Tuesday, January 23, 653 AU, continued

Still disguised as a group of spined devils, the Dawnbringers begin to creep down the long, dark hallway beyond the “War” door. Before they make it too far, they hear a commotion behind them—something explodes, and there’s the sounds of a skirmish. “Unhand me, you—” shouts the horned devil before he is somehow cut off.

“I love it when a plan goes off without a hitch,” says a voice they recognize as the erinyes. “You: tell Signifier Phlegethon we depart immediately.”

“Yes ma’am!” squeaks an imp.

“Xksautha,” continues the erinyes, “let’s take Dormin to his cell. He may yet have some value in a trade. We’ll kill any of Zagumek’s forces we meet along the way.”

“A fine idea, Seryssa,” says a slow, disturbing, unrecognized voice. A few moments later, an imp flies down the corridor past the Dawnbringers, totally ignoring them. Aetheris sneaks down the hall as a spider, and watches Seryssa and Xksautha—a large pale creature with membranous wings and few facial features aside from his giant maw—escorting Dormin through the door labeled “Torture”.

Aetheris follows them through a maze of corridors. Every few seconds an imp flies into or out of one of the many small ports in the metal walls, many carrying scraps of parchment or small parcels. Suddenly, a group of devils rush at Seryssa and Xksautha with weapons raised. “Betrayers!” one of them shouts. “Lord Zagumek will not stand for this!”

“Oh, please,” replies Seryssa. “Zagumek planned to betray us—we’re just faster. The Spire of Pain is ours.” They engage in combat.

Aetheris, narrowly dodging one of the balls of fire that soon fill the corridor, returns to the party. She explains what she saw. “What should we do next? I don’t think I stand a chance against them as a spider…”

“We should at least report what we’ve seen to Utaz and the rest of the council,” says Valya. “The devils and the demons—this could all be tied to Caranthiax. There is also something else I’d like to do. You remember that door labeled “Pleasure”? In many circles, those sorts of people tend to hear a lot of what goes on… maybe they know something about the blade I’m looking for.”

They backtrack to the main room and head to the door labeled “Pleasure”. Aetheris enters first as a spider to scout ahead. She sees another long hallway, made entirely of metal. At an intersection up ahead are several devils, some dead and some living. The living devils, who appear to have just slain their enemies, gleefully cackle and rush off down a different hallway.

Suddenly, small orbs studded into the ceiling every few dozen feet begin to flash red, and a voice echoes throughout the hall. It’s speaking in infernal, but Aurelia, who stil has comprehend languages active, can understand it. “PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE.”

“What?” asks Valya as the whole fortress begins to rumble and shake.

“Prepare for… departure?” says Aurelia. “This place moves, I think.”

“It might leave this plane,” says Aetheris. “What if this is the gate between here and that astral plane, or something?”

There’s a booming crash from somewhere far below them. “That was probably the chains,” says Aurelia. “We need to move fast.” She casts death ward on herself, and Valya casts comprehend languages.

They head down the hallway, faster now, and make it to the dead devils. Aurelia notices that the dead devils have different insignia on their armor than the what they had seen on Seryssa and Xskautha—instead, they have the same sigil as Dormin. Presumably, these are the insignia of Zagumek, and Seryssa and Xksautha wear the insignia of Ilvoth.

They continue on. Around another corner they almost walk into a barrier of thin grey iridescent ooze, stretched across the hall like a bubble. “I could misty step through it,” Aetheris offers. “How important is what’s beyond this path?”

“I’m not leaving before we learn something about Grieving Edge,” says Valya, “but there are other hallways we haven’t checked yet. We can come back if necessary.” So, rather than try to pass through the barrier, they backtrack and choose a different hallway.

A few minutes later, they pass a window of thick glass. Outside, the landscape is rushing by at thirty miles an hour. The fortress is definitely flying somewhere—they can see a river in the distance, which they appear to be heading toward.

“I’ve heard that the rivers in Avernus are made of souls, not water,” says Valya.

Suddenly, an imp flies up to the Dawnbringers. “Are you ‘those idiots’?” asks the imp with exasperation. “I’ve been searching for ‘those idiots’ and I can’t find them.” Able to understand infernal but not speak it, Valya shakes her head ‘no’. The imp sighs. “The search continues, then!”

⁂

A few minutes later, they come across an ornate golden door. Valya puts her ear to the door and hears soft, quiet conversation and laughter, along with the bubbling of water. The door has no cracks for Aetheris to crawl through, and there is no keyhole. Valya, steeling herself, just pushes the door open.

The room beyond is a beautiful ornate salon that would not be out of place in the Daykin estate. A table at the center is laden with all manner of fruits and cheeses and wine, there are plush chairs and couches, what appears to be a well-stocked bar, and at the far end is a hot tub. Lounging around on the couches are a half dozen succubi and incubi—they stop their conversation and stare at the party with disturbingly welcoming smiles.

“Guests of Ilvoth?” asks one succubus who rises to her feet.

“…Yes,” says Valya, taking a seat on one of the couches.

“Are you here to make a deal with Ilvoth?” she asks.

“Actually, I was looking for information,” says Valya.

“Information? We don’t know much—we are simply here to attend to every need of Ilvoth’s honored guests. Massage?” She gestures to a massage table in the corner, and an incubus lazily stands up and leans at the table, smiling at the party. “There are perks to having an infernal contract, as you must know.”

“I would appreciate that, but first I was wondering if any of you have heard of that soul being tortured up in the forge,” says Valya.

“We wouldn’t know anything about that,” says the succubus. “If the tortured souls give you pause, please, you must consider; they brought such sorrow on themselves by breaking their contracts. Such a fate will surely not befall you,” says the succubus. “Would you like to soak in the hot tub?”

Meanwhile, Qhask enters the room to inspect the bar. Aurelia, knowing that these devils would like nothing more than to tempt her and her friends into committing evil, refuses to enter the room, and Aetheris hides as a spider on Aurelia’s shoulder. “Perhaps they don’t have what we’re looking for, Rose…” Aurelia says to Valya, deciding to use a fake name just in case true names could give the devils power over them.

“We have everything you need,” frowns the succubus. “Your hand!” she gasps, taking Valya’s withered hand into her own. “That must be so painful… why not take a bath in the healing waters? Perhaps they could heal it.”

“Is that true?” asks Valya. “Surely there’s a catch.”

“No catch—we’re not the ones who make deals. Such an honor belongs solely to our master Ilvoth.”

