Jailbreak!

 “We obviously need to report back to the Lictor,” Wren insisted. They’d gone to Hell and back (literally) in order to get Lictor DiViri to agree to release the Shoanti shaman, One-Life, into their custody only to discover that the Hellknight jailer who’d been guarding him had apparently traded him to some devil in exchange for a Hell Hound. At least that’s what the other prisoners had told them. Either way, One-Life was nowhere to be found, and to Wren’s mind, that was DiViri’s problem, not theirs. “We had a deal with him, and he hasn’t held up his end of it. He seems like an honorable man – or at least someone who believes in rules. Once we tell him his man cheated us out of our prisoner, I’m sure he’ll send his people in to get him back.”

Nat and Tomas exchanged looks. “You really don’t understand the Hellknights, do you?” Tomas asked. “They actually report to the powers of Hell – that’s who they work for. If DiViri finds out One-Life is now in the custody of one of the Dukes of Hell or his minions, there’s no way he’s going to risk getting on their bad side just because of some deal with us. I don’t like it, either, but I think it’s up to us to get him back.”

He was still standing in front of the only closed door in the cellblock, and now he cautiously pulled it open. They’d all half-expected to find a yawning Hellgate on the other side, but instead found a mundane bedroom. There was a simple bed, a table with a single chair, and a wardrobe built into the south wall. On the wall next to the bed was a painting  of an eyeless, two-headed devil hound baying against a fiery background. “There’s some magic behind the wardrobe,” Nat called from the open doorway, but Tomas had already spotted the scratch marks on the floor where it looked like the wardrobe had been frequently moved. He pulled it out from the wall, revealing a small alcove cut into the stone, with a wooden chest inside.

He lifted the chest out and placed it on the table. It was locked, but one of the keys from the dead warden’s key ring opened it right up. The first thing they saw was an onyx figurine shaped like the devil dog in the painting on the wall. Under it was a well-worn notebook, a black silk bag, and several small gemstones - along with a sizable stash of gold and platinum coins. For once, Nat didn’t go straight for the magic; instead he started thumbing through the notebook while Jax examined the figurine.

“It looks like a prisoner log,” Nat said. “There are sections for each of the cells, with a list of who’s been kept in them. Looks like he crossed out each one as they were replaced, and then wrote in the next prisoner.” Nat paused. “It … it doesn’t look like many of them actually got released.” He thought of his own time in prison and shuddered. “Anyway, let’s see what we’ve got here. OK – ‘Holding Cell Four’: the last entry is ‘vacant – must remove corpse’. That must be the oldy-moldy we saw when we came in. Let’s see … ‘Holding Cell Three’ … ‘Sascha Antif-Arah of Korvosa – indefinite’.” They glanced back at the female prisoner who’d been helpful with describing the warden’s scheme; she’d claimed to be innocent of any crime. “Doesn’t say what she’s in for. Oh well. ‘Holding Cell Four’ … ‘Markus Gael – traitor’. That adds up. ‘Holding Cell One’ … this has been scribbled out … let me see …” He held the notebook to the light, tilting it to get a better angle on the writing. “’One-Life (Shoanti) – execution imminent – Requested by Losarkur – Delivered’.” Nat practically dropped the notebook as his face went pale. “Losarkur! Do you know who that is?” The others shook their heads. “He’s known as the Beastlord of Avernus!”

“Where’s Avernus?” Shadow asked. “Is that around here?”

“Avernus is one of the realms of Hell!” Nat whispered.

“I told you!” Wren snapped. “I told you we’d end up having to go back to Hell! This is DiViri’s fault – that man was his subordinate, so he’s responsible for his actions. We need to get him to …” Wren continued ranting, but by this point, no one was listening. They knew Boneclaw DiViri was not going to solve this problem for them.

“What’d you find on the dog statue?” Shadow asked Jax. Jax had been studying the statuette with his Spellcraft as Nat had read through the prison log, and now he looked up with a grin. “Well, it’s definitely magical, and I think I’ve figured out the command word to operate it.”

“OK …” Shadow could tell by Jax’s grin that he wasn’t going to give this up easily. “What is it?”

“I’ll give you three guesses,” Jax began, but Wren cut him off. “Oh for the Goddess’s sake! If we’re going to have to do this, just tell us the stupid command word already!”

Jax’s good humor lagged, but only by a little. “Well, OK, but everyone might want to get in here first.” Those who weren’t already in the jailer’s bedroom squeezed in, and Jax stood before the painting on the wall, figurine held in front of him. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure everyone was ready, gave Wren a wink, then turned back to face the painting. “Here goes – ‘Who’s a Good Boy?’” As he spoke the passphrase, the painting transformed into something they’d seen all too recently: A fiery circle filled with an inky blackness shot through with sparks. “I hope this one doesn’t close behind us,” Tomas muttered, then one by one they stepped through the Gate into Hell.

