Chapter 1-13: Stygian Prison

General Summary

The party started to spread out to search for the missing drow. Suddenly they found themselves rooted in place, unable to move. Even the flickering torches appeared to be frozen. Suddenly the temperature dropped sharply and flurries of snow began to swirl around them. With a thunderous groan, the building collapsed around them, revealing a barren icy landscape stretching from horizon to horizon as far as the eye can see. The unseen force released their limbs and they stumbled.
All around the ground groaned and creaked, gargantuan icebergs thrust upward from the glacier like jagged talons outstretched towards the featureless black sky, split by occasional forks of silver lightning. Jagged ravines crisscrossed the earth like scars.
Directly ahead of the party, a series of cyclopean steps were carved into the ice, plunging down into one of these ravines. Aetilius recognised this place from the descriptions he'd heard, whispered by some of the haunted eyed inquisitors of the monastery. This was Stygia - the 5th Circle of Hell.
The howling wind tore at the party's skin, and the chill began to drive icy fingers into their flesh. They couldn't survive much longer out here in the elements. With some trepidation they decided to cautiously follow the path down into the ravine.
As they walked, Aetilius explained what he knew of this realm. Stygia had originally been ruled by an Archdeveil known as Levistus. However, after a failed insurrection against the Lord of the Nine Hells - Asmodeus - Levistus had been captured and trapped in a massive column of ice, and the stewardship of the circle passed to a loyal demon known as Geryon.
For some unknown reason, recently Asmodeus deposed Geryon and returned control of Stygia to Levistus, who now continues his business of collecting souls from his icy prison through telepathic commands to his loyal followers. The massive icy staircase led downward for around 60ft, to an imposing archway carved into the wall of the ravine, set with a giant brass door. Passing through the doorway, the group found themselves in the corner of a pitch black square room - roughly 30ft across and 20ft high. In the opposite wall, directly in front of the entrance, stood another brass doorway. Clootie created a ball of mystical light and threw it up into the air to illuminate the area. The walls of the room appear to be made of carved slate blocks, and there is a small hole in the centre of the ceiling. Aetilius leapt upwards and spread his wings, intending to fly up to investigate the ceiling. As his wings extended, the tip brushed against an invisible object and his muscles were suddenly paralyzed. He plummeted to the ground and lay there frozen, and the entrance door slammed shut behind them. Ramas quickly lit a torch and threw it beyond Aetilius - revealing nothing. Clootie cast her Unseen Servant, and sent it toward the opposite door. Roughly 30ft from the entrance, the servant dissipated with the faintest flicker of blue light. Badger climbed off Miaug's shoulders, and padded forward to investigate. As he approached the point the Unseen Servant had dissipated, a faint acrid smell filled his nostrils and he turned away. A few feet further away from the side wall, Badger's nose struck another invisible wall and he fell over paralysed. Ramas reached into his backpack, and pulled out a small bag of ball bearings. Grabbing a handful, he scattered them forwards. The bearings rolled in many directions, coming to rest in straight lines across the middle of the floor - outlining a pattern of invisible walls. Armed with this ingenious method of mapping the room, Ramas distributed a handful of bearings to each member of the party and they began to gradually explore the maze. Once the party rounded the first corner in the maze, water began to trickle in through the hole in the ceiling, quickly turning into a torrent which rapidly began to fill the room. After a short time, Aetilius and Badger recovered, and Aetilius tested one of the invisible walls with his blade. He felt resistance, but was not paralysed. About this time, the water on the floor became too deep to allow the ball bearings to roll correctly. After this the party's movement slowed drastically as they carefully made their way through the maze, probing the walls with their weapons. Eventually the party made their way through the maze, Clootie climbing on various party members when the water got too deep for her to walk, and Badger occasionally leaping off Miaug to explore ahead. As soon as they touched the exit door, the walls vanished and the water suddenly drained through the floor, leaving the group wet and cold on the stone floor. The party noticed the exit door was engraved with a tableau of creatures drowning under a massive tsunami.
As the group stepped into the next chamber, torches burst into flame in the centre of the room. The torches were mounted on an ice sculpture in the centre of the room in the shape of a stylized pine tree. On the far side of the room was another set of brass doors. The room was filled with the fresh scent of pine, but underneath that lingered the faintest hint of rotten meat.
As Ramas stepped closer to the sculpture, the torches exploded into blazing pillars of flame - singing Ramas's clothing. The torches then abruptly went out, before reigniting and casting a low flickering light around the room. The intense heat of the blast had fully melted the sculpture, revealing a hideous creature of exposed bone and spines. It looked at the party, cocked it head and hissed violently, before leaping forwards and swiping around with it's claws. After a few swipes, it lashed out with its barbed tail at Ryoko, but missed and buried its tail barb in the wall beside her. Seizing the advantage, the party swiftly surrounded the creature and managed to bring it down. As the bone devil spluttered it's final breath, the brass door opened into the next chamber.