Qhask, suspicious, investigates the hot tub, but it just looks like slightly steaming water.

The succubus smiles. “Look, I know there’s a fight going on out there, Ilvoth versus Zagumek and all that, but this place is a respite from such concerns. You look so weary. Why not relax for a time? We have all the best food from every country on the material plane, a masseuse, anything you request can be brought to you. We can ease your pain…” As she speaks, a wave of enchantment washes over the Dawnbringers. Only Valya resists.

Aurelia heads straight for the hot tub, stripping to her underclothes and settling in with a sigh of contentment. Qhask opens a bottle of fine brandy from Myrsalon, and Aetheris reverts to her humanoid form and joins Qhask.

“Stop being such a stick in the mud,” the succubus says to Valya with a smile, raising a glass of wine to her. “Your friends seem to have come to their senses.”

“This was a mistake,” says Valya. “We shouldn’t have come here. We need to leave—please.”

“But it’s so nice here,” protests Aurelia. “Come join me.”

“Uh—maybe another time, but not right now. We have to get going. Snap out of it, please.” Valya glares at the succubus, who just smiles with amusement.

“Valya, Valya, Valya—no,” says Qhask, “you have to try this brandy.” He holds out a tumbler.

The succubus puts her arm around Qhask’s shoulders and says “Yes! We have even finer stuff in the back.” Aetheris takes the tumbler from Qhask instead.

“Aurelia, please. Come to your senses. What would Soleil think about what you’re doing here?”

“Valya…” says Aurelia, taking her hand. Instead of leaving the tub, though, Aurelia tries and fails to pull Valya in.

Valya staggers back from the tub and glares at the succubus. “Let them go.”

The succubus pretends to consider it. “Hmm… no.”

“What do you want?” pleads Valya.

“Oh, what I’m hearing is that you’d like to make a deal! How fun. What’s on offer?”

Valya doesn’t say anything. The succubus just takes another sip of her wine. “You simply must try this—it’s exquisite.”

“Valya,” says Aurelia, “we’ve been working so hard these past few months. Surely we deserve some rest?”

“Let them go!” Valya shouts at the succubus.

“Why should I?” says the succubus. “You seem to have nothing to offer.”

“Do you want knowledge?”

“That depends on the knowledge. Give me a taste—let me sample the goods.”

“Ilvoth is interested in information about the demons, right? I have some information about… a dragon, an old god, a location—”

“Oh!” the succubus interjects with feigned interest. “Is this about Caranthiax’s lair being built on top of an ancient dwarven fortress which is in turn built on top of a temple to a forgotten god of transportation and the demons building a portal there?” She frowns. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”

By this point another succubus has gotten into the hot tub with Aurelia, and Qhask has gotten in as well with the whole bottle of brandy. Aetheris not far behind.

Valya decides to use a spell scroll of dispel magic on Aurelia. Aurelia snaps out of it, realizes where she is, and drops the bottle of brandy as Qhask hands it to her. “We need to leave!” says Valya.

Aurelia stands up and casts a dispel magic of her own on Aetheris, who also snaps out of it and casts a dispel magic of her own on Qhask. Unfortunately, Qhask’s enchantment resists the dispelling, and Qhask takes another defiant swig of the brandy. “Do you know how long it’s been since I soaked in a hot spring?”

While Valya is playing tug-of-war with Qhask and the succubi look on in disappointment, the imp from before flies into the room. “Has anyone here seen ‘those idiots’?”

“Yes!” shouts Valya.

The imp switches to common. “Why didn’t you say so last time? Ugh, finally. Here!” The imp tosses Valya what appears to be a small pebble and flies off.

Valya lets Qhask fall into the hot tub and picks up the pebble. The moment she touches it, the pebble begins shouting: “Get out of there now! Are you aware that the Spire of Pain is flying directly toward Ilvoth and Zagumek and all teleportation into and out of the fortress is blocked? Why in all the planes did you not fucking jump off when it started moving? Broken legs from the fall are nothing compared to what you’ll receive if you’re caught. Ilvoth cannot find out I sent you. You are so lucky I have a man on the inside. Find Klaxos in the guest suite!” The pebble bursts into flames—Valya drops it, but it’s already fine black powder before it even hits the floor.

One of the incubi stands up. “That was Valspira, wasn’t it?”

“Oh fuck,” says Valya, drawing her weapon.

“Wait!” He holds up his hands. “I work for Valspira.”

“Are you the ‘inside guy’?” asks Aurelia.

“Klaxos, at your service. Though it seems you don’t much care for our services… I do a little reconnaissance for Valspira on the side.”

“Well, she needs you to help us,” says Valya. She looks around at the other succubi and incubi.

“So it seems. Don’t worry about them—we all have our side jobs. Honestly, I half-believe Ilvoth knows I work for Valspira. Sometimes he drops tidbits of information that I’m sure he intends Valspira to find out. Devils always have multiple communication channels… various levels of plausible deniability… it’s all very complicated.” He looks meaningfully at their tormenter, who frowns and snaps her fingers, dropping her enchantment on Qhask.

“How do we… get out of here, then?” asks Aurelia.

“Jumping?” says Klaxos.

“Is there another way?” asks Valya.

“Are there even windows?” asks Aetheris.

“There are windows, but few actually open. We’re moving right now, which means the abjuration generator will prevent teleportation and scrying inside the Spire… There’s a telepathy station that scrambles all telepathy within one mile, which has been activated right before the coup to disadvantage Zagumek’s forces…”

“How long until we make it to Ilvoth’s fortress?” asks Valya.

“Zagumek’s, actually. Hours and hours, at least. We’ll likely refuel in the Styx,” says Klaxos.

“So it will stop at the Styx?” asks Aurelia.

“We’ll likely need to replenish souls to burn.”

Aurelia looks horrified. “So we could potentially escape while it’s refueling.”

“Potentially, yes. Anything else you’d like to know?”

“I’d like to know about Grieving Edge,” says Valya.

“About what now?”

“Grieving Edge. The forgemaster up there—”

“Zuzz?”

“No, Siora.”

“Oh, Siora! Yes, I’ve… met her. I’m sure she doesn’t enjoy being chained up there for the last thousand years.” Klaxos smiles in amusement.

“I need to talk to her or find out more about the weapons she made.”

“Well, you’ll need to get to the forge then.”

Aetheris casts divination, asking how they can make it to the forge. She receives a response: Blind and deafen the all-seeing eyes and ears. “What does that mean?”

