The Sundered Crown

Wren leapt back from the diseased dragon that had burst out of the Everdawn Pool. Assuming that Ileosa must have summoned this creature, she cast Banishment, hoping to send it back to wherever it was from, but the spell fizzled – whether because her magic wasn’t powerful enough to affect it or whether it wasn’t actually summoned, she couldn’t say. The Astral Deva standing beside her (was it hers? Or one of Nat’s? They all looked alike to her) conjured a Blade Barrier that formed a ring around the huge beast, hoping to contain it. The creature snapped at her with its jaws at the end of its long neck, sinking fangs dripping with diseased saliva into her celestial flesh, but then the magical blades of force appeared, and the dragon roared with pain as a red mist filled the air. Desperate to escape the blades, it flew out of the barrier, flying under the Everdawn Pool and straight for Nat. It sank those fangs into him, and his flesh crawled as he fought to free himself.

The Queen’s Gambit

“Incoming!” Nat cried as he flew behind the Bralani Azatas that were holding several of the Erinyes Devils at bay. Wren’s Bralani ducked her head ever so slightly, as a Lightning Bolt whizzed overhead. The lead devil was sent tumbling limply to the ground while the one behind it struggled to clear its head from the violent blast. It tried to force its way forward against the gale-force Gust of Wind the other Bralani had conjured, but it was too weak, so it settled for casting an Unholy Blight around the Bralanis, Tomas, and Nat, and Tomas and one of the Bralanis were left feeling sickened. Her sister pushed her way forward and stabbed her flaming trident into the Bralani responsible for the wind.

Blood of the Ancients

“Shhh! I heard something up there!” Jax hissed. They’d managed to ascend to the second level of the lost jungle pyramid known as the Sunken Queen, and had finally found a part of the structure that wasn’t totally submerged. But over the sounds of water squishing out of wet boots and rattling armor, Jax was almost certain he’d heard furtive sounds from a room ahead of them. Tomas nodded grimly – he’d heard it too. However, the interior of the pyramid was cloaked in inky darkness, save for the magical lights the group was carrying, and they did little but reveal that the hallway ahead opened into something larger, not what might lurk within. “Put out your lights!” Jax commanded as he slipped on his Red Mantis mask and activated its Darkvision ability. As the lights winked out, he could see others doing the same. He cast Greater Invisibility on himself and could hear other spells being whispered in the growing darkness. When all was black, he crept cautiously down the hallway.

The Sunken Queen

“Blurbble … Help! Blorp … Splutter… thing!” Jax cried. His relaxing swim along the face of the forgotten jungle pyramid known as the Sunken Queen had been interrupted when an enormous creature surfaced beside him. It looked like a frog – except it was the size of a house. And had an eyestalk with three eyes. And four lashing tentacles. And a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. One of those tentacles wrapped around Jax’s chest and began to squeeze, cutting off his cries. Nat rushed forward, and cast Charm Monster, but the thing didn’t appear to get any friendlier. Erin wrapped the rope she had tied to Jax around her wrist, and pulled with all her might, but she might as well have been pulling on an oak tree. Then the thing whipped its tentacle up, Jax still held in it. It waved him overhead for a moment, then opened its maw and shoved the rogue inside. It chewed for a moment, swallowed, and let out a satisfied burp.

Vive la Revolutión

Tomas darted into the room, cursing the pillars that prevented him from getting a clear shot at the two surviving Erinyes devils. As soon as one came into view, he let loose with an arrow. It struck the devil in the chest, throwing her back against the wall. Her eyes glazed over, and she slowly slid down the wall into a sitting position, head lolling. Shadow was right beside Tomas and he pointed his Finger of Death at the final devil. “Back to Hell, lady,” he growled and the Erinyes exploded into a cloud of smoke.

The Devil’s in the Details

As Shadow’s Chain Lightning felled one of the Gray Maidens, he felt a sudden surge of newfound health, as the Theater card he’d drawn from the Harrow deck earlier siphoned off some of the fighter’s hardiness and infused it into Shadow. He grinned, remembering when they had actually been intimidated by the Gray Maidens. What a bunch of wimps!

A Harrowing Experience

“Should we take this stuff back to the Dead Warrens, let Kroft know what we’ve found, and try to decipher this book?” Tomas asked. They were in Domina’s Study, high atop her namesake tower, and they’d apparently found Ileosa’s secret lair, full of incriminating documents and tantalizing clues. But they still hadn’t found the Queen, or, if the Infernal Contract they’d found could be believed, most of her Hellish minions.

“If the Queen’s here, we need to find her,” Nat said emphatically. “I agree,” Jax chimed in. “Now that we’ve stirred things up, she might take off, and I’d hate to miss her by this much.”

“But we’re pretty beat up,” Erin cautioned, trying to wipe some of the dried blood off her shield.

“I’m not!” chirped Nat. “I’ve still got lots of spells!”