Chapter 14: Desatysso, I Presume?

"Death would be a welcome release." -- Desatysso
"That we can do." -- Zem

Kurik's report to the Church
  Though I fear the transport of this missive from my current location in the Negative Material Plane to be beyond the power of the tithing bag, nonetheless I shall make the attempt in hopes that by some miracle of Pandeos the message will reach its destination.
  The Flyer landed in front of the gate of the very Fortress itself. We disembarked, and cast spells to know of what lay ahead. I cast Detect Enemies, and was stunned by the result. There were, at minimum, 150,000 enemies within the range of the magic. I urge that researches be undertaken to adjust the force with which the Detect Enemies litany imparts its findings in the presence of large numbers, as I was left with a severe headache for several hours thereafter.
  Further magics by the elf Rosvenir determined that besides ourselves and the Flyer there were only five sentient creatures. He also learned that they were a human magic user, two extra-planar beings (one strong and one weak), an extremely large elemental, and an elvish fighter. We cautiously opened the steel door and, casting defensive magics, entered the stronghold of the Devourer.

The Narrator
  A short hallway led to a small, square chamber. Painted on every available inch of the plastered walls and ceiling was a cacophony of images: a large dragon flying through a scarlet cloud and fighting a tentacled foe, a group of man sized insects killing peasant human farmers, purple worms rampaging across the countryside laying waste to civilization, and so on. In the center of the room a beautiful elvish woman sat lotus-style, deep in meditation. She faced a painting of a high elvish mage holding a dagger with an absolutely precious look of surprise on his face.
  After a moments hesitation, Rosvenir spoke. "Hi there," he said, or rather he said the High Elvish equivalent of "hi there" which is actually several sentences long and quite formal. This startled the elfess out of her meditation, and she rose to fighting stance in fluid motion. After a few tense moments of conversation, she relaxed and explained that she and her companion had Gated in to the Fortress of Conclusion, but he had touched a dagger to the wall of this room and been imprisoned in the fresco ("Oh look, he's a stucco elf." -- Kurik). Her name is Meilu, and she was sent by The Goddess to destroy Acerak. Her companion is Fineas, an elvish mage.
  Endira's Item Analysis determined that the wall did indeed entrap living creatures, and would regenerate itself if damaged. There was also some third ability which the spell could not identify. Kurik was able to Neutralize the curse affecting Fineas, and the elf stepped forth from the plaster. After brief introductions and explanation, Fineas and Meilu decided to join their fellow Player Characters.  

  Kahlen's Journal
  We made very sure to not touch any of the walls as we left that room. The hallway exited through the gaping maw of one of the purple worms painted on the wall. Whoever decorated the Fortress had a twisted sense of humor. As we walked down the hall, I at first thought the walls must be reflecting the sound of our footsteps in some bizarre fashion. Then I perceived someone trying to make mental contact. Rosvenir glanced at me, indicating that he sensed it too: almost a moan. Then, I heard the voice in my mind: "is anyone there?" We proceeded cautiously.
  In the small room beyond was a sight which will haunt me for decades. Hanging upside down from the ceiling was a wretched human. His arms and legs were bound tightly to his sides, strong threads piercing his flesh at intervals. His eyes and mouth had been sewn closed. He was somehow managing to concentrate on a spell of the Mentalism realm to silently communicate with Rosvenir and myself. "Release me from this horrible bondage," came the voice.

The Narrator
  Not wishing to fall prey to some sort of demonic trick, Rosvenir asked who the man was. The mental response came several heartbeats later, as though the remembrance of his name taxed the man greatly: "Desatysso." Mystical's Mind Probe sensed no treachery, and so Kurik cut the strap and lowered the poor wretch to the floor. Mystical asked who had done this to him, and got a vision of the threads flying from the shadows and through the air to embed themselves into his flesh. Acerak had bound him thus.
  Kahlen retrieved a sharp scalpel, and cut the first thread securing the mage's mouth. His scream was gut-wrenching, as though the cutting of the thread had grievously wounded him. Kahlen cast a powerful healing spell to restore the wizard, and was shocked that it had absolutely no effect. The spell binding Desatysso prevented healing magic from affecting him.
  After several minutes to recover, Desatysso was able to recast the spell allowing mental communication. He had lost track of the amount of time he had been trapped within this Fortress, kept alive by the magic of his captor. His wits were at their end, and his endurance well past spent. He wished to be allowed to die.
  Desatysso agreed to think back over what he had encountered in the fortress, that Mystical with her Mind Probe might know of what dangers lay ahead.