In the centre of the next room stood a strange geometric construct, a central stone pillar surrounded by a spiral of six stone steps. On each step, and atop the pillar, sat an unlit lantern. In the left hand wall stood another imposing set of brass doors - this time etched with images of a great battle between devils and angels. The scene depicted one angel holding up a staff, and a burst of bright light disintegrating the infernal hordes. The party decided to try and light the lanterns from the bottom up. As soon as they touched the torch to the first lantern, a great bell pealed and a burst of bright radiant light erupted from the pillar, blinding the group. As their vision cleared, they discovered the only casualty of the explosion had been Ramas's familiar. The exit door clicked open.
In the next room, the group found three statues, with a phrase etched into the wall above them in Infernal: "Kneel in supplication before your lord". The leftmost statue was of an imposing humanoid figure in black plate armour. Two curved horns protruded from his forehead as he looked down with a sneer. Aetilius identified this as Asmodeus - Lord of the Nine Hells. The middle statue was of a handsome human male, with long dark hair and close trimmed beard. He was dressed in fine silk attire, and his face was lit by a cocky half-smile. Aetilius identified him as Levistus - the current ruler of Stygia. The right hand statue was of a monstrous creature, with the body of a snake ending in the barbed tail of a scorpion, with the head, arms and torso of a man. On his back were two furled wings. His long dark hair was swept over one shoulder, and his fanged teeth were bared in a snarl. Aetilius identified this creature as Geryon - the deposed ruler of Stygia.
The majority of the group elected to hide in the lantern room, while Aetilius and Ryoko knelt in front of the statue of Asmodeus (literally the worst paladin - trust me, Selune isn't gonna forgive that one easily). As they did so, a burst of icy blue flame erupted from the walls and floor all around the room (except in front of the statue of Levistus) burning them badly. Afterwards, the exit door clicked open
The final door opened into a large cavern, lit by a lake of ice cold blue fire. From the centre of the lake, a pinnacle of rock and ice rose towards the cavern roof. A narrow bridge of ice spanned the lake to base of the crag. Steps were carved into the ice of spire, spiralling upwards to the peak. The party made their way up the steps, to a small cavern carved into the rood of the chamber. In the far wall was a small alcove, in which a portly gentleman with a white bushy beard and a red suit, was chained to the wall. He looked up at the group and tried to muter a warning, when suddenly three spikes of ice erupted from the walls around the alcove, forming a seal of ice across the entrance. Bursts of white fire exploded from the floor in front of this barrier.
Miaug stood and watched the dancing flames, trying to discern a pattern, while Aetilus and Clootie examined the ice. Ramas decided to dart across the fire, and slash at the ice with his dagger. The ice was thin and brittle, and smashed easily - but reformed almost instantly. Aetilius and Clootie deduced that the ice spikes was connected to a ring of magical ice imbedded in the cavern walls, and that all three spike must be destroyed simultaneously in order to weaken the barrier. Clootie was then blasted backward by the fire and knocked prone. The remainder of the party focused their attacks on the ice - Ryoko's fire breath destroying two of the spikes, while Miaug's arrow shattered the third spike. Aetilius then cracked the centre seal, and the ice fell away. The flames died down and prisoner was revealed. Aetilius touched the manacles, and was knocked back by a burst of magical energy as the manacles fell away. The man stepped forwards into the cavern.
As he looked at the group, his eyes changed from icy blue to featureless black orbs. He grinned at the party, revealing rows of razor sharp fangs, and he stood up straight, seeming to grow to fill the cavern, as his suit bulged and split revealing a scaly torso. His legs fused together and coiled out into a huge serpent's tail, and two leathery wings burst from his back.
"Thank you children" Geryon drawled in a rasping leathery voice, "Finally I am free and Levistus will pay" He reached a clawed hand towards the group, "But first - for you payment" His grin widened to an almost impossible extent, splitting his face in a horrifying razor filled way, and he raised up as though about to strike.
Suddenly the party found themselves back in the Throne Room (except for their mysterious monk friend, who had been sent back to her own world). They heard the faint ghost of malicious laughter fading into the air around them. In front of each of the group was a small wooden box.
Ramas opened his box, revealing a set of carved bone dice. These are Charlatan's Dice - they will roll whichever number their owner decides. Inside Aetilius's box was a helm of overlapping chitin scales, with two cut-outs for his horns. This is a Dread Helm - whenever he wears it, his face is cast into shadow and his eyes glow from the darkness. Clootie's box contained a intricately carved bone washboard. This is an Instrument of Illusion - as Clootie plays it she can make illusions appear around her. Ryoko's box contained an intricately carved pipe, made out of a huge serpent's tooth. This is a Pipe of Smoke Monsters - as she smokes it, she can form the smoke puffs into tiny animals who will take on a life of their own for a few seconds. Finally, Miaug opened her box to find a 1ft long pole of hollow carved bone. This is a Pole of Collapsing - when she utters the keyword "Vantil" (elvish for Stick) the pole will rapidly extend up to it's full length of 10ft (or as far as it can in the available space). Repeating the keyword will cause the pole to collapse back down to 1ft.