Imperia nods politely, asks and answers a few meaningless questions and enjoys a surprisingly good scone. "A heresy devil indeed... how interesting." She says. "It wanted sacrifices in exchange for what power exactly? And how many?" She shares a meaningful look with Jordanna.
"As for your locket, I'll be happy to return it to you." She adds, willing to gain a favor for minimal effort. "Thank you for your information, and hospitality." She leaves the camp five thousand gold better off and considerable wiser.
Before leaving the hidden passage beneath the tree she stops both the partners and explains her thinking. "It occurs to me that Fex must have visited the Inferno Gate before. Presumably he met this heresy devil and was offered power in exchange for souls. The notes he had suggest that he has found the devil's true name and that, combined with the talisman suggests that he intends to bind the devil somehow. Presumably this would grant him control over the gate..." She looks to Jordanna, to see if her logic scans so far. The other changeling has a wide streak of cunning that sees further through problems than most.
"It seems logical to conclude that Fex will meet us at the gate to perform the ritual - however I do not believe that he is going to simply let us walk away, or share in his glory. It is far more likely that we are his intended sacrifices, and he plans to simply take us by surprise, kill us and give us to the devil - which would then provide him time to bind it. It is a complex plan, but leaves no loose ends..." Imperia concludes. "I quite admire him for it. Not that we will allow it, of course. Now I may be overly paranoid and perhaps we can trust him - but I want everyone to be very careful, particularly when his little spy may be around. Jordanna, what do we know of his capabilities? He is a mage of some sort without a doubt."
Lairsaph explains that the devil asked for four sacrifices.
***
"Fex is a conjurer," Jordanna says. "If we go up against him, we can expect to deal with numerous called or summoned minions. But if we can isolate him and slay him swiftly, those minions will have no master to command them.
"I think I may have had a breakthrough that may catch him off guard. Let's return to Senara so I can use my laboratory. We can sell the gear we acquired, too. Oh, and I will need a lock of your hair..."
"A conjurer you say..." Imperia replies. "Interesting. So his weakness would be a spellbook. Now that would level the playing field - but probably too much. Yes, to Senara. I want to ransack his house - there must be more there we can use to learn about him! Still, we must be careful, no clues."
With two days of travel, you make it back to Senara, where Fex's halfling staff is happy to provide for your needs within his manor house. Jordanna secludes herself among her alchemist's lab, dropping Imperia's hair into a cauldron and mixing together all sorts of noxious reagents while the mesmerist heads to the markets.
The next morning, Jordanna calls Imperia into the lab. She pulls back a sheet to reveal an exact duplicate of the mesmerist lying naked on a slab! "I did it. I have created an alchemical simulacrum of you!" Jordanna declares triumphantly. "She is an exact duplicate with all of your thoughts and memories, though I have not yet been able to figure out how to give her magical abilities. And she will only last about 8 hours once I activate her before she decays. Still, imagine the possibilities..."
Imperia looks sharply at the alchemist - trying to determine exactly what possibilities she has in mind... still it is a useful discovery. "Impressive indeed."She agrees. "Does it live yet? Could it be stored in a box or bag for example, or does it still need to breathe?"
She leaves the logistics to the changeling and returns to her work which has been to, neatly, ransack the study and bedrooms in order to find any clues she can about Fex and his abilities.
"She will remain inert until I implant the final spark of life into her," Jordanna says, idly caressing the simulacrum's belly. "Until then, we can store her in a bag of holding or the like."
Teraing apart the manor house, unfortunately, reveals little of value or importance. It seems that Fex keeps most of his actual valuables at Scarlet Crown.
The time spend in Senara is not entirely a waste however as Imperia pools all of the groups funds and spends several hours gritting her teeth while a somewhat shady wizard, who looks like the most demented kuthonites, etches her arm with magical inks. The pain is considerable but the effect, once completed is mesmerising and brief tests confirm that it is, in fact, worth every gold piece.
With everything done the threesome ventures back into the wilds, heading straight for Fort Arego.
Named for the large number of devils and infernal outsiders encountered in the region, presumably spawned from a portal to Hell located somewhere within its bounds, Perdition Reach contains dense oak groves and boggy lowlands, creating a harsh terrain difficult to navigate even on the clearest of days.
After two days' trek, you near Fort Arego. The trail narrows slightly here and turns west as a crumbling fortress of gray stone and decaying timber comes into view to the south, situated atop a steep embankment of dirt and stone bordered by a narrow forest stream. Dark smoke leaks into the sky from the keep’s ruined stone tower, and the sound of clashing steel echoes from within the fortress walls.
Four knights inheritor of the Glorious Reclamation guard the trail. Mounted on heavy horses, the knights are in plain sight on the trail, letting their horses graze.