Desatysso's fevered memories
Riding on the back of the Phantom, through the astonishing cold of the Void towards a green glow. There is a skeleton dressed in fine robes, cleaning the lamp. "Only one? I've no use for one. The investiture of my consciousness into the Void requires more than one. What ever shall I do with you?" The skeletal mage lifted its arms as if to cast a spell, but Desatysso was faster. The undead magic-user was smashed to bits by a Lightning Bolt. Desatysso remembers being surprised at how easy it was.

The memories come all ajumble now. There is a pit filled with animated bones, twitching. A hint of an entity of abysmal power, kept bound and controlled by some unknown ritual. A glimpse of an evil laboratory, wicked instruments laid out on benches. Skeletons frozen in ice. Finally, gazing into a crystal with numerous facets, and within each facet a screaming face. Then the threads fly from the darkness...

Zembahk Kaydian
  It was apparent to me, and to Desatysso himself, that he could not be extricated from his predicament. Death would be his only release. I made ready to perform the coup de grace, but first to fulfill the mission which had brought me to this place. I told Desatysso of his son, and how I had come to respect him. I told Desatysso that before his own death, his son had forgiven him, and that I had vowed to deliver this message to his father.
  The news of his son's death saddened Desatysso, but the knowledge of his forgiveness seemed to lighten his burden. I hope the knowledge gives his spirit peace in whatever realm the souls of the lesser races run off to after their brief existence. When he had composed himself, he indicated to Rosvenir that he was ready. I plunged the sword into his chest, finally ending his torment.
  Then a strange thing happened. I felt a tingling, and identified it as an Arcane magic wrapping its tendrils about me. I attempted to avoid the effect, but it was too late. The threads and straps which had pierced Desatysso's form these past decades pulled themselves loose, and scuttled quickly across the stone floor. I sliced the largest of the straps in two and fended off the rest for a brief moment, but it was futile. The sword wrenched from my grasp as the larger cords punctured my skin and sinew and drew my arms to my sides. I felt an excruciating pain, and could no longer see. Through the burning haze I could feel myself falling and being dragged across the floor.

The Narrator
  It had happened too quickly for anyone to react. Zem now hung suspended by a strap from the hook in the ceiling, his eyes and mouth sewn closed. Endira rushed to help him, casting Item Analysis on the threads in hopes of finding a way to remove them. The threads are the manifestation of a curse, which will attach themselves to anyone who kills their current victim. Kurik attempted a Neutralize Curse, and failed. After a number of tries he succeeded, and Zem was released with a thunk to the floor. Kurik could only stave off the effects of the curse for 22 hours, after which it might return. Mystical cast Store Location, in case the party needed to return to this room to free him again.
  A long, dark hallway led from the room. Zem cast Nightvision to peer into the murkiness, and at the far end could just discern a tall humanoid figure with oversized arms and legs. Endira cast Anticipations to know the most likely outcome if the party were to walk down the hallway. Result: the being would kill every last one of them and spread their entrails on the stone to cool. Rosvenir's Mind Typing confirmed: it is the embodiment of destructive entropy from the Negative Material Plane. The spell also revealed the being's level (50) and its profession, which in a moment of inspiration the GM listed as "butt kicking".
  Returning to the room where Desatysso had been bound, a careful search revealed a secret door in the corner. Rosvenir was unable to Merge with the wall to see what lay beyond. Haer discovered no traps, and Fineas opened it with a Telekineses spell.
  The secret door led to a hallway which turned to the right a few paces ahead. Past the turn and on the right it opened onto a small room where the far wall was a roiling cloud of silvery mist. Having had enough of mist in Moil, the party continued down the hall until reaching a brightly colored room. There were four incredibly lifelike paintings of demons on the walls, each of which concealed a secret door. Meilu cast Stonesight, discovering that each secret door led to a short hallway which ended in another door. Continuing to concentrate on her spell Meilu walked back down the hallway, discovering a crawlspace running perpendicular to and five feet underneath the hall, and a secret door back at the first bend.
  Since opening the demonic paintings would almost certainly Gate one in, the party decided to pursue these new possibilities instead. The secret door at the first bend led to a short hallway which ended in a stone wall. There was a wooden lever on the wall, under a sign which read "Push me." Several more Anticipation spells by Endira determined that pushing the lever would result in the floor of the room suddenly rising up to crush against the ceiling, but that pushing the sign inwards would open a secret door. Meilu cast Stonesight again to see through the door: it leads to a pit filled completely with bones. An uneven catwalk is suspended above the bones by irregular pillared supports.
  The enormous pit of bones presumably represented the bulk of the 150,000 enemies Kurik's spell had detected. Having spent the day exploring the Fortress and burning through a large number of power points, the party determined to get some sleep before opening this new can of whoop-ass. Mystical barricaded the space in front of the mist with walls of ice and lit a small fire to provide warmth. Rosvenir cast Commune, asking the question: "Which of the four secret doors conceals something we need to complete our quest?" The answer came in booming voice, "None." Rosvenir then cast Dream IV, to know of the things which Desatysso had faced and which the party expected to encounter:

• What is in the evil laboratory?
• What is beyond the silver mist?
• What is behind the fourth demon door?
• How do we destroy the Devourer's phylactery?

Day 29
  Fineas cast Unstone to create an opening to the crawlspace under the hall, and the party lowered Haer and Meilu to explore it. The crawlspace was 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall. At one end was a secret door, which Stonesight revealed as leading to a hallway. At the other end there was a secret door in the ceiling, which Stonesight could not penetrate.
  As he walked past the silvery mist, Rosvenir heard a pitiable, "help me." Stepping closer to hear more clearly, the voice said "is anyone there?" Various Unfog and Fogvision spells proved ineffective, with the mist remaining stubbornly opaque until Zem cast Gasvision. He could see a perfectly spherical chamber, with a smaller chamber off the far side. This far chamber held numerous chains hanging down from the ceiling, as well as a big pile of offal on the floor. Pegged to the side of the spherical chamber was a Dretch, one of the lowliest of demonkind. Zem experimentally poked at the mist with his finger, and felt enormous pain for the trouble.
  Mystical was able to teleport the Dretch out of the mist, and Endira cast a Charming Song on it. The pathetic demon was completely useless, knowing nothing of any import. However, releasing it must have annoyed the other demon in the room as Rosvenir suddenly succumbed to a powerful Sleep spell, pitched forward, and would have been drawn into the mist but for the quick reaction of Mystical. She created an Ice Wall to seal off the mist, but was immediately hit with a number of slashing attacks by some invisible foe. She also caught a whiff of the most amazingly bad case of B.O. the Universe has ever dredged up. Fineas cast Vacuum IV beyond the ice wall in the spherical chamber, thinking to destroy whatever foe lurked there. An enormous thunderclap was heard and large cracks formed in the wall of ice, but it held.
  Whatever it was must have made it past the ice wall, because it attacked Mystical again. It remained invisible throughout its attack. Meilu and Zem cast spells to detect unseen opponents, and Fineas Hasted the two as they charged forward to confront it.