“Perhaps if we… you said there was an abjuration generator, right?” Aurelia asks Klaxos.

“Yes, near the engine room. It prevents all teleportation and scrying within the ship. Plus the telepathy station blocking all telepathy.”

“So we need to get to the engine room?” asks Aurelia.

“I can give you a rough idea of where everything is, but the Spire is a maze by design,” says Klaxos. “You’ve been to the central chamber, yes? ‘Throne’ leads to Ilvoth’s throne room, obviously. ‘Peace’ leads to the telepathy station, and also the forge and the lookout deck. ‘War’ leads to the command deck and the dock controls. ‘Pleasure’ leads here, of course. ‘Torture’ leads to the prisons, ‘Void’ leads to the imp roosts and the barracks, and then further on the docks, the abjuration generator, and the engine room.”

“So we need to disable the abjuration generator near the bottom of the fortress in order to leave,” says Valya.

“But the forge is near the top…” says Aurelia.

“We need a plan,” says Aetheris. “How long do we have before we get to the river? Forty minutes? We need to go to the top of the ship and the bottom of the ship?”

“Maybe it’s best to split up…” muses Aurelia.

“We should go to the forge first,” says Valya.

“We need to be able to get back out though,” says Aetheris.

“The whole point of coming here was to find out more about Grieving Edge—I’m not leaving here without it.”

“So it seems you were not here to make a pact with Ilvoth, then,” interrupts Klaxos.

“…No,” say Aurelia and Valya at the same time.

“…Okay! Carry on,” says Klaxos.

“I think our priority is to save ourselves perhaps plan to get this information later. We need to get off this ship,” says Aetheris.

“How long does it take to get to the forge from here?” Aurelia asks Klaxos.

“Probably… half an hour.”

“And to get to the abjuration generator?”

“Another half an hour.”

“And we have to go to both of those,” says Valya. “The telepathy station is near the forge, right?”

“Correct.”

“…If you’re planning on disabling the abjuration generator, you could teleport at any time after that—though of course everyone on the ship will be looking for you at that point. We’ll reach the river in forty minutes, but after that it will be several more hours before we make it to the battle with Zagumek.”

“Okay… we can disable the abjuration generator first. But we need to go to the forge before we leave.”

“Yes,” says Aetheris. “I don’t mean to give you a hard time, Valya, I know the information is critical—I just… in the long run, we can’t do anything with the information if we all end up dying.”

“I know,” says Valya. “Here.” She hands Siora’s locket to Aetheris. “You can leave whenever you want, but I’m not leaving until I’ve spoken to Siora. I’m not failing my family.”

“We’d never leave without you, Valya,” says Aetheris, handing the locket back to Valya. “We’d be failing you if we didn’t help. You can be the one to teleport us out once you’ve gotten what you came here for.”

Valya grabs Aetheris’s hand. “Thank you. Let’s find the abjuration generator.”

As the Dawnbringers make to leave, Klaxos says “So you know Valspira, and your accents are… I see.” He smiles. “Give my regards to the duchess.”

“Ah. We will,” says Aurelia.

They take their leave of the guest suite. “You’re lucky you have a patron”, says the succubus who tormented them, frowning as her victims escape her clutches.

⁂

They return back the way they came, managing to avoid the notice of a pack of Zagumek’s devils who rush by, and the pack of Ilvoth’s devils pursuing them. The red lights continue to blink throughout the maze of hallways, and every minute or so a voice from somewhere barks out harsh orders in a language they don’t understand. It isn’t infernal—it might be code. As they approach the central hall, they find that the doors to the hall open and close every half second. Qhask easily times his jump and makes it through, while everyone else makes it through via misty step.

The room is strewn with the bodies of devils, so the Dawnbringers salvage some armor displaying the insignia of both Ilvoth and Zagumekin case they need to impersonate either side. They head back down the spiral staircase, past the twitching impaled corpses, to the dark tunnels that lead to the docks. There are no signs hinting at which tunnel goes where—all they know is that one tunnel is the one they came from when they first arrived in the Spire of Pain.

“There’s no writing at all?” Aetheris asks incredulously.

“Could we dispel the darkness?” asks Valya.

Aurelia activates her radiance of the dawn, banishing the darkness from the entrances of each tunnel. There is, it turns out, writing on the walls, but it’s in infernal so they’d need to actually touch the writing to read it. Aetheris casts comprehend languages, but before she can make it to the tunnels metal portcullises drop down in front of each and an alarm begins blaring. Worse, two automated ballistae rise from the floor in opposite corners of the room—one fires a bolt of lightning at Aetheris and the other fires a bolt at Valya. Curiously, the turrets emit groans of pain when they fire.

Aetheris casts starry wisp in retaliation, and again the turret yelps in pain. Aurelia casts sacred flame on the same turret, which cracks and emits some sparks. Qhask piles on the turret with one of his arrows, and the turret shatters, screaming “No!”

Valya runs to the other turret, summons her mace, and swings at it. “Are you alive?” Valya asks.

“No.” replies the turret.

“Can you stop attacking us?” asks Valya.

“Never! I’ll blow a hole through your chest with my lightning bolts!”

“You can keep trying but it’s not going to work.”

From up the spiral staircase they hear footsteps and gutteral speech—Aetheris is able to understand it; “The intruders are down here! The alarms are still active.” Two barbed devils come into view.

The remaining turret shoots Valya point blank. Aetheris casts thorn whip at one of the barbed devils, pulling it toward her. “What are you attacking me for?” snarls the devil, fooled by the seeming. “And who made all this light?”

Aurelia casts another sacred flame on the turret, which shrieks and collapses into pieces. “Aha! You’re servants of Zagumek!” shouts one of the barbed devils. “Intruders! We need reinforcements!” One tries to claw at Aetheris, but is blinded by Aurelia’s warding flare. The other tries to claw Qhask, who dodges out of the way.

Qhask casts zephyr strike and escapes out of the barbed devil’s reach, then fires off two arrows at the barbed devil. The barbed devil looks down at the arrow protruding from its chest. “This isn’t a spine…” it says, confused.

Valya squeezes past Qhask and uses lightning lure to pull one of the barbed devils away from Aetheris, but the barbed devil doesn’t move. Aetheris casts entangle on the barbed devils (and Qhask’s drake), entangling one of the barbed devils and the drake.

Aurelia casts sacred flame on the entangled devil, dealing a massive amount of damage. “You… you’re disguised, aren’t you!” shouts the barbed devil. “You’re no fiends!”

