Arenthea scoffs at Davina, "Everyone worth their weight in sulfur knows that."
However, she leans in closely and nods as Mack whispers his secret, "I did not know that. I am impressed that you learned this so quickly. Have you been to Hell before? The fallen agathion makes an odd gesture and, for the life of him, Mack cannot remember whatever it was he just told Arenthea.
"Well, anyhow, as payment I can tell you this: Leventi possesses the soul of Gellius Thrune, one of the founders of House Thrune from centuries ago. He also owns Tholvinus, Gellius’s imp, but puts no effort into disciplining the imp and he keeps wandering off. The little beast was recently captured and is now one of many prizes offered by the fighting pits of Widow’s Cry.
"But if you're really looking for evidence against Leventi, know that I performed several simple services that made it easier for someone--say, him--to steal heirlooms outright. So Leventi may have acquired some of his collection through unlawful means not befitting Hell’s high standards.
"If you want more, consider visiting Yseldra and purchase Ophelia Peran's soul. Ophelia was once one of Leventi's opperatives."
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Make shares what he and Davina learned from the erinyes with the rest of the team.
"So, Arenthea confirmed some things we knew and added a few more clues and leads. Leventi possesses the soul of Gellius Thrune, and he also owns Tholvinus, Gellius’s imp, but the imp keeps wandering off. The little beast was recently captured and is now one of many prizes offered by the fighting pits of Widow’s Cry."
"And, maybe with Arenthea's unwitting help, Leventi may have acquired some of his collection through unlawful means not befitting Hell’s 'high standards'."
"Arenthea said we might learn more from Yseldra and perhaps even purchase the soul of Ophelia Peran, one of Leventi's opperatives."
"Remember, we'd already heard that the night hag Yseldra buys, sells, and leases the souls of dead warriors from her well-hidden shop. She is renting the soul of Ophelia Peran, a former Thrune agent, to Leventi, but she’s grown aggravated with the contract devil’s high pressure tactics to buy the contract. The likelihood that she'd make another deal with Leventi is slim."
Mack looks around. "Let's find Yseldra and have a chat. She's somewhere here in the Market of Breaths."
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Mack slows down his speech, "Keos, brother, as fortune would have it, we're in the Market of Breaths, and the hag Yseldra is here, too." He winks and smiles.
"Learning more about her, her dealings with Leventi, and Leventi's associate Ophelia Peran, those are several leads that could help our investigation."
Artylget assists you in asking around for the location of Yseldra's shop of souls. Eventually, you find Yesterday's Glories down a narrow and dark alley. You get the sensation that invisible creatures scurry out of your way as you approach but only so far as to remain out of sight and stare at you with hunger. The door is simple with the shop's name carved on the mantel.
A bell tinkles as you open the door. Inside you find a neat, comfortable sitting room with a dozen cushioned chairs of varying sizes to accommodate different sized patrons. Artylget immediately flits over to lounge in a tiny chair. He peers at you over steepled fingers with a beatific smile. The walls are lined with shelves bearing hundreds of bound tomes. Each tome has a name written in infernal upon it.
A pleasant looking human woman approaches from around the counter in the back of the room. "Welcome to Yesterday's Glories," she says with a welcoming smile. "We have one of the best selections of souls available for lease or purchase. Feel free to browse or to ask any questions."
"Any old soul?" Yseldra asks. "It really depends on the soul, but if you just want a bargain soul--mind you that even my least valuable souls come from the highest quality beings--then I could offer you the soul of a rather young baron of Isger who had a particularly short reign for 5,000 gold. If you need a soul with more experience, I have a Garundi sorcerer from the Age of Anguish that I could sell at for, hmm, 250,000 gold. I could discount it by 15,000 gold if you wanted to barter your own soul upon your demise."
"A 'normal' soul? My dear, every soul is unique. Some have more experiences than others, but the closest you'll get to a naive soul is... well," she leans towards Davina and speaks in a mock whisper. "I do not mean to offend or to judge a book by its cover, but you do not seem the sort to be interested in that sort of thing. I do not deal in the souls of infants or the unborn. I only deal in souls with a variety of experiences to share. If the coin is too much, I could give you the baron's soul for, let's say, your emotions? I mean, what do they do but get in the way, right?"
When Davina mentions Ophelia, the woman frowns. "I would be more than happy to sell you that soul. Unfortunately, a particular devil is currently leasing her soul. The cost of breaking the contract would be quite steep, so I would need to charge 17,500 gold or equivalent barter. One of your souls could get it down to 2,500 gold. A soul or, maybe your power? If you are walking the streets of Dis, you must have a surfeit of power. Alternatively, I could exchange it for 7,500 gold and your hope."
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"I'm sorry but my emotions are not for sale but I get the feeling that a particular devil is giving you a headache. I can't stand headaches as well, in fact any information on him about be appreciated. Perhaps we can come to an understanding in regards to THE particular devil. Such as a better price...Do you have any thieves or peasants souls? How much would they be?"
Gods she's close....She smells. ick
Yseldra pauses to consider Davina for a moment. "Well, I don't have any information on that devil, but if you're no friends of his, I'll cut you an enemy of my enemy deal: 15,000 gold. I could shave down the cost to merely the price of breaking the contract--10,000 gold--if you'd be willing to do me a favor.
"There's a soul that I'm interested in learning how that particular devil acquired her: a Hellknight named Teena Forester. I believe her soul was residing in the Ghetto of Outcasts just outside the city walls. If you could bring me information on that soul, I will give you Ophelia's soul for a mere 10,000 gold (or equivalent barter)."
She adds, "Peasants are usually turned into lemures as soon as they rise. I'm sure I still have a few thieves in stock. If you want one of the less interesting souls, I'll give it to you for free in exchange for information on Teena Forester."