Transcript of the proceedings of the Third Infernal Civil Court

Plaintiff:	Unnamed Glabrezu demon
Defendant:	Acerak, aka The Devourer, represented by Counsel.
The Honorable Judge Sceeza'zzt presiding.
Plaintiff's lawyer:	Can you explain the nature of your employment to Acerak (also known as The Devourer), and the circumstances that led to your leaving this employment?
Unnamed Demon:	Yea, sure. I was a Demon for hire, see? Mr. Acerak puts me on retainer on a poison gas trap at dis Fortress in da Negative Material Plane. Anyways, I've been around and I knows what sorts of stunts big shot employers can pull on us independent demons what dat hasn't earned our name and all. Dey think dey can treats us like dirt.
Acerak's counsel:	Objection, your honor.
Judge Sceeza'zzt:	Sustained. Keep to the particulars of the case, no-name scum.
Unnamed demon:	Yes, yer honor. So anyways when we writes the contract I made sure it ain't gonna be no certain death gig, onna count of I gots a family to feed and all. So I's made sure I wouldn't have to get summoned to da Prime by no magic-users what dats higher level than me, and I wouldn't have to go up against nobodys what had Slaying criticals.
Plaintiff's lawyer:	And Acerak agreed to these terms?
Unnamed demon:	Yeah, he did. Da first couple centuries of da gig was ok. I got to kill some adventuring parties from da Prime, got to torture da occasional Dretch, and I built dis really big pile of crap to sleep on, which is like da BEST.
Plaintiff's lawyer:	What happened then?
Unnamed demon:	So den, dis party of adventurers shows up on my day off. I was pretty pissed about dat, but I'm a professional and I'll do my job no matta what. Dey seemed pretty wimpy, and anyways I thought da elf's head would look pretty good dangling from da chains in my room. Den da Kaydian pulls out dis big-ass sword and pulls a Slaying critical on me. I couldn't believe it. His cut started at my right leg, and went all da way up to slice my head in two.
Plaintiff's lawyer:	And this has caused you economic difficulty?
Unnamed demon:	Damn straight it has. I'm gonna be confined to dis layer of da Abyss for at least da next two hundred years. Dere ain't no work here, nothin fit for a demon of my abilities at least. I can't afford to feed da family anymore. We hadda eat one a da kids last week!
Plaintiff's lawyer:	So the egregious violation of the terms of your contract is what compelled you to seek compensation from the Arch-Lich Acerak?
Unnamed demon:	Damn straight.
Plaintiff's lawyer:	Thank you. No more questions, your honor. Your witness.
Acerak's counsel:	Thank you. You referred to your contract earlier. Were you referring to clause 14, which states (and I quote): Employer further guarantees that Employee will not, under any circumstances, be required to combat any person or entity possessing weapons which inflict criticals Of Slaying.
Unnamed demon:	Yeah, dats it.
Acerak's counsel:	And is it not true that the sword possessed by Mr. Zembahk Kaydian, the implicant weapon in said combat, does not inflict criticals Of Slaying?
Unnamed demon:	No, it was a Slaying critical. I knows.
Judge Sceeza'zzt:	Counsel, the employment of a Slaying critical in the combat under question was well established during the evidence phase of this trial.
Acerak's counsel:	Your honor, my client does not dispute that the plaintiff was the recipient of an "E" critical of Slaying. However, said critical was not in fact the product of said sword, but of the Death Strike spell cast by Mr. Zembahk Kaydian during the combat in question. As such, my client contends that it does not violate the terms laid out in the agreement.
Unnamed demon:	What!?! You bast-
Judge Sceeza'zzt:	AGREED. Case dismissed.
Unnamed demon:	-ard!!!

The Narrator
  Fighting a foe which can remain invisible is no easy task, but our heroes managed it. Zem and Meilu managed to inflict several hits on it before Zem's Slaying critical took off its head. The invisible body (all six hundred pounds of it) toppled over on top of him. The rest of the party struggled to heave it off. Haer dusted the body with flour to get a good look at it: it was a Glabrezu (type III) demon.
  Rosvenir determined that the mist was of an Arcane nature, and was unable to dispel it. He and Haer teleported to the small chamber on the far side. Inside it reeked of a fish market which had spent several weeks in the hottest desert before being left to soak in the raw sewage of some third world country. Imposing black chains hung from the ceiling, each ending in a wicked hook which seemed to exude a desire to impale a victim. Holding his nose, Rosvenir cast Detect Mentalism, Detect Essence, and Detect Channeling to locate any magic items buried in the offal. Haer retrieved a pair of earrings which radiated Essence, and a longsword of Channeling. Endira later identified them: the earrings grant +10 DB, but only if both are worn. The sword does an additional Slaying critical to humanoids.
  Haer also located the outlines of a trap door in the corner, which his Stonesight spell was unable to penetrate. Mystical teleported over in case there was trouble, complaining mightily about the environs, and the trap door was opened. A rough hewn crawlspace led away from the door.

Experience awarded for this session:

• Haer 7,000
• Mystical 7,000
• Endira 7,000
• Rosvenir 7,000
• Kurik 7,000
• Zem 7,500
• Meilu 8,000
• Fineas 7,250