They emerged into one of the cavern-kennels of Losarkur, Beastlord of Avernus. They were in an infernally hot hallway that echoed with the snarls of hellish hounds. On either side of them were rows of cages barred with thick, cracked bones; within each cage one or more wolfish beasts snarled and snapped at them, eyes glowing red. They breathed out clouds of flame or gas, but some magical barrier stopped the deadly breath from reaching beyond the limit of the cage. At irregular intervals jagged columns of stone rose up to support the ceiling overhead, emerging from pools of molten steaming lava in the floor that provided a faint, hellish light.

Some sixty feet ahead of them, the hall of cages opened out into a larger chamber with wide, rounded walls rising to a height of forty feet. Hanging from the vaulted ceiling were three iron gibbets, dangling from chains. The center gibbet contained a hunched-over Shoanti man, his skill matted with dried blood. On the floor beneath it stood an infernal guardian, a six-legged, two-headed creature with steel plates for skin. As soon as the party appeared through the Gate, it dropped into a predatory crouch, snarling with worms dripping from its mouths.

“Well this went south quicker than I expected,” Tomas thought, and cast Instant Enemy to make whatever the hell this thing was his favored enemy. But Nat was more optimistic. The last time they were in Hell, he’d come away with a new toy – a Staff of Charming that he was dying to try out. He whipped it off his back, pointed it at the guardian, and cast Charm Monster. The thing whipped its heads back and forth in confusion, pawing at them with its front claws, then looked up at Nat and began wagging its spiked tail. “Sit!” Nat commanded, and the creature sat, panting happily as a cascade of wriggling worms poured from its mouths. "Who's a good boy?” Nat praised, and Tomas cast a quick look back over his shoulder to make sure that Nat hadn’t accidentally closed the Gate.

Hoping that Nat had things under control, Erin advanced towards the hanging cages; she could see some kind of a winch mechanism on the back wall that she hoped would lower One-Life’s gibbet. But as she drew near the Edavagor (Nat later figured out that’s what it was, after consulting several obscure tomes), it began to snarl menacingly; apparently its new loyalty only extended as far as Nat. It raised slowly off its haunches, and began to creep towards Erin, teeth bared. “Down boy!” Nat commanded, and it slunk back into a sitting position, but reluctantly.

Shadow and Jax immediately went Invisible, not trusting Nat to be able to control his new “friend” for long. Wren tried to join Erin, but the Edavagor growled louder, and resumed his ready-to-pounce pose. Nat realized that his pet was going to pose a problem for freeing the prisoner, and hurried forward. “We’re here to free you,” he called in Shoanti, then turned his attention to the Edavagor. “Good boy!” he said, petting the creature’s armored neck. “Come with me.” He moved towards the southern end of the room and the Edavagor followed, freeing a path for the others to advance. Erin hurried to the crank on the wall, but it was more complicated than she’d expected; it somehow controlled each of the three gibbets individually as well as together, but she wasn’t sure how to get it to lower only the center one.

Jax and Wren didn’t see a reason to bother with lowering the cage. Jax cast Fly and Wren Air Walk. They both flew up to the hanging gibbet, and Jax had no trouble picking its lock. Wren cast a Cure Critical Wounds on the Shoanti prisoner as Jax worked. “Get me out of here!” he begged in a hoarse whisper. Unfortunately, between the two of them Jax and Wren barely had enough strength to carry the Shoati, and so they each had to wrap one of his arms around their neck and carry him together through the air towards the exit.

Shadow and Erin, seeing that Wren seemed to have things under control (Jax was invisible), were already waiting beside the swirling Gate, while Nat continued to practice sit/stay with his new buddy. But before Wren and Jax could get halfway to the Gate, a pair of female devils appeared in mid-air before them. “That soul belongs to our master, and you may not remove him from this place,” said one of the Erinyes, who appeared to be in charge. “Return him to his cell and leave this place at once.”

“Who are you?” asked Wren as she mentally reviewed all the reasons why they should have made the Lictor sort this out.

“I am the Gatekeeper, and that is not your soul. He was delivered, and the agreed price was paid. The transaction is complete, and unless you have a release from our master, he may not leave.”

“We do have a contract!” Wren argued. She was motioning for Shadow to produce the Lictor’s Affidavit of Prisoner Release, but Shadow didn’t think that document would carry much weight here. “This soul did not belong to the person who brought him here, so your bargain wasn’t legal. We’ve been authorized to take him out, and that’s what we’re doing.”

The Erinyes gave a weary sigh. “You obviously have no understanding of The Law. Kill them.” At her command, her assistant fired a flaming arrow that struck Wren in the thigh.