Qhask fires more arrows at the barbed devils, and the drake bites one of the barbed devils. Valya whacks the other barbed devil with her mace, and Aetheris whacks it with her quarterstaff.

Aurelia casts another sacred flame. At this point both of the barbed devils are on their last legs. One tries to grapple Valya, but she slips out of its grasp, but the other successfully grapples Aetheris and claws open her arm. “I knew it!” shrieks the devil. “It’s an illusion, see! My hands go right through it! They’re humanoids! We need reinforcements!”

Qhask cuts him off with an arrow right through his throat. The barbed devil collapses, dead. Valya slams the remaining devil with her mace, and Aurelia takes it out with another sacred flame.

At this point, the magical darkness in the tunnels has crept back to fill in where Aurelia’s radiance of the dawn had temporarily pushed it back. The alarm has stopped sounding, but they can hear shouting and footsteps from the spiral staircase.

They are able to read the infernal signs, now that they know they’re there; they say “Docks”, “Imp Roosts”, “Abjuration Generator”, and “Engine Room”. They run down the tunnel to the abjuration generator.

⁂

Qhask leads the party down the tunnel with his blindsight. They step over dead devils a few times, but don’t encounter any living ones, and after a few minutes they leave the magical darkness. As they walk, imps continue to zoom past them a few times a minute. Valya decides to catch one by hitting it with her mace—the imp splats on the ground and Valya unrolls the tiny scroll it was carrying. It says Principia Karthim: Continue searching for those mortal intruders. They came in through the docks over an hour ago, and I want them found over an hour ago. Seryssa.

It takes a while, with many dead ends and backtracking, but eventually the reach a large chamber with no magical darkness. The cylindrical room as no floor, dropping two hundred feet to the floor below. There are three catwalks at their level—without railings and with several recent bloodstains—leading to a central platform with a pedestal. A barbed devil and two bearded devils are guarding the platform, carrying cruel-looking long hooked weapons. On the pedestal is a crackling blue-white energy field, through which they can barely see a crystal orb the size of a watermelon. The walls of this chamber are covered in glowing red infernal runes. Somewhere far below them, they can hear faint wailing and screams of pain.

“If only telepathy were working, I could talk to them,” laments Valya. “If we want to destroy this we’ll have to kill them. I can run there and the rest of you can attack from a distance.”

“What if they try to push you off?” asks Aurelia.

“I think I can handle it,” says Valya. “Or we can lure them to where we are…”

“Or they might run for help,” says Aurelia.

“Right—I could stay close to the center so they can’t easily push me off,” says Valya. “Maybe take them by surprise.” Valya walks down the catwalk toward the devils.

“What news?” asks the barbed devil. Valya, not able to respond in infernal, holds up the scroll she took from the imp. “Couldn’t just send an imp? What’d you do to deserve this treatment?” jokes the barbed devil. When Valya gets within range, she suddenly teleports behind the barbed devil and pushes him off the platform. Rather than fall to his death, the barbed devil uses the hooks he’s carrying to swing under the platform where he can’t be targeted. “Traitors!” he shouts.

The two bearded devils rush Valya and attempt to push her off the platform, but she manages to resist, so they swing their hooks at her instead, slashing her flesh. The snakes in their beards snap at Valya, but she dodges them.

Aurelia steps forward onto the catwalk and hits one of the bearded devils with a sacred flame.

Qhask swings himself under the catwalk so he can see the hidden barbed devil. He casts mushroom ballista and hits the barbed devil with an arrow, blasting the devil backwards with a massive force—the devil loses his grip on the platform and falls, shrieking, to the bottom of the pit. Qhask flips back up to the top of the catwalk and fires a second arrow at one of the remaining barbed devils. However, the barbed devil is on the opposite side of the platform from Qhask, so he fires the arrow through the energy field…

The field erupts with a blast of energy, damaging both Valya and the two bearded devils, one of whom is blown off the platform, falling to his death. Valya raises her eyebrow at Qhask.

Aetheris hits the remaining bearded devil with a starry wisp. Valya prepares to dodge a push from the remaining bearded devil, but rather than attack Valya, it pulls a lever on the platform. The catwalks begin retreating from the platform back into the outer walls, and lights around the room begin blinking red.

Aurelia runs foward to get back within range (the catwalk having moved her back) and hits the devil with another sacred flame. Qhask pierces the devil with two more arrows. The devil glares at Valya. “This ship is Ilvoth’s,” it snarls.

Aetheris takes out the devil with a final starry wisp—it shrieks and collapses to the floor.

Valya tries to reverse the switch, but it appears that a latch triggered to keep the switch in its new position. Valya tries to pull the latch off, but can’t. She reads the labels above the switches. The one the devil triggered is labeled “lockdown”, while the others are labeled “power balance”, “emergency shutdown”, and “override”. The override switch has a keyhole next to it. Valya searches the corpse for a key, but can’t find one. “Damn it!” she mutters, thinking the kep is probably 200 feet below her.

The catwalks begin tilting up to cover the three entrances to the room. Aurelia searches in a side room back down the hall for something to wedge in the catwalk, hoping to prevent it from blocking off the tunnel completely. She hears footsteps running toward her from down the hallway. “More are coming!” she tells the rest of the party.

Aetheris waits, ready to cast entangle on any devils that get close. Valya manages to pull off the latch and reverse the lever, and the catwalks start lowering again. While they wait, they can hear a large number of devils approaching.

Valya pulls the emergency shutdown lever, and a voice says, in infernal, “Emergency shutdown activated. Time remaining: twenty minutes.”

“Time for what?” asks Aurelia. Various valves and pumps under the pedestal begin opening and closing, releasing steam into the room, and the energy field begins pulsating. For good measure, Valya whacks the emergency shutdown lever with her mace until it snaps off.

Aetheris casts entangle to slow down their pursuers, and the moment the catwalks are close enough to the central platform, everyone rushes across the central platform to one of the other doors, hoping to outrun the devils.

⁂

They run blindly through some hallways until they don’t hear the devils anymore, and are beginning to catch their breath when they hear familiar voices up ahead. They manage to hide in a small storage room before Seryssa and Xksautha turn the corner.

“So the mortals have tampered with the abjuration generator, hmm?” says Seryssa.“They must be desperate to escape! Well, we have plenty of time to get it operational again before we make it to Zagumek. Would you believe that idiot reported the mortals had left the ship? I’ve had him flayed.”