Imperia gestures her companions off to the side of the road and then casts a spell. A faint voice calls from further down the track.
"Help!"
Then, much louder, comes a feminine scream and a deep cackling laugh.
The knights straigthen in their saddles. "Hark, men! A damsel in distress!" They spur their horses and ride off, giving you an opportunity to slip past.
Ahead, tents, wooden supply crates, and a large fire pit make a military encampment of this otherwise cozy forest clearing. You can see another four knights within the camp, including their apparent commander, a red-haired woman who wears extravagant emerald- and ruby-bedecked armor and equipment. It looks like it would be relatively simple to maintain stealth and slip past the camp, should you desire.
Imperia shakes her head at Jordanna's questioning look and points emphatically towards the fortress. They aren't here to murder Glorious Reclamation soldiers, at least not without good reason or a legion of devils at her back.
A narrow footbridge crosses over a burbling stream that winds around the hill to the east and trickles westward. Two hound archons and a legion archon guard this bridge, keeping a wary eye out for evildoers like you!
"They'll sense us when we get close," Jordanna says. "But we need at least one of their hearts for the ritual."
"How tiresome." Imperia replies with a sigh. "Very well, let's get this done quickly, and as quietly as we can. You'll have to manage this one without growing huge Jordanna."
She opens with Deep Slumber!
Jordanna's belly shakes as the thing inside of it squirms. "Without growing huge-er, you mean," she says with a smirk, poking the child back into quiescence.
After a countdown from five, the three of you rush towards the archons!
The archons react to your appearance quickly! The hound archons howl as they move to meet Jordanna in melee, while the legion archon takes to the air and casts mirror image on itself!
No hits are landed in the initial clash, but Jordanna sets that right by slaying one of the hound archons moments later with two thrusts of her spear. Zara slashes into the other one as Imperia closes and begins her slumber spell.
The legion archon hurls a flaming javelin at Imperia but misses while the hound archon tries to strike back at Zara!
Imperia completes the spell but it falters against the archon's spell resistance!
Unimpressed Imperia withdraws the wand of fly and attempts to get Jordanna up into the air.
Jordanna slays the second hound archon with a thrust of her spear, then flaps her feathered wings to fly up towards the legion archon. You use the wand to allow Zara to fly, too, and she slashes at the archon, destroying a mirror image.
The legion archon conjures a flaming greatsword and attacks Jordanna! It misses!
There's very little Imperia can do now so she starts trying to lever on of the hound archons into the stream in an attempt to tidy up the scene a little...
Jordanna and Zara destroys the archon’s mirror images, and Zara lands a good hit, but she takes a devastating strike in return! The Hellknight groans as blood flows from the deep wound.
Unable to reach Zara to heal her Imperia glowers at the archon. "Fool! Your death is inevitable!"
Imperia's threats throw off the archon's aim, and Jordanna and Zara are able to capitalize on its momentary wavering to take it down!
Imperia waves them down to the ground and sets Jordanna to heart harvesting while she tends to Zara with the wand she bought for this exact purpose!
Once the alchemist has extracted the heart Imperia points towards the fortress. "Let's press on." She says, keen to leave the scene of the battle before reinforcements arrive.
After harvesting the archon's heart, you press on. Two mounds of earth and stone, possibly the overgrown ruins of collapsed towers, form a gateway of sorts, bracketing the trail as it winds upward to the fort proper. A hulking treant perches on the southernmost mound, while two animated trees are trying to down the western walls of Fort Arego. Past them, you can see three knights inheritor mounted on hippogriffs patrolling the skies above the fort's outer bailey.
"What do you think? Sneak past them invisibly?" Jordanna asks.
"Well I have no desire to fight any of them." Imperia replies. "Nice and quiet now."
Jordanna passes out extracts of invisibility and you quietly sneak past the treants and the mounted knights. As you work your way through the crumbling outer bailey and barracks, you spot a rusted iron lockbox. You take it for later inspection before moving into the inner bailey.
Mounds of dirt, debris, and loose stone litter this open courtyard, which is bordered on all sides by the crumbling walls of the fort. To the northeast, chunks of rubble have been moved to reveal an entrance to the interior of a massive, ruined tower, blocked by double doors.
The fighting to take Fort Arego is heaviest in this area. Dead Glorious Reclamation soldiers and slain devils litter the ground, but the knights are close to breaking through. The siege has mostly drawn to a close, though a few soldiers are still fighting isolated battles with devils on the periphery of the courtyard.
Knight Banneret Viona Kadarius, the leader of the Glorious Reclamation’s efforts in the Whisperwood, leads the siege from here. Sitting astride her noble half-celestial unicorn mount, she rallies her remaining troops in the bailey for the final push to enter the fort’s ruined watchtower.
