Scab and Citadel
General Summary
Day 85 since arriving in Avernus
The Bleeding Citadel, Avernus, First Layer of the Nine Hells
Nearly two months had passed since the adventurers left the unicorn, Mooncolor.
After freeing Mooncolor, Lulu suddenly remembered the location of the Bleeding Citadel, a fortress built to house and protect the Sword of Zariel.
Along the way, they encountered a tiefling trying to fend off several vrocks. After helping fight off the vrocks, the tiefling introduced himself as Mordecai, a paladin of Tempus. He said he was traveling with an adventuring company of paladins and clerics who called themselves the Righteous Band of Brothers. He said he and the others in his company had met in Sigil, the City of Doors. During one of their many adventures, they had come upon a town full of slain people. With the use of spells, they learned that the townsfolks had all been slaughtered by devils who had arrived in the area through a nearby portal. The company soon found the portal in a nearby ruin. After killing several devils at the ruin, the Righteous Band of Brothers stepped through the portal and vowed to slay as many devils as possible.
Mordecai said he doesn't know how long he had been in Avernus. But he was the last in his company to survive the countless battles he and the others waged against the infinite number of devils in the Nine Hells. Like his fellow adventurers, Mordecai wasn't afraid of dying. He just wanted to slay as many devils as he could.
Knowing Mordecai would be a valuable ally against the devils in Avernus, the adventurers known as Wink's Warriors gladly accepted the tiefling paladin into their ranks.
After two months of traveling across Avernus's endless wastes, the group finally arrived at the Bleeding Citadel.
A great, disgusting scab the size of a large hill rose from a stinking swamp of blood. The domed top of an alabaster temple poked through the scab. Many black iron chains of Avernus converged on the building, attaching within the grotesque mound.
Lulu warned the others that the entire scab would eventually cover the citadel, whereupon the citadel would be absorbed into the Nine Hells, and the Sword of Zariel would be lost forever. She also told the others that the lower portion of the scab covers the only entrance to the citadel.
The adventurers circled the citadel and found a cave--or rather, a large gaping wound--in the scab. It was over 300 feet above the swamp of blood.
The adventurers made their way up to the scab entrance. Once inside, they made their way back down through tunnels and caverns that felt and smelled like the innards of some foul beast.
Along the way, they came upon chambers littered with massive piles of bones and offal. Another large chamber contained a nine-foot-tall statue of a hulking biped with clawed hands and feet. Lulu recognized that the statue was a crude likeness of Yeenoghu, the demon lord of gnolls.
In some chambers, the group saw the bodies of those unfortunate enough to die inside the scab, their bodies slowly absorbed by the fleshy matter around them. No equipment was to be found since any fiend had likely taken those.
Eventually, the adventurers found themselves in a large cavern.
Brass double doors stood exposed in the wall of the scab within the cavern. A relief image on the doors depicted a blindfolded angel wielding a sword, and beautiful, gold-inlaid runes were carved into the door frame.
Three goat-headed demons with barbed tails threw themselves against the door as a corpulent, ape-like fiend with tusks and tiny wings kicked at them, roaring commands in Abyssal that only Jade could understand in the group. Jade, fluent in Celestial, could also read the runes, which read, "Against evil, we stand united. Only the pure of heart can part these holy gates.”
Since Jade could understand and speak Abyssal, she devised a plan to trick the fiends.
Using her Hat of Disguise, Jade made herself appear like a fiend she had seen in Avernus. She then flew down into the cavern from the ledge the group arrived at.
But as she spoke to the fiend in charge, the creature stared at her and asked what a tabaxi like her was doing here alone. The fiend, whom one of the horned fiends called Trantolox, said he had just feasted upon the remains of a tabaxi over a month ago and was hungry for another.
Trantolox winked at Jade, and said he was a nalfeshnee, a powerful demon who could see through the obvious illusion Jade was trying to trick him with.
At that point, Brimsdall, who had been readying a spell in case a battle broke out, released his spell.
Despite fighting against a powerful demon like Trantolox, the adventurers proved victorious...with the help of bright white light pouring out of the bronze doors after Lulu willed the doors to open while she hovered in front of it.
The demons screamed as the blinding holy light seared their flesh. The three horned demons were instantly vaporized. Trantolox lasted several seconds longer. His dying scream ended when the light destroyed his body.
With the demons gone, Lulu flew into the light and disappeared.
The others quickly followed.
Bright white light burned away the blood and grit staining everyone's clothes. Restorative energy brought life to numb muscles as the glow softened to reveal the interior of a sun-kissed cathedral. How light passed through the scab and into the stained glass windows was a mystery only magic could answer. Pillars lined a path from the door to a raised dais carved with Celestial runes.
Embedded in a stone atop the dais was a glowing longsword.
In Celestial, the carvings on the dais read, “The hero who becomes one with this blade exists no longer.” Jade read the words aloud to the others.
Suddenly, the translucent image of a woman in her thirties, wearing plate armor and a thin scar on her cheek, appeared staring solemnly at the sword with sad eyes.
“It is beautiful, is it not?” the ghost said softly, her voice barely above a whisper yet echoing off the citadel’s alabaster walls. “I am afraid you cannot wield it. Yet.”
Lulu was excited to see the ghost, whom she knew somehow. "It's General Yael! She rode with the Hellriders to mount an assault on Avernus to end the Blood War between demons and devils. But that was over a century ago!"
Yael smiled at Lulu and then moved in front of a stained glass window depicting an archdevil offering his hand to a beautiful female angel.
“As you probably know by now, Zariel was not always the Archduke of Avernus,” Yael said.
As Yael spoke, the stained glass moved and flowed, showing the angel taking the archdevil’s hand. The angel rose to her feet, and as she does, her blue-feathered wings withered and blackened, her soft hair dried out and falls off, and her shining halo became an arch of Hellfire around her bald pate.
“Her fall seemed sudden, but I knew her better than most. It was the natural conclusion of a promise she made long before.”
Yael stood before another stained glass window showing Zariel fighting off hordes of demons and devils before her fall. Once again, the window began moving as humanoid knights on horses appeared to fight alongside her, wielding lances and swords.
“We followed her into Hell because we believed in her. Because we believed that she was right: we could not win a war if we only defended ourselves. To defeat evil, we had to take the fight to the fiends. We all knew that, for we had seen the consequences of passivity and timidity many times.”
The ghost of Yael paused in front of a third stained glass window showing a peaceful hamlet on a sunny day.
“Zariel’s fall began long before she came to this Hell,” she said, her voice sad and filled with regret.
The window shifted, showing demonic figures running into the town, setting fires, and slaughtering townspeople. Yael's form began to glow brighter and brighter until the light shining from her was blinding.
“If you want to wield the Sword of Zariel, you must first understand its wielder.”
The words were the last thing everyone heard before the world around them was only light.
As their sight returned, the solace of the cathedral was replaced by havoc, screams of panic, and acrid smoke. The group found themselves standing at the edge of a small town of burning cottages, fields, and trees.
A broken sign on the ground revealed the settlement’s name: Idyllglen.
Yael and Lulu
Report Date
09 Dec 2022
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