“That is good, Seryssa,” says Xksautha. “Curious that they should arrive now, though, is it not? Could it be that they are… aware?”

“I doubt it. Mortals are like cattle, Xksautha—they’re irrelevant to considerations of war except as fodder. And besides, if they learned that much, the problem would shortly take care of itself.”

“The orbital suppressor only covers the various planes of Incora,” says Xksautha. “We must still be wary of mortals plotting from the Astral.”

“The Astral? Ha!” laughs Seryssa. “Those pathetic refugees are no threat to us. Still, though, I wonder what it is Ilvoth knows… not enough to actually find out, mind you—I don’t want to become dependent on that eyeball stew…” Their voices fade out as they round another corner.

“Do you think they mean nothic eyes?” asks Aetheris.

“I would assume so,” says Valya. “What if… what if someone in the prisons knows something about the comet? It’s not too far from where we are.”

“We could stop there on our way to the forge,” suggests Aurelia.

They continue, finding that the hallways and staircases go generally down—it seems they took the path to the engine room when they fled the abjuration generator, not the path back up to the top of the ship. They decide to continue, hoping to find an alternate route back up that will avoid the devils searching for them.

⁂

Fifteen minutes later, they stumble upon a large doorless portal, opening onto what must be the engine room. Six gigantic infernal turbines dominate the room, each connected through various crystal pipes to a large cistern visible through the wire mesh floor. In the pipes flows a greenish-blue fluid, in which the tortured faces of the damned continually coalesce and dissipate. Their continual screaming echoes throughout the room. Three bearded devils are operating various other pieces of machinery in the room, and a few more are cleaning up carcasses of other devils—the victors here appear to be Ilvoth’s forces. The devils that Qhask knocked off the platform far above are among the dead. Surprisingly, a tiefling stands at a desk at the far end of the room. She’s writing something on a sheet of parchment as the devils take readings from the instruments.

A second wire mesh level above this one, accessible by ladders, houses more machinery, connected by beams of energy to a floating black stone. The ominous stone, like a shard of jet black obsidian ten feet tall, gives off a menacing hum that can be more felt rather than heard. Glowing arcane runes float in the air around the stone.

The Dawnbringers decide to walk by as if they have other business. The tiefling flicks her eyes up at them, then returns to her writing without a word. While they pass, Aurelia wonders if the souls are utterly destroyed when they’re used as fuel. Curiously, she also notices small metal orbs placed on the machinery, each with a rune glowing a soft, dull red. Valya surreptitiously studies the glowing runes around the stone and determines that the stone must be enchanted with extremely powerful conjuration magic.

When they pass out of sight of the devils, Aetheris asks “Do you think we could dispel the magic in that stone?”

“Possibly, but magic like that isn’t easy to dispel…” says Valya.

“And theoretically,” says Aurelia, “if that’s what’s keeping the fortress aloft, it will crash to the ground.”

“And we are inside it,” Qhask adds.

“We could come back later, once we’ve restored telepathy, but for now there’s not much we can do here. Crashing the ship should be the very last thing we do,” says Aurelia.

The rest of the party agrees, and they continue on. A few minutes later they make it to what must be the soul intake. There is a deep pool of blue-green souls in the center of the small chamber. A wire grate at the bottom of the pool is all that separates them from the Styx, and a pump at the side of the pool sends the liquid, presumably, to the large cistern above.

“We could sabotage the pump—it would buy us more time,” suggests Aurelia. Valya hacks at the intake pump with her summoned sword, but she’s hit with a blast of pressurized necrotic souls and a red light in the ceiling begins blinking. Half-blinded by the souls, Valya hits the pump one more time for good measure (and gets another blast of souls right in the face).

They hear someone rushing into the room—it’s the tiefling, cursing to herself. The party is surprised to hear that she’s muttering to herself in common, and in a Khorsirian accent! When she notices the party, she draws a sword. “You will explain yourselves,” she says in infernal.

Valya casts suggestion; “You are needed at the abjuration generator immediately.”

“You’re right,” says the tiefling, looking confused. “They said they could handle it themselves, but I really am the only competent engineer on this ship.” She walks back the way she came.

⁂

The Dawnbringers quickly distance themselves from the engine room and the soul intake, assuming more devils will quickly come to inspect. A few more minutes of wandering through the maze of hallways, they think they’ve found a way back to the upper parts of the ship. They pass several mounds of devil corpses—a large battle must have taken place here, and not too long ago. The majority of the dead are Zagumek’s—it seems Ilvoth managed to take Zagumek completely by surprise.

Soon they find themselves back at the intersection at the bottom of the spiral staircase. Surprisingly, the destroyed turrets gasp and sob as they pass by. One of them whispers to itself “I’ll never get promoted… They’ll demote me to a lemure again…” in common.

“Are you… trapped here?” asks Valya.

“Thanks to you,” says the turret.

“Well, you attacked us,” says Valya.

“That’s our job! If we do well, we get promoted. But now that chance is ruined…”

Valya notices a coin in the rubble—a soul coin. That’s where the voice is coming from. “We can bring you with us, if you’d like. Then they wouldn’t be able to punish you.”

“…Fine,” says the soul coin. Valya picks up the coin and tosses it in Torba. She also picks up the soul coin from the other turret, though that one remains silent.

Rather than go back up the staircase to the main hall, they take one of the other tunnels to the imp roosts. As they get closer, they see more and more imps darting past them in the hallway, and a few minutes later they find themselves in a large chamber filled with imps. Some are flying around, some are sleeping upside-down like bats in small niches in the walls, and others are sitting at tiny desks in the center of the room, furiously scribbling messages on parchment scraps. “Out of the way!” shouts an imp in infernal as it flies past the party.

Valya decides to risk speaking in common, even though it might raise suspicion. “Do any of you know anything about Siora?”

About half of the imps at the desks raise their heads. One of them says, in common, “The lady in the forge? I’ve passed messages to Zuzz before. Why are you speaking in common?” It narrows its eyes suspiciously.

“We have to, uh, practice, for when we’re among mortals,” Valya replies.

“Oh, right, big invasion coming up, makes sense,” says the imp, nodding.

“What do you know about the invasion?” asks Valya.

“I can’t tell you that! You remember that secrecy clause in your contact, right? We’ve got one too!” says the imp.

“But you pass messages with secrets all the time, right? Information is meant to be shared,” says Valya.

“Yeah… with the intended recipient written on the message,” says the imp, looking at Valya like she must be extremely dumb.