Tomas had been thinking this had all been too easy, and he was gratified to know he’d been right. Before the Assistant Gatekeeper’s arrow had stopped vibrating in Wren’s leg, he fired off three arrows of his own that pushed the Assistant back half a yard in the air. Shadow launched an Empowered Lightning Bolt up at the Gatekeeper, shocking her. She hadn’t been aware the invisible sorcerer was lurking behind her, but she was aware of him now, and he was now clearly visible. With a shriek of rage, she charged down at him with her longsword, nearly cleaving him in two. Back in the main room, the Edavagor was starting to whimper; they couldn’t see the combat at the end of the far hall, but they could hear it, and he acted as if he were getting silent commands from somewhere. Nat struggled to keep him occupied with tricks, and at least for the moment it worked.

Jax and Wren were suspended ten feet in the air, with One-Life hanging between them. Jax passed the Shoanti a Potion of Invisibility. “Drink this – it will protect you!” he urged. “I’m going to let go.” But before he could act, Wren took charge. Dragging the other two behind her, she dove towards the floor, then released her hold on the Shoanti when she was within five feet. Continuing forward, she charged the Gatekeeper, and cast Slay Living on the devil. Maybe it was her infernal  nature, or maybe she was just lucky, but the spell had little effect. Wren, on the other hand, was feathered by two more arrows from her lackey. Jax, now supporting One-Life’s full weight, didn’t even bother to try to hold on, and the Shoanti tumbled to the floor, landing with a warrior’s practiced roll. Jax charged the Gatekeeper; he was also invisible, and she had no idea he was there until his sword stabbed to the hilt in her back.

Erin was thanking Iomedae that she’d had the foresight to activate her Divine Bond before crossing the Gate, but having a Holy weapon didn’t count for much if you couldn’t hit your target, and that was the problem she was having at the moment. Tomas, however, seldom had that problem. His next two arrows sent the Assistant spinning end-over-end into the far wall, then crashing to the floor. He redirected the third to target the Gatekeeper, but it narrowly missed.

Shadow had never intended to go toe-to-toe with a devil, but somehow that’s where he found himself (again). He staggered back, but found himself literally with his back against the wall. He blasted the Gatekeeper with a volley of Empowered Magic Missiles, then followed up with Quickened Magic Missiles, but she just roared in rage and flew after him. Her longsword flashed again and again, each stroke sending a spray of Shadow’s blood across the walls. Wren tried slapping her with a Harm spell, and Jax stabbed futilely at her, but neither could connect. That left it up to Tomas. He slid sideways just enough to get a clear line of fire, then released arrow after arrow. One by one the arrowheads appeared sticking out of her chest, and her roar turned into a whimper, and then into silence.

As soon as the Gatekeeper fell, Tomas put two fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. That was Nat’s cue. “Stay!” he commanded, then flew at full speed toward the exit (having cast Fly while keeping his pet occupied). As soon as he was back in the corridor of cages, he summoned a Wall of Force to block the exit from the larger room, just in case Fido decided to follow him. The group grabbed One-Life and hurried back through the Gate. Jax was last, carrying the figurine, and as soon as he reappeared in the warden’s bedroom, the fiery Gate closed.

After Wren had healed everyone back to a semblance of health, they left the dungeon (leaving the two prisoners pleading for release behind them). When they rejoined their Hellknight escort waiting at the top of the stairs, Wren said simply, “We need to see the Lictor again.” The guard shrugged and led them back to Bastion Dominus and the Lictor’s office. When they reentered, DiViri looked up, surprised to see them again. “Is there a problem?”

“You bet your sweet ass there’s a problem!” Wren began, but everyone quickly shushed her, and Shadow took the lead. “Not exactly a problem, at least not anymore. We did eventually get our Shoanti,” he pointed at One-Life, standing stoically at the back of the group, “and we thank you for that. But we did run into a minor complication. It seems your jailer was trading prisoners for Hell Hounds.”

“He was what???” DiViri roared.

“Not to worry – he won’t be doing that any more. But you might want to question him to see exactly what he had going on. I assume you have Speak With Dead, right? Oh, and this little beauty opens a Gate into Hell – thought you might want to hang onto it.” He handed the Lictor the onyx figurine.

Lictor DiViri turned the statuette over in his hands, nodding gravely. “Did you say anything about this to the guards who escorted you?”

“Oh no,” Shadow assured him. “Not a word. The other prisoners down there know what was going on, though.”

“That won’t be a problem,” DiViri said absently, and Wren shuddered at the implication. “I appreciate your discretion. It’s not good for morale for rumors of this kind of insubordination to get started.” He looked back up at the party. “Again, I see that you can handle whatever the situation throws at you, and find that I have benefited from your help. Good luck with your … situation at home.”

The guards at the gate examined their paperwork closely, applied several rubber stamps, and then released them and their new Shoanti companion. As they started down the road leading away from Citadel Vraid, they could see the sun glinting off the waters of Conqueror’s Bay in the far distance. Somewhere, off to the northeast, lay the city of Korvosa – and their destiny.