Chapter 25: Exodus
An eerie silence came across the battlefield as the savage seven looked around, having slain the Archduchess of Avernus Zariel. Arkhan looked out at the fiendish hordes surrounding them and said "I'll deal with my new subjects, you deal with that city" before walking away with Torogar Steelfist. Keladrien then pulled the portable hole from his pocket, gave it to Kathra and told her to take good care of it before leaving with Arkhan. Lulu, after recovering from the shock of Zariel's death, pledged her service to Kathra and asked for a weapon so she could help in battle (having lost her celestial powers when Zariel died), then picked up one of the hellfire shortswords Keladrien's undead minions had used in the battle with Zariel. The group then flew up to Elturel (Kathra using her wings and the rest with magical flight) and found a massive ruined city half ablaze and filled with undead. The companion floating above the city arced lightning bolts that seemed to raise the dead.
As they approached the companion, they heard the sound of battle beneath them and saw a single man fighting off a horde of undead. They descended and joined the fight. He wore plate armor emblazoned with the symbol of helm (a gauntlet with an eye in the center), carried a holy symbol clipped to his breastplate and fought with a halberd. A hooded cloak draped over his shoulders and his helmet covered most of his face, but still revealed glowing white eyes and a white beard. As he slew the dead, flashes of light seared their flesh as his strikes seemed to deliver divine justice. With the undead once again dead, he introduced himself as Dorn (a knight of the order of the mark). He had traveled to Elturel to study the companion when the city was taken a week ago. Since being trapped here, he had been fighting off the undead as his order had trained him to. Kathra flew up to the companion with the adamantine rods they have found in the crashed flying fortress and slid the rods into place. As she slid the last rod in, the metal sphere ceased crackling with lightning. Light erupted around it as it opened, flooding the courtyard with radiance. As their vision returned, they saw a resplendent figure before them. A blue-skinned angel (a plenetar) with glowing white eyes and feathery wings hovered before Kathra. He introduced himself as Nascius of the celestial host of Mount Celestia, and revealed he had once fought alongside Zariel against the demons. After her fall, she trapped him within the device (built by Bel) and used his celestial energy to destroy the undead facing Elturel. When it was time for the city to be brought to Elturel, its purpose reversed and brought the city to Avernus--raising the dead into undead minions across the city.
The planetar Ascius suggested he could carry the city out of Avernus and back to its rightful place in the material plane if the chains were dealt with. As soon as he spoke the words, a booming sound was heard across Avernus as Tiamat streaked through the skies in a blur of colors. One beam of energy from each of her 5 heads destroyed the chains, freeing the city. As she finished, she revealed herself in all of her majesty before Elturel (nearly as large as the floating city) and said "It is done, now return to your puny world, mortals..."
The group met with the survivors, who had now emerged from the great hall near them. Grand Duke Ulder Ravenguard of Baldur's Gate greeted them, asking who they were and what was going on. They told the survivors that the city would be returned to its place in the material plane, and when asked what they called themselves they answered "The Hellraisers." After telling Nascius they were ready, he flew down beneath the city and began lifting it out of hell. As the flying city sped up and became more turbulent, fiery skies turned to starry night and a flurry of colors as they traversed the boundary between planes. Suddenly, the pit fiend Bel appeared and tried to reach for them. Nascius flew in blade in hand and severed Bel's hand, but the attack had pushed them away from the city. They tumbled away into the depths of the space between realms and faded to darkness.
They awoke in a grassy field, being prodded by a group of Knights in plate armor wearing purple cloaks and bearing the insignia of Cormyr (a rearing dragon). Surrounding them on the ground was a circle of infernal runes and scorched grass. After some questioning, the knights revealed that Elturel had been returned some 2 years ago but the adventurers known as the hellraisers were thought to have perished since they never returned with the city. Now famous, the group found themselves in the middle of the kingdom of Cormyr. The knights offered them a ride back to the city of Suzail (capital of Cormyr) where they were led to the Royal Palace to meet the king Reman Obarskyr. King Reman questioned them about their adventure in Avernus before offering to send them on a quest for the Crown. He sent them to the registrant general's office to be registered as an adventuring company before the purple dragon knights led them to a club known as the Society of Stalwart Adventurers. There, their newfound fame allowed them a free stay for a week and a fine meal on the house.
The next day, they were led back to the palace by the purple dragon knights as the king awaited them to reveal the quest. He told them about the kingdom of Thay to the east and the Lich Szass Tam who had turned the entire kingdom into an undead wasteland after a failed coup 100 years ago. The Thaycreep had been growing at an alarming rate, reaching into the waters of the sea of fallen stars and turning the sealife undead. Limited fishing routes led to disputes with the nearby kingdom of Sembia, which turned into all out war some 6 years ago. King Reman wished to deal with the Thaycreep once and for all (instead of sending small parties of knights there over the last 100 years) by slaying the lich Szass Tam. He had planned a grand expedition to set up a small outpost on the Thayan Coast, ensured by an escort by the party (rewarded with landed knighthood if they could end the Thaycreep). But his investors (the wealthy noble house Bleth) wished to ensure their investment was sound and asked for a test of might from the adventurers in question. And so the King pointed the Hellraisers to a red dragon who had been harassing the roads into Cormyr of late. He believed it to be roosting in the Stormhorn mountains to the west. The group agreed and set out to purchase supplies for the journey.
In the mountains, they were able to track the creature to its lair in a cave high up on the eastern side. Dorn attempted to sway the dragon to leave Cormyr, but it attacked (promising to also kill his brothers at the nearby monastery "the last bastion" where the knights of the mark reside). The battle was surprisingly swift. The group did not allow the dragon to fly out of their reach and assaulted him with volleys of magic and a flurry of attacks from a magically hasted Dorn. Before it could breathe its fiery breath a second time, Nalzmyr ended the dragon's life with several eldritch blasts into its head. They then ventured into its lair and began looting its hoard.
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