“Can I see the scroll you’re writing?” asks Valya.

“What? No! Is this some sort of test?” asks the imp.

“Yes,” says Aurelia. “You passed! We’ll recommend you for a promotion.”

The imp gasps and widens its eyes. “Really? Wonderful!”

“We do need some information, though. Seryssa’s orders,” says Aurelia.

“Of course! What information do you need? Can’t promise I know it, though,” say the imp, too excited to be careful.

“Well, we need to be updated on the invasion plans, but the higher-ups are too busy with Zagumek’s devils right now, so they sent us here,” says Valya.

“Well,” says the imp, “a lot of that information is in code, but I did overhear that there’s going to be an invasion, all right…” The imp brings his voice down to a whisper: “of the material plane.”

“We know that,” says Valya, “but when?”

“Oh, I have no idea,” says the imp. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I really should get back to work. Very chaotic right now, with the coup and all—joint ownership never works out, we all knew this was inevitable! It’ll be great when Ilvoth is the sole owner of the Spire of Pain—no more duplicating messages for two bureaucracies.” The imp smiles and closes his eyes, imagining his reduced workload.

“Oh, of course,” says Valya. “Any idea why they even shared it in the first place?”

“Well, this ship was expensive, or so I’ve heard. Neither of them had the resources to build it on their own, rich as they are—and the engine cost as much as the rest of the ship combined!” says the imp.

“Why is that?” asks Valya.

“Well I’m sure you know it’s what keeps this fortress aloft,” says the imp, “but I’ve heard it’s also what lets it jump between planes!”

The Dawnbringers all raise their eyebrows and stare at each other.

“We were all warned never to fly within five feet of it, or bad things would happen and we would all regret it,” adds the imp.

“Has anyone ever… tested that?” asks Aurelia.

“What? Violate our contracts? Is this another test?” asks the imp.

“Yes! And you passed again!” says Aurelia, to the imp’s delight.

“Wonderful! Remember to tell your bosses that Zauza is their best imp!” says Zauza.

“Just a few more questions,” says Valya. “What can you tell me about Siora?”

“Oh, her? All I know is she’s been here for a thousand years, and that Ilvoth was very displeased when she betrayed him,” says Zauza.

“I see. And what can you tell me about other prisoners?” asks Valya.

“Oh, we imps aren’t allowed in the prisons,” says Zauza. “It’s a shame. Prepare to be star-struck: Ilvoth hired High Torturer Roggomod to run the prison.”

“Oh wow! Really?” Aurelia gasps in feigned amazement.

“Yes, and he gives lessons! If only I could watch. They say he’s a master who can make anyone say anything.” Zauza sighs.

“What do you know about how the engine works?” asks Valya.

“Nothing—they say the only one who understands it is that tiefling, Nephira,” says the imp. “Whenever those engineers speak all I hear is blah blah blah, lots of numbers.” Zauza makes a face. “Ok, I really need to get back to work now.”

“Wait,” Aetheris whispers to Valya. “What if we can use this imp to learn more about how the ship works and find a weak point?”

Valya nods. “Of course,” she says to Zauza. “We might be back later, though, for further questioning for your possible promotion. You’ll be tested on how the ship works and how the engine works, so please learn as much as you can about it in the meantime.”

Zauza gives Valya a salute with a serious expression on his face, and returns to his furious scribbling—a stack of papers has been growing on his desk during their entire conversation.

The Dawnbringers leave the imp roosts and continue on their way up. They decide to head for the telepathy station next, since not being able to communicate except in common is getting complicated. Rather than pass near the barracks or the prisons, they decide to head back via the docks, since the devils are still on high alert.

They almost walk into some sort of magical trap—a thin line of runes in the floor—but Aetheris dispels it. When they make it back to the central room, there’s a battle going on between devils, but Ilvoth’s forces soon prevail and drag some bodies through the “Torture” door, not noticing the party at the top of the spiral staircase. The party sneaks through the “Peace” door after the devils leave.

⁂

After some more wandering around, they find the telepathy station. The door is slightly ajar, and inside they see an ornate console in the center of the room, covered in dials and buttons of unknown purpose, and several round hatches on the left and right walls. The room is, curiously, empty, but Aetheris hears shuffling coming from the corner behind the console. “Someone is in there,” Aetheris whispers.

“Maybe it’s a trap,” suggests Valya.

Aurelia inspects the door, with a detect magic, and discovers it radiates powerful abjuration magic. “I think it’s a symbol spell,” she says. “I can’t tell if the trigger is touching the door, or walking over the threshold, or something else.” She also sees powerful conjuration magic coming from the console, and a strange aura of necromancy coming from the hatches.

They decide to back up—Valya and Aetheris to the left, and Qhask and Aurelia to the right—and have Valya cast mage hand to push the door open remotely. The moment the hand touches the door, several things happen. First, a shimmering field of energy springs from the door, filling the entire hallway and splitting the party. Second, red lights in the ceiling begin flashing, and a blaring alarm sounds. Third, they hear rapid footsteps from inside the room.

Aetheris throws a coin into the symbol field, but nothing happens to it. She decides not to take any chances and casts dispel magic, and successfully dispels the field.

Suddenly, two merregons appear out of nowhere, completely silent, and slash Aurelia three times each with their axes, dealing so much damage that her death ward activates. Aurelia misty steps to the other end of the hallway. Qhask runs after her, firing arrows at the merregons, but they appear to be resistant to his nonmagical arrows. Qhask sends the drake to hold the hallway between them and the merregons.

Valya, hearing the commotion, runs down the hallway, but is ambushed by a third invisible merregon. Aetheris casts shillelagh and hits the merregon that attacked Valya with her quarterstaff. The merregon doesn’t make any noise, merely turning toward Aetheris with its blank, masked face, and retaliating against Valya and Aetheris with its axe. Then a fourth merregon appears behind Aetheris, swinging at her.

The other two merregons drop their axes and take out crossbows, which they fire at Qhask’s drake and Aurelia. Aurelia is downed by the bolt.

Qhask feeds Aurelia a potion of healing, then returns fire at the merregons, hitting twice. He commands the drake to run up to the merregons.

At this point, a door at the end of the hallway bursts open, and Aetheris and Valya watch in horror as Seryssa strides into view. “Looks like I’ve finally caught the mice! Pretty clever, sneaking around in disguise,” says Seryssa. “I’ll make short work of you. Perhaps I’ll take you to the prisons and use you as a source of eyes!”