"The damn unicorn will sense us if we try to get close," Jordanna whispers. "What do you want to do?"
"I'll stop the Knight Banneret, the two of you take down the unicorn as quickly as you can." Imperia replies.
She opens the battle by attempt to paralyze the Knight!
The knight suddenly freezes in place, paralyzed! Imperia becomes visible, causing the unicorn to whinny angrily!
Jordanna suddenly appears and drives her spear point right into the unicorn's neck! She slays it in a single blow, and it topples over, taking Viona with it! Zara rushes up to slice the paralyzed knight...
...then Jordanna delivers a coup de grace to take her out before she can recover from the paralysis!
Shocked by the brutal and swift end of their commander, the remaining knights falter and retreat as the devils push them back! Taking advantage of the chaos, you grab Viona's body and bring it with you into the fort, slamming the doors shut behind you.
Now that you have some time, you crack open the lockbox. Inside are over two dozen books, remarkably well preserved considering their age. Most of these are historical in nature, including exhaustive records of every individual imprisoned and executed at Fort Arego over the years, as well as several journals kept by the prison’s wardens. The books weigh a total of 60 pounds in all, and are capable of fetching 6,000 gp if sold to a historian or book collector. In addition, a 2nd-level page of spell knowledge lies among the more mundane volumes.
One of the journals is of interest--that of Korva Ferrini, the last warden of Fort Arego before it was overrun by a prisoner riot. An excerpt follows:
The murders continue, even after the hanging of Bartleby Crispin. Just this morning, Officer Hyla found both Sergeant Logan and Marshank the Varisian cut from ear to ear, splayed out in the assembly room on sublevel 2. So much for the killer being confined to the Funnel or the Pit— it seems that whoever our murderer is, he’s got some way of sneaking out of his cell and between floors. I’ve locked down the cellblocks and stationed additional guards on sublevels 2 and 4, but I’m afraid there is little else we can do to fend off the killer lurking in the shadows until reinforcements arrive from Westcrown.
With some time to prepare Imperia skim reads the books and frowns. "So there was some sort of killer stalking this place. No doubt a devil or some sort of malevolent spirit. We should be wary. Still, I imagine we need to head to the 'Pit' as they seem to have so imaginatively named it. Downwards then."
Despite having a distinct goal Imperia ensures that her small group moves carefully and thoroughly - firstly she doesn't want to miss anything, second she doesn't want to be ambushed.
Cracked stone columns support what’s left of the crumbling ceiling of this wide foyer. A flight of stairs descends to the east, and a long hallway continues to the north. Ahead, two doors provide access to other chambers.
The first door opens into a library. Broken and rotting bookshelves stand in various states of disarray throughout this chamber. Books, scrolls, and miscellaneous papers are scattered across the floor.
A single bone devil is here, busily consuming the lost lore. It turns as you enter and hisses. "Ah! I've been reading about torture techniques. It will be nice to test them out on living subjects!"
Imperia gazes sternly at it. "You should rethink that idea. But I dobt my companions will give you the chance."
The devil is thoroughly shaking by Imperia's withering stare. Jordanna and Zara move in to attack, and the fiend tries its best to fight back, but can't seem to muster much resolve. After a few rounds of trading blows, the devil chooses to flee, disappearing in a puff of brimstone.
Scattered among the disintegrating papers and books in this room are three scrolls of dispel magic, a scroll of see invisibility, a wand of stone shape (23 charges), six black onyx gems worth 100 gp each, and what appears to be a strikingly boring compendium of 500-year-old Chelish legal precedents, but is actually a spellbook protected by a bookmark of deception. Removing the bookmark reveals the true nature of the spellbook, which contains 3d4 sorcerer/wizard spells of 1st through 3rd levels.
"That was its only course of action." Imperia says, quite pleased to have sent one of Hell's tormentors running without casting a single spell. "Let us move on."
Broken stone blocks and rubble create an uncertain path through this maze of half-ruined sleeping quarters. Gold coins are scattered across the floor as though spilled from a purse, and several rusty weapons hang from a rack in the corner of the room.
Two burning graveknights stand guard here, but you take them down without much trouble. A search reveals a small iron key poking out from beneath a weapon rack.
You head down the stairs to the first sublevel of the fort. Shattered clay pots, dented tin mugs, and crumbling wooden utensils lay scattered across the broken tables and floor tiles of this communal dining area.
Two warmonger devils lurk here, and when they see you, they move to attack!
"Focus on the right hand one." Imperia commands, before focusing her wrath on the devil to the left. "Fool! Lay down your arms and surrender to your betters!" She commands.
