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!”

Squashing Bugs

Erin finished sawing the third and final head off the corpse of the belier devil. Unlike most of the devils they’d fought (at least the ones who weren’t already in Hell), this one’s body had not vanished when it died. Nat had tried to assure her that this simply meant this devil was on this plane of its own free will, and had not been summoned here, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

The Devil Made Me Do It

Tomas spun to confront the pair of Gray Maiden palace guards who’d just run in to join the battle in the throne room. He ducked under the first one’s sword and, holding his bow sideways, fired a pair of arrows up under her breastplate. As she collapsed, he kept turning, pivoting on one knee. The second guard was drawing back her sword as he continued firing; the first arrow caught her in the thigh and the second slipped under the visor of her helmet. He heard the muffled clank of the arrowhead striking the top of her helmet as she slowly fell backwards.

The Queen is … Dead?

The mood in the room was serious as the party began to gear up. They were going to make their first foray into Castle Korvosa, and who knew what they would find there. Erin tightened the straps on her breastplate as Wren quietly called upon Pharasma to Bless their efforts. But Nat was fairly bouncing on his toes. “Oh man! We’re going to clobber that stupid Bloatmage! He’ll never know what hit him!” Nat’s was still pumped from his encounter with the dragon the day before. “I’ll bet we kill him with one shot, right? Don’t you think? Wham, bam, bye-bye man!” Erin gave an exasperated sigh and refused to make eye contact. Jax grumbled something under his breath. Finally Tomas turned to Nat. “You ever wonder what it was that forced that dragon to submit to the Queen? Maybe it was this guy.” Nat’s enthusiasm flagged just a little, and he began to add his own protective spells to the party’s mix.

The Turn of the Tide

The mob of hostages chained to the city gate screamed in terror as the dragon roared again. They pressed away from the giant beast, threatening to crush those in the back against the gates they’d been forced to block. Shadow, kneeling beside them, could smell their fear as he hurriedly searched the body of one of the dead Gray Maidens. “C’mon … c’mon,” he muttered, then his hand found what he was searching for. He ripped the key off the Maiden’s belt as the dragon let out another screech of rage. There were dozens of hostages, and even with the key it would take time to free them all. All it would take was one blast from the dragon’s acid breath, or a few swipes of its claws or tail, and they’d all be dead. Thinking fast, Shadow conjured an invisible Wall of Force to block the dragon from reaching the captives. Then he spun and grabbed the nearest hostage. The man screamed as invisible hands gripped him, but then there was a click and his manacles fell away. “Here – take this and free the others!” a voice said as someone pressed a key into his hand.

A Hero Reborn

“Remember,” Field Marshall Kroft said as she finished the last of the Heroes’ Feast that Wren had prepared, “the people are frightened and confused. They aren’t sure who is the greater threat to them – us or the Queen. We need to win them over to our side, so you have to minimize any civilian casualties.” Kroft was sending them out to clear the way for the rebel forces to invade the city through North Gate. The rest of the party was already double checking their gear, preparing to head out.

Home Again

Nat was surrounded by chaos. In the doorway in front of him, Shadow and Tomas were in the clutches of a pair of Barbed Devils; Tomas was screaming in pain and terror, and Nat could see the things’ spiny barbs protruding out of Shadow’s back where it had impaled him in its embrace. Worse, another of the monstrosities had teleported out of the room and appeared right next to Nat – he could smell its foul breath on his face as it screeched in fury. He scrabbled away from it, but his back was already against the wall. In desperation, he cast Glitterdust, but still had the presence of mind to use his Selective Spell metamagic rod to protect his friends from its effects. The devils were coated in sparkling motes, and the one holding Shadow bellowed in pain and began clawing at its eyes with its free hand.