Swamp, Swamp, and More Swamp
The Foundation woke from rest in the midst of the river-side swamps of the Shadow Marches. All except for Rasp bathed in the river and continued on their trek. By mid-day, they reached the market city of Arashuul, a collection of boats, docks, and barges tied together in the widest part of the Blackwater River.
However, with time being of the essence, the party passed right through the sensory overload of the exotic city and continued west. Here, the terrain dropped down cliffs and hills to lowlands with ever larger trees and heavier swampland known as the Vile Marshes. Because the party ran into the Watchers centaurs, and thanks to Rosa’s dragonmark located on her eyepatch covered eye, they managed to avoid a basilisk who had made a home in a road-side hollow.
After a full day of travel, the party rested, with Vax yet again having a dreamless sleep. The party set watches, but nothing came for them in the night. The next day, the party woke to a sweltering day of travel through the Vile Marshes. This muddy, wet, hot, and tiring trek went on throughout the day until near nightfall. As the Foundation was passing through large, almost redwood-like trees in the bogs, Bal noticed a faint, floating light off to one side of their path. Within moments, a dozen or so of these floating lights had appeared around them and were growing in number by the second. Before they could make any moves, a figure appeared in a large tree stump nearby, offering them respite inside from what Rosa identified as will o’ wisps. Feeling that their moment of opportunity was closing, the party ducked inside the stump. Vax waited for the figure to go inside first, which he did, and then Vax followed.
They Said the Devil would Beautiful
Inside, they found not a carved out abode, but a fancy, elaborate den with shelves of books, a sitting area around a fireplace, tea, and other comforts. In the well-lit space, the figure appeared to be a red-skinned gentleman with long black hair, a long goatee, and a fetching smile. He offered the party cigarettes and tea if they wanted, with Rasp accepting a cigarette and eating it.
The figure, who introduced himself as
Zaz, was cordial and accommodating, but did not shy away from telling the party about himself when asked. He said that he was a devil, long exiled from the Demon Wastes to the north for wanting to get back home. He explained that he had come to this plane back during the Crusade of Flames, the very crusade that Tira Miron had triggered and eventually ended. The devils that were driven to the Demon Wastes were stuck on this plane and he wanted to get back home. For that, he was exiled from the Wastes and eventually made his way down to the Marches where he made this home for himself.
He was also open about why he was helping them: he wanted to make a deal for the party’s souls. The only way to get back to the Nine Hells was to buy his passage through with souls, of which he had acquired very little in his years in the Marches. He explained that when you die, you don’t know what happens to your soul and you don’t need it, so why not gain something for nothing.
Zaz moved to the office he had attached to the den and said he wanted to make them offers. He then told the party they could leave at any time if they wanted and that there was no pressure for them to sell their soul. If they didn’t want the deal, then that just meant he did a bad job selling them on it. When no one left, Zaz continued.
In turn, he took each of the party into his office and made his offers. During these offers, Vax and Marcella hung around the doorway to the office, eavesdropping on each of the meetings. For Rosa, who went first, he offered to let her see her fiancee again who disappeared into the Mournlands as he was one of the first teams sent in after the disaster. Rosa refused curtly and returned to the sitting area where she sat quietly.
Next, he called in Bal. At first, he offered Bal information in exchange for his soul, namely what happened to the “shipment” that got away. Then, Zaz moved onto Bal’s kalashtar heritage, stating that it was rare for a kalashtar to come from two human parents. He then asked if Bal wanted to know why he was chosen and eventually offered to strengthen his connection with Melk, the quori spirit attached to Bal. Bal said he would need to contemplate and Zaz let him go back to the sitting area.
Next was Rasp. While they were talking, Zaz seemingly lifted the Kenku curse allowing Rasp to speak normally. He then offered to make it permanent, but Rasp did not want that. Then, Zaz offered to tell Rasp why he smelled like death, to which Rasp responded by emptying his pockets of the various bones and miscellany he had stored there. Zaz laughed and moved on, asking if Rasp would want to have that memory back that someone took from him. Rasp wasn’t interested and Zaz knew a lost cause when he saw one, so he gave up on the offer and Rasp returned to the sitting area.