The devil succumbs to boredom. Jordanna and Zara miss the second one, which stabs Zara with its trident.
Imperia takes a risk and turns her attention to the one that is still fighting, before stepping up behind Zara to tap her with the wand.
Jordanna and Zara both hit the devil this time. The devil misses!
"You have no chance devil, give up now!" Imperia commands.
Indeed, its confidence shattered, the devil has no chance. Jordanna and Zara take it down before quickly dispatching the bored one as well.
The other two chambers on this level appear to have been a kitchen and an adjacent larder. Dirt and rubble have spilled from the chimney of the kitchen’s fireplace and filled the cauldron in the hearth. The shelves of the larder are bare save for dust and the dried remains of long-spoiled foodstuffs.
A knocked-over shelf in the larder obscures a loose flagstone. Underneath the loose tile is a bag containing a figurine of wondrous power (serpentine owl), an adamantine wire saw, 10 garnets worth 60 gp each, and 322 gp
With the tower level cleared Imperia applies the wand to Zara a few more times and then descends to the next level.
You head down to the next level, fighting two more burning graveknights. The key you found in the barracks unlocks a door here to a guardroom and an attached storeroom. Searching carefully, Jordanna finds a trap set up to fire a poisoned crossbow bolt at anybody opening the door. She disables it without much effort.
A lone humanoid corpse slouches in one corner of this chamber. Shelves covered in rusty tools and junk line the walls, and several open chests contain nothing but dust.
Although the prison relics in this room are long gone, the corpse of the man has a number of useful items on it, including a suit of masterwork padded armor, a +1 darkwood club, a vial of abjurant salt, a potion of cat’s grace, a climber’s kit, a crowbar, a skeleton key, and a sack containing 255 gp.
The other rooms here are a textile workshop and a wood workshop. A tunic of careful casting lies beneath some disintegrating cloth in the former, while the second only contains a hellwasp swarm that Jordanna wards off with a few bombs.
"Nicely done." Imperia says, rather appreciative of Jordanna's penchant for explosions. The useful items are collected without unnecessary comment, although Imperia does step aside to done the tunic - doing so without either of the other women looking on.
"Downwards once more." She says, returning properly dressed once again. "How many more levels do you think? I want to make preparations before we reach the gate." Before Fex. She doesn't say, but she sees the understanding in her partners eyes.
"Not many more. Lairsaph said there were five or six levels," Jordanna says.
The stairs lead down to a huge cylindrical chamber that is divided into three tiered levels of flagstone walkways that encircle the room’s perimeter, connected to adjacent levels by stone staircases. The topmost tier is the largest in diameter; the next lower tier is smaller, with steps circling down to the lowest tier, an empty circular area in the center of the room. Dozens of prison cells line the walls of each tier. A large staircase climbs from the top tier to the dungeon level above. On the bottom level, two open archways lead east and west under the tiers. Four long iron chains dangle from the high ceiling, hanging over a large square hole in the floor at the bottom of the chamber.
One might expect the cells in this prison to be long vacant, but such is not the case, as more than two dozen petitioners—the souls of mortals damned to an eternity in Hell—paw at the iron bars, pining for release. The petitioners retain their human forms, but have been horrifically scarred after untold centuries of torment in Hell.
The “wardens” of the prison are three host devils. "Ah! Some entertainment at last!" one buzzes.
"Entertainment for you? I think not!" Imperia laughs. "Destroy them!" She commands Zara and Jordanna, focusing her will on one of the devils and letting it feel the full weight of her mind.
Under the effects of her mutagen, Jordanna flaps her wings to get airborne, moving to attack a devil!
The devils strike back with their ranseurs. One lands a lucky hit.
Imperia taps Zara on the back with the wand of flying so that the hellknight can get in on the action.
Zara flies into battle but misses with her sword. Jordanna makes up for it, slaying a devil with two powerful thrusts.
The same devil lands another lucky hit on Jordanna.
Imperia turns her attention to the luck devil.
"You are overmatched fool! Surrender or flee I care not which!"
Zara lands a hit and Jordanna lands two. The devils attack again, destroying Jordanna's two mirror images.
Imperia flicks a wand and pelts one of the devils with magic missiles.
Your magic missiles take down the wounded devil, allowing Zara and Jordanna to utterly destroy the final fiend!
The petitioners continue to beg for release but they are harmless so long as you don't get too close to the cells.
The host devils have scoured the ruins of Fort Arego for any missed or forgotten treasures, which they have collected in the disused winch room. The valuables include a mithral shirt, oil of magic weapon, two scrolls of slow, a shield cloak, a wand of hold person (33 charges), miscellaneous gemstones worth 1,200 gp total, 43 pp, and 566 gp.