Kairus' Journal

This document bears infernal marks, and as the writer notes, once bore an illusory enchantment to protect its content. It is written by Kairus, and details the time he and many others spent on the Mortal Realm before arriving in Gravesend.
We were not told many details, other than that we were being conscripted to serve the God of Hell, our patron and caretaker, Baelfury. Every abled body soul was to take up whatever arms they could and serve under the command of the nine Princes of Hell, the archdevils. We knew only that Baelfury’s child had been taken by his jealous former wife and goddess of the pompous realm of light, Celestine and hidden away somewhere on the Mortal Plane. Those of our village, lead by Vexoryl, were assigned under the command of Asmodeus and both Vexoryl and his brother Shadoryl were made lieutenants in his warhost. We were among the last to be conscripted into the war, and it was clear to us that Asmodeus had already seen quite a bit of battle, and quite a bit of loss. The warhost we joined was fragmented, tieflings from various towns and villages, decimated from their original numbers. When Baelfury opened the gates of Hell and let us flood through we were to meet with a number of his human allies on the Mortal Realm.

However, when we arrived there, the situation had been far worse than we imagined. Baelfury had also let loose the great demons, agents of chaos who serve no one but their own vices, it was clear he was becoming desperate. Furthermore our human allies were few and far between. The next several months were grim work as we made our way along the coast fighting the Army of the Light as well as a rogue kingdom of humans who seemed to be on a side all to their own. Vexoryl and Shadoryl’s blade cut down many, and my magic incinerated hundreds by the end of the campaign, looking back many of our victims were conscripts and innocents. The deaths our enemies dealt to us paid back tenfold, but the toll of this war on our hearts and souls was almost as devastating.

Six years into the campaign we heard news that the archangels, Paragon and Benedictus, had slain several of the greater demon lords, sending their twisted souls back to hell, as well as smote both Prince Naamah and Prince Lith. scattering their armies to the wind. Asmodeus, regarded as one of the strongest of the archdevils changed our course to avenge his brothers who had been obliterated with some weapon. He feared that a weapon that those Princes had been harboring, and created by Vexoryl and Shadoryl’s father Solomon, had fallen into their hands. When we met the archangels on the field of battle we thought victory was at hand for us, Asmodeus had the upper hand, even against two archangels. But that is when they appeared. The twisted “goddess of light and love” had somehow turned Death onto her side, and two of their riders joined the fray. Asmodeus did not stand a chance and he was obliterated by the riders, and we were scattered.

Of the few thousand in Asmodeus’ host, only less than one hundred of us remained. When we attempted to return home, the power of Baelfury failed us, and we were trapped on a plane that was foreign to us. Over the next decade we continued to fight and flee, trying to survive. We heard news that even the great demon lords were starting to fall and that all of the Princes of Hell had been destroyed. It was then we came across a strange sight, a small band of the chosen lost and wandering just as we were. We readied for a fight, but Vexoryl stayed our blades. He went to them, without arms, and spoke, returning with them. He told us that we were no different, strangers in a strange land, and that they were being hunted just as we. Their leader was a powerful aasimar warrior called Ellydenia and told us that after refusing to destroy civilians and burn cities and towns, that they were hunted, by none other than the Angel of the Hunt. Venandi.

Many of us, myself included, did not believe this story, and I personally argued that these agents of Celestine should be put to the sword if we were to survive. However it was soon verified when Venandi himself caught up with them. He and his posse of humans to whom he had lent his power attacked us, and while we were able to kill off many of the mortals, Venandi had proved too powerful. Vexoryl ordered his brother to take the aasimar and the remaining tieflings and flee, but he refused. Vexoryl then ordered me to enchant his brother to comply, and in the moment of chaos and confusion, I complied.

As we fled we saw the battle between mortal tiefling and immortal angel. Vexoryl managed to deal a critical blow, not a mortal one, but one that would cause Venandi to cease his pursuit for some time to recover. It came at a great cost however, for Vexoryl had used a tactic to land this blow that left him exposed, and in retaliation I witnessed Venandi take the head of our leader. When Shadoryl regained control, I offered myself to him, and as he was about to take my head, Ellydenia stopped him, saving my life.

We continued to travel in the shadows, no longer picking fights when we could. We were refugees and soon the word came that the last of the demon lords, Pride, was slain, and the war was over. We knew that our only hope of survival was to find a way to exist peacefully in the mortal realm, to stay hidden and eke out a new life. That was easier said than done however. We lost many more over the next few years while we sought out a place to live. We gained some as well, others in our position looking for the same thing. We also came across something strange, an old human woman cornered by a mob. As the mob came down on her Ellydenia interceded, and Shadoryl and the rest followed. We drove off the mob but not before she was dealt a mortal blow. In her dying breath she told us that she had come to care for, in her words, an innocent child guilty of no crimes except being born. It was hard to understand her through her mortal accent, but we believed that she had come to call the child Aldric, and that he was the spawn of a demon taking a woman to bed. The woman had found the child abandoned and chosen to care for it, for which she was condemned to death. She looked like she had come so far, fleeing for Baelfury knows how long, and had come to die in the mountains, alone.

Shadoryl and Ellydenia took the child in, and I cared for him as well, we all did. It was less than a year before we came across a small ruined village, with only a family of strange halflings as occupants. During our travels I had begun to enchant pieces of jewelry, and in the years we spent as refugees, I was able to get enough for most of the group. This jewelry gave us the appearance of normal humans, and with it we were able to deceive the halflings. With their permission we were able to rebuild the town. Over years it came to become a small, but thriving village hidden away in the mountains. Others, humans, also came to settle here, many displaced or suffered from the many decades of war before. Eventually a rider came to town, announcing that we were now a part of the kingdom of Renvere, and that if we swore fealty, our leaders would be elevated to lords, to rule the town and serve under the new Baron. Finally we felt integrated, and that is where our story as refugees came to an end.