Zaz then called in Yves who he said he could see through the wall spying on the conversations, though he didn’t seem to mind. After a brief back-and-forth, Zaz produced an illusion of Alain’s head, asking if that was what Yves wanted. Yves hesitated and Zaz instead switched to another illusion: an official document signed by the Queen of Aundair reinstating Yves into the Royal Eyes and elevating them to the position of Spymaster. Yves also said they would need to contemplate this and left the office.
Zaz asked Mila to join him and Yves pointedly went to the sitting area instead of spying on the conversation. Mila sat down and, before Zaz could say anything, told him to make his best offer instead of making all the small talk. Zaz unflinchingly offered protection for Mila’s siblings for the rest of their natural lives. Mila immediately said yes. As Zaz was drawing up the contract, he noted that he could not offer protection for Mila’s brother, Konstantin (the only publicly-known living Cyran royal). He explained that, as the heir of the Galifar Empire, he could not touch Konstantin or have him be a part of a contract. “His soul is his and his alone”, he said. In explanation, he only offered that there are some things that even he cannot touch. Mila still accepted these terms. While they were waiting, Mila mentioned that Zaz knew quite a lot and asked if he could identify the dragonmark on the back of her neck. Zaz took a quick look at the mark and his demeanor changed. He seemed flustered almost. The contract finished drawing itself up and Zaz asked Mila to go ahead and sign it because he had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to. Sure enough, when Mila tried to sign, the ink disappeared from the page, unable to complete the contract.
Zaz slammed his hands on the table and, after calming himself a bit, he explained that the mark on her neck was no aberrant dragonmark, but was actually the Mark of Death, once belonging to the now-extinct House Vol. She would be unable to sell her soul. With that, Mila returned confused to the sitting area and Zaz finally called in Vax.
Vax immediately took control of the conversation and said that they would negotiate the terms and Zaz would need to give him something good because he already has quite a lot of arcane power. Zaz agreed, saying that when he first saw Vax, his initial thought was to give him the people who killed his parents, dead. But then he thought that wouldn’t satisfy Vax, so instead he’d give them to him tied up and naked, ready to die. But he realized that Vax liked the hunt, so instead Zaz offered him power. More power than he had. He offered to become Vax’s patron. Vax liked the idea and agreed. As Zaz was preparing to make the pact, Vax told him that he had some stipulations because Zaz needed his soul more than Vax needed Zaz’s power. Zaz admitted that Vax had him on that one and asked Vax to name his terms. Vax negotiated for the protection for Mila’s siblings that she wanted. After checking a book that had writing Vax could not understand, Zaz admitted that he was not powerful enough to both be his patron and protect Mila’s family, but he could have others of his kind protect the siblings. Vax agreed. With that, Zaz shook Vax’s hand, brought him in close and whispered in his ear that his real name was Azazel.
With that, the pact had been formed, with only Yves knowing that this had happened. Vax returned to the sitting area and the party decided that they needed to leave. Zaz told them it would be morning outside and they would leave his abode feeling refreshed. The party departed, exiting out of the same stump they had the night before with no will o’ wisps there to greet them.
Bury Your Dead
They continued their trek through the swamps, heading for the Marches’ capitol city, Zarash’ak. As they rested after another full day of travel, Rasp cast detect good and evil, which showed him that Vax’s finger and Mila’s dragonmark had an aura of death about them. At the same time, she noticed a faint aura around Vax as a whole that was fiendish. Vax and Yves took the same watch together, so that Vax could ask Yves to keep his pact to themselves for the time being. Yves agreed, but before they could continue their watch, they were ambushed. Dryads living in the trees attacked the party, swarming them from the darkness. One of them managed to charm Rosa and Mila, but Mila broke free. After killing all but one, the last remaining dryad explained that the dead keep rising in the swamps and they have started to defend themselves. The dryad asked the party to bury the dryad they killed, returning them to the earth and to do the same to anything else they have to kill in the Marches. They agreed and the dryad left them alone. Before continuing their rest, the party buried the dead dryads.
The next day, the party continued through the swamps until they finally reached Zarash’ak, the Hidden Capitol, suspended high in the canopies of the massive trees of the Vile Marshes.
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