“You seem very confident you can take us,” says Valya.

“Yes,” says Seryssa. “Yes, I am.”

Valya casts armor of Agathys and then swings at the merregons next to her, bringing one of them down. Aetheris dashes toward Aurelia, planning on casting cure wounds. Meanwhile, the two merregons near Valya attack her, though Valya dodges, and the other two merregons attack the drake, dealing significant damage.

Aurelia stands up, then hits one of the merregons near the drake with a sacred flame. Qhask casts hunter’s mark on one of the merregons, then shoots at both of them, taking one of them down.

Seryssa approaches Valya, “So you caught wind of the invasion plans, I suppose, and came here to, what, stop us?” she asks.

“Oh, is that why you think we’re here?” says Valya.

“Don’t play coy. And don’t worry, I won’t kill you… I’ll bring you to the prison, where you’ll be tortured, and then the killing will begin.” Seryssa slashes Valya with a wicked-looking glowing sword, which deals necrotic damage as it passes through Valya’s flesh, using up the rest of the protection from her armor of Agathys.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” taunts Valya.

“That was merely a warmup,” says Seryssa. “Wait until you feel the whip.”

Valya attacks the remaining merregon next to her, slashing it with her psychic blade. The merregon puts its hands to its head in a pantomime of pain, but remains disturbingly silent.

Aetheris casts cure wounds on Aurelia. The remaining merregon near the drake slashes it with its axe, and the drake vanishes. The other merregon slashes Valya three times.

Aurelia casts bless on Qhask, Aetheris, and herself. Qhask resummons the drake, this time giving it lightning damage instead of fire since the merregons appear to be immune to fire damage. He fires at the merregon, but his arrows bounce off of its armor.

Seryssa cracks her whip at Valya, but Valya avoids being wrapped, so Seryssa slashes at Valya three times with her sword, dealing significant damage.

Valya teleports away, to the other side of the merregon, and slashes at the merregon, destroying it. “You’re next,” Valya warns Seryssa.

“Those things are cheap,” says Seryssa, who appears unconcerned.

Aetheris hits the last merregon with starry wisp, then darts back behind Qhask. The merregon ignores the drake and attacks Qhask, hitting him three times with its axe.

Aurelia hits Seryssa with a guiding bolt. Seryssa glares at Aurelia and says “That was a mistake, priestess.”

Qhask casts pillar of force, summoning a stone block to knock the merregon back.

Seryssa flings her whip at Aurelia, which coils around her and begins crushing her. “We can deal with her later,” Seryssa tells Valya, and then she slashes Valya with her sword again, dealing even more damage. “You’re quite resilient! We could use you, if you join us.”

“You shouldn’t have attacked Aurelia,” says Valya.

“Hmm. In that case, Roggomod is going to have quite a bit of fun with such a resilient subject,” says Seryssa. Valya slashes Seryssa with her psychic weapon.

Aetheris transforms into a giant snake, then slithers toward Seryssa. On her way, she tries to bite through the whip restraining Aurelia, but it’s incredibly tough and she doesn’t bite all the way through it.

The merregon attacks the drake, then runs up to Qhask. Aurelia tries to fire bolt the whip, but misses since she’s restrained and can’t get a good angle. Meanwhile, Qhask pierces the merregon with an arrow, and it tumbles to the ground. He then runs toward Seryssa.

Seryssa hits Valya once with her sword, but misses with her other attacks. Valya hits Seryssa in retaliation.

Now that the merregons are dispatched, everyone can focus on attacking Seryssa. Aetheris constricts Seryssa, holding her in place. “I suppose you find this a funny joke,” says Seryssa.

Qhask shoots Seryssa twice, hitting once. Seryssa escapes Aetheris’s grapple and begins flying away. Valya tries to slash at her, but she misses.

“What happened? Are we too much for a devil of your caliber?” taunts Valya.

“I’m not too proud to admit it,” says Seryssa. “Be patient—I’ll return with backup.” She takes a stone out of a pocket and begins speaking into it in infernal.

Valya teleports next to Seryssa and slashes at her, but only manages to nick her once.

Aetheris casts starry wisp, but misses Seryssa. Qhask runs forward, transfers his hunter’s mark to her, and shoots her with an arrow, maiming her.

Valya teleports in front of Seryssa again. “You know what happens when a devil dies while in the Hells?” she asks Seryssa. “We could make a deal. Get me what I need.”

“You think Ilvoth would let me live if I helped you? Ha!” says Seryssa. She tries to fly around Valya, but Valya slashes her, and Seryssa collapses lifelessly to the floor.

Valya searches Seryssa’s body, finding a dagger of venom and a soul coin, as well as the strange stone covered in infernal runes which may be a sending stone. For good measure, Valya cuts of Seryssa’s head and stuffs it into her bag.

Meanwhile, Aetheris tries to figure out how to deactivate the telepathy jammer. She presses random buttons on the console, but only suffers a blast of psychic damage for her trouble. She casts comprehend languages to read the labels, and thinks some of the switches on the back might be relevant. With some help with Aurelia, they flip the correct switches. The hatches on the walls open and emit cold steam, and glass cylinders with brains inside eject from the hatches.

Aetheris casts message at Aurelia, asking her “Can you hear me?”

“It’s working!” says Aurelia. For good measure she fire bolts the brains.

Their task here done, they make their escape before more devils show up to handle the alarm—they’re lucky they arrived in the middle of a coup!

⁂

They make their way to the forge, stopping along the way for Aurelia to patch everyone up with a healer’s kit. As they make their way near the top of the fortress, they begin to hear loud, heavy, rhythmic booms. They approach the source of the noise, and find a large, open room dominated by two hydraulic hammers at its center. Several devils are operating the hammers to beat large sheets of brass into strange shapes. On the far side of the room is a furnace in the shape of a dragon’s mouth, blazing with black-red flames, and more devils are guiding cauldrons of molten metal on rails and pouring them into molds. Arms and armor, gleaming wickedly in the flickering light, line the walls. Chained to the wall on the opposite side of the room, near the ceiling, is a gaunt human woman. They barely recognize her features—it’s Siora Virren. Facing the Dawnbringers, standing in the center of the room, is the chain devil Zuzz, with a hellhound at his side.

“So they’ve finally arrived,” says the chain devil. “I know what you’re here for. You sent your little smoke mephit to Siora, yes? Well, I’m afraid she’s not very talkative. Your souls will make fine fuel for my forge.”

