Chapter 24: The Road out of Hell
The savage seven found their way back to the wandering emporium after asking a soul coin and a merreneloth ferryman where the emporium could be now, finding it in the same place as before. There, they accepted Mahadi's deal and entered the infernal rapture where they partook in fine dining, spa treatments and good rest. Once again, mahadi's employees and mahadi himself tried to upsell their experience with more services but they resisted and only received what they came for. They left refreshed and renewed, and after selling some demon ichor and buying some spell components they departed for the bleeding citadel.
When they reached the citadel, they found the place covered in a thick "scab" material that proved hard as stone on the bottom and soft, bloody and spongy near the top. Keladrien teleported himself and Kathra to the top while Pan gave himself magical flight to reach them. They entered through a hole in the fleshy material and descended into a dark abyss of blood and gore. Lulu sensed the direction of the bleeding citadel and pointed them in that direction. After battling their way through demons inhabiting the scab, they found their way to the entrance of the citadel. There, they fought a nalfeshnee who tried to strike a deal with Kathra but but she ignored his pleas. After slaying the demon and his goat demon minions, lulu became ecstatic at finally being in sight of the citadel. She read the inscription on the gates, revealing that only one pure of heart could open them. Kathra pushed through, opening them with ease. Inside, the group was revitalized. Their wounds closed and they found themselves reinvigorated. Lulu briefly lost her memories of them as she basked in the glow of the sword of zariel. A ghost appeared and the group went into a deep sleep where they received visions of Zariel's fall.
In the visions, the town of Idyllglen was under demonic assault. As the last of its defenders battled the demon lord Yeenoghu, Zariel descended atop a winged golden mammoth (a shapeshifted lulu) and saved them. She sent Yeenoghu back through a rift to Avernus, and as the hellriders (as they would come to be known) joined her they charged through the gate. The group awakened, and lulu found that she remembered everything. She recalled being overcome by demons after crossing the portal and the hellriders abandoning them. Zariel was brought to Asmodeus and made to swear fielty to him. Meanwhile, Lulu and one of the hellriders named Yael fled with her sword. As the demon Crokek'toeck chased them down with a host of demons, Yael sacrificed herself to help build the citadel from positive energy around them and trapped the demons inside. The effort disoriented Lulu, who flew away and roamed Avernus for months. She then met the rakshasa Mahadi, who sprinkled water from the river Styx on Lulu's face, causing her to lose her memories and many abilities, and handed her over to Zariel, now turned into an archdevil, as a gift. Zariel, unwilling to harm her former friend, had her sent back to Faerûn, unharmed. Lulu spent years wandering in the Fields of the Dead, where she later met and befriended the tiefling Sylvira Savikas, a sage from Candlekeep.
Yael then asked who among them would be brave enough to claim the sword, for to claim it would mean losing oneself to it. Kathra stepped forward and drew the blade from the dais. As she did, her hair began to glow bright orange. Her eyes were replaced with pools of radiant silver light, and feathery wings sprouted from her back. A wave of positive energy flowed out and obliterated the citadel, the scab and the demons inside. Kathra found her personality changed, replaced with a fervent desire to destroy all evil. With the sword in hand and lulu's memories restored, the group decided to find Zariel. Lulu transformed into a winged mammoth and carried Pan and Keladrien, while Kathra flew with her new wings. They traveled to Elturel and found Zariel on the banks of the river Styx, trying to pull the city down into the river and surrounded by hordes of battling fiends. The group landed in a safe location, where Kathra conjured a heroes' feast. They consumed the feast, gaining supernatural health and other boons from it before heading to meet Zariel.
Pan tried to convince Zariel to return to the celestial host, but she laughed and refused. As she began her attack, the group called for Arkhan's help. He arrived moments later via teleportation along with his minotaur minion Torogar Steelfist. Battle ensued, and Keladrien summoned forth a group of skeletons from the scattered remains of fiends on the field. With a veritable army of undead minions, Arkhan and Torogar the group fought the archduke of Avernus herself. She proved extremely deadly, destroying skeletons with a single swipe of her flail and nearly killing Pan with a smash of her hammer Matalotok. She crushed Lulu with a swing of her flail, sending her flying against a rock. Kathra conjured forth an aura of restorative and protective magic that brought her back moments later. As the group battled, Zariel immolated them with a glare and wittled away at their defenses with her mighty flail and hammer. She teleported around, keeping the host of melee fighters scrambling. As they learned what could harm her, the group focused on dealing radiant damage to keep her from regenerating and avoided necrotic magic. Keladrien unleashed lightning bolts and Pan used his bardic magic to assault her psychically. Swords clashed against flail and hammer. Divine justice and healing words rained down from Kathra in equal measure. Finally, Zariel could take no longer. With the group's resources nearly depleted, the host of undead minions controlled by the necromancer Keladrien found their mark in a weakened and distracted Zariel. Surrounded by skeletons, ghouls, the savage seven and Arkhan, a ghoul crawled atop Zariel and found purchase with his teeth in her throat. The ghoul ripped out the arch duke's throat, sending her into a convulsive dance of destruction as fire and radiant light errupted from her. She exploded, sending a shockwave through her legions and halting the battle between devils and demons. As she died, the sword grew too hot for Kathra to handle. As she dropped it, it shattered upon the Avernian ground. She returned to normal, finding her personality restored. The wings, however, remained as a gift from the celestial host for her enduring faith.
The battlefield grew calm, with all involved awaiting what comes next...
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