuze was already raining fire down upon the pair of foes, but quick counters from Hephernaan canceled out his barrage. Hephernaan motioned at me with his staff, as if to pull me, and pull me he did. I flew across the room end over end, clinging to my weapons for dear life. I slammed back down into the floor, in the center of the ritual circle. I gasped, the wind knocked out of me, and struggled in vain to move. It was as if I was made of lead, too heavy to lift my own limbs. "AURELIA" My fathers ran after me, but slammed into a new, second barrier, keeping them in the narrow strip between the circles edge and the wall. The whole of my party attempted to break through, even Jaheira, back in her normal form, chanting some kind of ritual. Yuze spewed white hot flames at the glassy green surface. The barrier discolored but did not budge, the red stain receding as the barrier mended itself. Hephernaan phased through his barrier, walking with slow intention, Caelar did not follow, standing back, with a conflicted look on her face. Hephernaan approached me, producing a knife from his waistband. Kneeling down he seized my wrist, lifted it effortlessly, unaffected by the spell that crushed me. He cut surgically, making a line two inches long down the length of my forearm. Red streaks dribbled down my arm. "I can't cut too deep you know, your blood is too valuable to just let you go even after this is said and done." I gaped at him, barely able to breathe, unable to make a sound. "Pathetic really, to be milked for your blood like a common cow." Hephernaan grinned, and then squeezed my forearm as hard as he could and slammed it back into the ground. I would have screamed if I could. Blood gushed out of my arm and splattered over the sigils Hephernaan had carved into the ground. Suddenly the room wash rushing away from me, flying into the air as I tumbled backwards into hellfire. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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28th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 160, Hour 5
We woke up early, and ventured from the neglected guest rooms, towards the active use section of the castle. It was in a dining room we found Caelar. She was flanked by a retinue of soldiers, who all sprung into defensive positions at our arrival. Caelar looked surprised, raising her hand to tell her soldiers to hold. The Shining Lady rolled up her war map, and steepled her fingers. "I would parlay." We lowered our weapons. Her guards lowered theirs. "I lost an army of loyal soldiers, in a doomed mission through the Hells once. They followed me, full of faith and righteousness, right to their damnation. Only I survived. Every last soldier that followed me to Avernus died there. Their deaths, their blood, sullies my hands. We must open a portal to the Hells, we must save those who receive eternal punishment for the sin of their loyalty. For *my* decisions. This crusade will bear down on every devil in our way, except for a snag. My blood does not contain sufficient divine essence to open the portal. That's where you come in, Aurelia." "I am of *fell* blood Argent, not divine. My father desires killing, not conquering, not victory in war. He has no interest in the Hells." "You're mostly right Aurelia. however, the ritual requires divine blood, not *good* blood. The child of any god, good or evil, will accomplish our goals." "You will not touch a hair on her-" Ferrum bristled and stepped forward in defense of me. "Stay your anger, noble guardian. I wish to make an offer." Ferrum paused, but did not lower his weapon. Caelar's guards had raised their weapons again, but did not move otherwise. "If you surrender yourself, we will cease all offensive operations. Hear me Aurelia, any destruction I have wrought has been of necessity! If you offer your blood freely, I will have everything I need, my troops and I will complete our rescue mission, and you may return home. We will have no reason to continue our crusade, we will be able to disband. Aurelia, please, take the route of peace." It would be safe to say, I did not believe her. Yuze would comment later that he half expected her to kill me and use *all* of m blood for the ritual. It had been my thought there was no rescue mission at all, that she served a devil. We were both partially right. Caelar did not take kindly to our refusal. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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27th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 159, Hour 20
We moved on from the royal bedroom and the ghost, and began to explore what would turn out to be a royal housing wing. Lavish bedrooms, spacious ballrooms, art galleries, all covered in a layer of hush and dust. We followed the footsteps as we approached a major juncture. Now the footprints dissipated as the foot traffic removed most of the immediate dirt and dust from the area.
In a room off to the side we found a gnome locked up. She was Glint Gardnersonson, a young woman kidnapped from her family and forced to serve the Crusade as a seamstress. We told her the way through the caverns and out to the surface, telling her the pass phrase for the spy on the outside. Exhausted, we retreat into one of the abandoned guest bedrooms, erected wards, and packed in for the night. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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27th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 159, Hour 12
With the explosives planted, we searched for prisoners and potential deserters, as well as searched for Caelar. Sending stone message signaled to the Coalition that the charges were set, and the army should approach the meeting point to make our siege camp (outside of the blast zone). Their signal to attack would be either a sending stone message from us that Caelar was subdued, or the explosion, set off by choice or by death. In the meantime we found several families of prisoners, and spent time guiding them back through the underdark and to the exit, where a waiting Coalition spy spirited them to our camp. Not too long ago we found a dungeon with some caged Ogres. With straw on the floor as their relief, it was clear the Shining Ladies forces did not consider them worthy of humane treatment. In exchange for their freedom, the Ogres told us of a passage they saw Caelar and her court mage use, activated by a torch brazier. Winding staircases led us up to a royal bedchamber, covered in dust, the only sign of disturbance being a faded set of footprints in matted rug, going straight for the door. In bed, appeared to be a glowing man. He started at our entry, and sat up, phasing right through the bed sheet he had been tucked into, a crumbling skull left behind on his pillow. He was a ghost. The ghost of Daeros Dragonspear. Wanting the cult of the Shining Lady gone from his resting place. He tells us of her plan to open a portal to the Nine Hells. We struggled to believe it, as twisted as her zealotry was, she was divinely driven, she was an *aasimar*! But the ghost insisted. Her mage, Hephernaan would help to open the passage. but he needed divine blood. "Isn't Calear a demigod?" M'Khiin asked "You'd think he'd use her blood and this all would have been done with already." The ghost squinted at M'Khiin. "Yes goblin, " The ghost glanced at me, seemingly checking to confirm she was not a foe "Caelar may be of celestial blood, but she is the child of mortal parents. Her blood is too thin." Perhaps we can stop her before she finds a substitute. - Aurelia
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sillywolffoxwrites · 2 months
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26th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 158, Hour 4
The sun will be rising soon, after a long tense trek through the underdark, we have arrived in the cellars of Dragonspear. The dowsing stone found us the best location, and we planted the explosives. Now to get as many innocents out as we could before we blew the place to Avernus. I hate that we plan to do this - I don't argue it's necessity, but so much history will be lost from here. We take a much needed rest momentarily. - Yuze
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