Back Into the Fray

23rd – 27th Day of Readying, CY 592

The Choices of Delvanos Caelith
We were staying at our usual haunt in Verbobonc, the Rook’s Cove.  We had a few preparations to make before continuing our assault on the Outer Fane.  Delvanos was contacted telepathically by a being who identified themselves as Infinitus.  He was offering to exchange Lucas, the brother of Delvanos, for the Air Binder.  The requirement was that Delvanos must come alone to the exchange on the next day, and Infinitus gave his word that no harm would come to either brother.  If Delvanos refused the offer or broke it in any way, Infinitus assured him that Lucas would be taken to a place we could never find him.

Delvanos informed the rest of us about this proposal.  Two main questions had to be answered.  Who was Infinitus?  Could we turn this to our advantage?  We could not seriously consider turning over the air binder to this being.  Regardless of who he was, he was almost certainly in league with the cultists.  Safadin wisely suggested that Varachan might know of Infinitus.  Creden sent a message to the former cultist asking about the being.  Varachan responded stating that Infinitus was a tanar’ri known as a glabrezu.  He also added that the fiend could not be trusted.  These creatures will tempt you into ruin with promises of wealth and power.

Delvanos, a devotee of Trithereon, detests bondage in any form, but he would also not allow the cultists to use his brother as a bargaining chip.  That is a game he would not play.  We also reasoned that this fiend had no intention of going through with his side of the deal, and it was unlikely that Lucas would be with him.  The next morning arrived.  Vannay had prying eyes searching the area around the Rook’s Cove for any sign of the demon.  Infinitus contacted Delvanos again, and he inquired about the decision.  Delvanos asked when and where the meeting would be, but the fiend declined to say.  He did assure us that Lucas was with him.  Delvanos refused to make the deal.  Infinitus replied, “I would have thought that you would have tried harder to save your brother.  His suffering will be legendary.”

The Chamber of Hate
We spent a few more days in Verbobonc before teleporting back to the temple.  We found a kennel that probably housed the fiendish lions that attacked us several months earlier.  We also found a bedchamber with a trapped chest.  Both rooms seemed to have been vacant for some time.

We went to the room marked “Chamber of Hate” on Varachan’s map.  It had a number of identical bodies encased in metal cocoons on the wall.  In the center of the room was a glowing gem on a pedestal.  The bodies appeared to be the clones of Unariq Vol’Talsimol of which Varachan had spoken.  Vannay saw a number of auras in the room as well as an ethereal creature.  Powerful necromantic auras emanated from the clones, and they were interacting with a strong transmutation aura on the gem.  The creature was a succubus demon.  Vannay spoke with her telepathically about who she was and why she was here.  She attempted to use her seductive ways on him, so he would get close to her.  She said that he should leave behind the rest of the party, and begin a new life with her at his side.  He played along.  He agreed to come close to her, so they could embrace.  She manifested on the prime plane.  Vannay said, “I have always wanted a consort, but you are not it.”  Before she could respond, Delvanos notched three cold iron arrows in his bow and fired them.  She was dead before hitting the ground.

The Goatfolk Guards
We began making our way to the air door.  We entered a guard room inhabited by six goat-like humanoids called ibixians.  A brief battle ensued.  Three of them closed with us tripping Creden and wounding him.  Vannay and Safadin combined their arcane powers killing the three in the back of the room.  Victor stunned one of the remaining ones, and we quickly finished them off.

The Air Door
We entered a massive octagonal shaped room over sixty feet across with an eighty feet ceiling.  A crushing windstorm at speeds exceeding fifty miles per hour blew down from the ceiling.  Hovering about two-thirds of the way up were five elder arrowhawks.  One of them had an obvious fiendish heritage.  Everyone managed to withstand the high winds, but it was clear that missile attacks would be useless.  The demonhawk and one of the arrowhawks ganged up on Uthgar dealing considerable damage.  Safadin fired a disintegrating ray at one of them, but it resisted the effect.  Vannay summoned a large air elemental to help us out.  Most of us spent the first part of the battle positioning ourselves above the wind effect.  With most of us in a better position to launch our attacks, the next round could be the deciding point of the battle . . .