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"Your price is too steep for me, Yseldra. We're interested in Ophelia Peran because of her association with the contract devil Leventi." Mack shows her Vetrivides writ. "We're investigating allegations that Leventi has negotiated some illegitimate contracts for mortal souls and that he has stolen property, violating Hell's standards of conduct, unworthy actions all, especially for a devil being considered for promotion. We'd hoped you could help."
Mack's expression of disappointment is obvious. "But thank you for the information about the hellknight Teena Forester. What's your interest in her?"
"I am curious as to why Leventi wanted her and how he obtained her soul," Yseldra says. "I have my own suspicions about that, but I am not comfortable speculating without evidence."
"Good luck in your endeavors," Yseldra says with a smile as you depart her shop.
On your way toward the ferry station, Zarta suddenly appears before Davina--and Davina alone--saying, "I have found new leads. Meet at the bottom of the Market of Breaths to plan our next steps."
Davina replies in the affirmative for your all. You return to the ferry dock where Gelkine is more than happy to transport you back to the ground for his customary fee. Milo flies himself to the ground.
Zarta arrives after a short wait. She informs you that she has learned of the connection between the soul of Ophelia Peran and Leventi as well as the situation with the imp, Tholvinis. It seems that you have arrived at the same leads via different paths. She also received a letter sealed with a halo of glowing runes from an imp. She opens the letter in your presence and reads a request for a meeting with an 'Rowane' at Eleusys, the Palace of the Queen of Dis.
You discuss your options. Zarta makes it clear that she is happy to follow any of the leads on her own except for traveling to Widow's Cry as she suspects that would be quite dangerous for a woman alone.
Zarta agrees to follow-up on the mysterious summons to Eleusys. You make your way toward the Ghetto of Outcasts. Artylget leading the way. It takes you roughly one hour to reach the Ghetto.
The broken wasteland outside Dis teems with the damned, who scratch out a squalid existence in the shadow of the city’s mountainous walls. Remnants of buildings sit half-broken beneath the glacial advance of the walls, and the agonized moans of the souls imprisoned within the wall harmonize with the more energetic screams of the partially trapped petitioners slowly joining them.
Massive devils patrol the top of the wall at regular intervals. Moments within your arrival in the ghetto, impoverished looking souls begin to move toward you.
"The entitled and condescending are sent here," Artylget informs you. "It's where Zarkimon would have ended up, I'm sure, if he hadn't made his bargain." The imp then adds cheerfully, "I'm sure he's happier being flayed bit by bit."
"A bit of coin, sir? Please," one of the souls moans as it approaches.
"My family all live here. Coin so that I can patch the roof, please?" a woman weeps.
"Help me. I need coin to escape the lashes of the devils who patrol the streets here," a third begs.
You are soon surrounded by a dozen begging souls. Their piteous cries drowning each other out as they each struggle to gain your attention.
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Milo ignores the imp, and makes sure he's sure they're going the right way.
As before, both of them end up going the same way.
Once they reach the Ghetto, he frowns, the area at once familiar, and completely foreign, from where he grew up.
With no desire to talk to the locals or their tormentors, or divulge the Pathfinder's actual agenda unnecessarily, he tries to figure out where to go to find this Teena person without having to do so..
Inside the ghetto, Milo suddenly breaks away from you, which is not that unusual for the current expedition, but he waves for you to follow. He leads you through several alleys, stopping to consider the topography before moving onward. Eventually, he emerges out of an alley into the gutter space between the advancing iron wall of Dis and the walls of the ramshackle buildings. All along the wall are several camps, some occupied and others consumed by the wall.
At one of these camps, he finds three Hellknights in antique armor with bestial motifs--a human man, a tiefling woman, and a half-elf woman--partially trapped in the advancing wall.
The two woman stare blankly at the burning sky. "Come on, Ria," the man says with a weak smile. "Remember. Remember that time, that time... we, uh... what was I trying to remember?" He shakes his head and tries again. "Ria! Aurora! Remember that time we, uh, the goblins! Remember when we painted our shields with hymns and scared off that goblin tribe! Oh, they looked so funny running around like chickens with their heads cut off, hands over their eyes and bumping into each other." He laughs weakly, and you can tell that his spirit is failing and will soon join his companions in catatonia.
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Taking a look at the hellknights slowly being subsumed by the wall, Mack retrieves one of his Pathfinder Chronicles from his handy haversack, thumbing through a few pages till he finds what he's looking for.
"The armor suggests Hellknights from the Order of the Pike, which was disbanded after the Chelish Civil War and refounded as a minor order in 4688 AR."
He clears his throat and addresses the unfortunate souls. "Ria. Aurora. Who's your fellow hellknight here? Ever heard of Teena Forester or Ophelia Peran? Seems they had some unsavory dealings with a contract devil named Leventi. We're investigating the fiend, and we could use some help."
Mack eyes the wall surrounding them. "Any way to get you unstuck? You help us, maybe we can try to help you."
For the most part, the Hellknights who have been trapped in Hell for centuries do not even react to your presence as you stand there and dryly request information from them for a minute. A patrolling devil stops at the top of the wall and watches you for a moment, then carries on in his patrol. Even he found you banal.
The only reaction is when Mack mentions Teena Forester. "Teena? Is Teena here?" the man asks, looking around with an unfocused gaze. "No, no. Teena betrayed us. Left us here. Left with that devil..."
His voice fades to a whisper and his eyes cast downwards. "Why am I in Hell? I paid my respects to the Godclaw, yes, but I favored Iomedae. Why..?"
His hope is fading. It will not be too long before he joins his companions in catatonia.