Valya holds up Seryssa’s head. “This is what happens to the devils that get in our way,” she says. “We need to speak with Siora. No one has to know—we’ll leave once we’re done. Or, you could try to stop us, and we’ll kill you.”

The chain devil smiles. “You mortals are always so entertaining. Fine. You can conduct your little interview.” He turns around and addresses the other devils. “Back to work, everyone!” he shouts in infernal.

Valya climbs a ladder up to a platform close to where Siora Virren is suspended. She can see that Siora’s eyes are glazed over, and Siora barely registers Valya’s presence. “Siora, can you hear me? I’m here because of Grieving Edge. What is it? What was Ilvoth’s plan?”

Siora slowly glances at Valya, then back at the floor. “Thian… Thian, I’m so sorry…” she whispers.

“Did you do what you did for him?” asks Valya. “Is he trapped here?”

“Everything for him…” says Siora. “Here? No…”

“Then he’s at peace,” suggests Valya.

“No, no… imprisoned forever…” says Siora, growing agitated.

“By the devils?” asks Valya.

“By his own mother…” says Siora.

“Where is he imprisoned? In a sword?” asks Valya.

“So many souls in so many weapons…” says Siora.

“You were putting people’s souls in your weapons?” asks Valya, shocked.

“People? No, no people—or maybe, yes, Ilvoth gave them to me, don’t know whose, I was afraid to ask, but I could feel their power, their malice, dangerous souls, scattered about in the world because of my folly—”

“Where is your son’s soul?” interrupts Valya.

“In a dagger,” says Siora.

“What is the dagger’s name?” presses Valya.

“Names? Names… Everything I did I did for Thian, I didn’t think it would be him… No names…” says Siora.

Valya tries to describe Grieving Edge to Siora. “What was in that sword?”

“That soul, so strong, didn’t want to be trapped—the seal barely held… but hold it did, my masterpiece…” says Siora. Then she grows agitated again. “I tried to escape with him! I didn’t think it would be him I’d lose, Ilvoth said in exchange for that which I love most, I could earn my family everlasting respect. It couldn’t have been my son he meant! The seer told me my son was destined for great things! But he was dead, I woke up the next day and Thian was dead, Ilvoth’s price and prize!” Siora begins sobbing. “His soul trapped here, and I smuggling souls into the material plane for purposes unknown. And then she came to me, and told me she could get us out! She told me where to find Thian’s soul, trapped in a gem in Ilvoth’s treasury.”

“Who is ‘she’?” asks Valya.

Siora doesn’t seem to hear her. “I transfered his soul into one of my daggers. I had a plan, I would put my own soul into the other dagger, and when it was smuggled out we would both be free, at least free of Ilvoth and the Hells, but Ilvoth caught me. And he was so displeased I had broken my contract.” She sobs again.

“Who was she, the one who helped you?” presses Valya.

“A devil named Valspira,” chokes Siora between her sobs.

“Could those be the daggers Lucan is looking for?” Valya asks the party. Then, to Siora, she says “I know where the daggers are.”

“It’s no use. No use, not while the contract is still in effect,” says Siora.

“Is the contract here?” asks Valya.

“I know her plan!” says Siora, ignoring Valya. “She never intended for me to escape, she just wanted my son out of Ilvoth’s grip. My son is destined for great things! A seer told me that!”

“What do you know about the soul in Grieving Edge?” asks Valya.

“I’m so sorry, Thian…” Siora goes silent and stares at the ground, ignoring Valya’s pleas.

Valya pulls out her spell scroll of dominate person and casts it. “Tell me everything you know about Grieving Edge!” she commands.

“I do not know what soul I placed in it,” Siora says tonelessly. “It fought hard against its bonds. It was my masterpiece.”

“Is there any command word you can tell me?” asks Valya. “The sword, it did something, it spoke to me—”

“Then the bonds are weakening after all these years,” says Siora.

“Is there a way to repair them?” asks Valya.

“Find a master of an infernal forge,” says Siora. “Only infernal magic can repair that seal.”

“We will try to free your son,” says Valya.

“Thian… poor Thian…” whispers Siora.

“But you… what you did was unforgivable. You deserve to be here,” says Valya. She walks away.

“That wasn’t as useful as I thought,” Valya says to the rest of the party.

“I’m sorry,” says Aurelia.

“What now,” asks Valya. “Should we go to the prison?”

“Have you gotten everything you can from this place?” asks Aurelia.

“She was the only person who would know anything,” says Valya, “and she knew nothing! Her whole craft—I felt sorry for her initially, but she was just trapping souls in weapons for Ilvoth! Maybe she’s partly responsible for the catastrophe we find ourselves in right now! Maybe we have to question Ilvoth.”

Zuzz laughs. “I love watching mortals in distress. But you happen to be speaking to a master of an infernal forge.”

“Do you know what’s in Grieving Edge?” asks Valya.

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t know about that,” says Zuzz. “But I have something you might want, and for which I would be willing to trade.”

“And what would that be?” asks Valya.

“Siora’s diaries, gathering dust,” says Zuzz.

“…I need them,” says Valya.

“And what will you offer in exchange?” asks Zuzz.

“Three soul coins?” suggests Valya.

“Three soul coins for three books…” says Zuzz. “A fair trade. Shake on it?” He offers his hand.

Valya accepts, and shakes his hand. Zuzz walks over to a table, picks up three slim leather-bound volumes, and tosses them at Valya’s feet. She tosses Zuzz the coins, nods, and the party departs.

⁂

Once back in the hallways and reasonably out of earshot of any devils, they debate what to do next. Valya tests Siora’s locket, and it works—a swirling portal appears in the air next to her. “We could go to the prison to see what the prisoners know, and we also have that imp we told to learn about the Spire,” says Valya. “But… the engine is what will let this ship jump to the material plane—we have the opportunity now to destroy it. We might not get another chance.”

“We’re pretty low on resources,” says Aurelia with an expression of doubt. “We should find somewhere to rest first.”

They find a small storage closet filled with imp-sized cleaning implements, and Aurelia casts prayer of healing.

“I’ve been thinking about what Xksautha said to Seryssa,” says Valya, “about how ‘the orbital suppressor only covers the various planes of Incora’ and how there are refugees in the Astral. Does that mean I was right that the Astral Plane is the solution to all of our problems?”

They all muse on that information while they finish their rest, then head back down to the central room, hiding from several patrols of devils along the way. The fighting appears to be over, which is a problem—now the devils can focus on finding the intruders… ❦