Lord Abraxas's page

Abraxas snarls at Enizver "Then you will die as you wish!" The vision of the demon lord disappears and his minions begin surging forward.

Abraxas' voice sounds quite impatient "Come come come. Fierna will be along very soon so don't waste time. As I said, she can track my subordinates quite well. Once I secure the lodestone, it will be safe from her. You will not be able to fend her off for long so there is no point trying to hold it yourselves." After a brief silence, you hear a chuckle "If it makes you feel any better, she has one, thanks to you, and I have none. So it is in your best interest for me to take this one."

You hunker down in the ice cave for a few hours to rest as night rapidly comes on outside. You illuminate the cave with a few torches and you are beginning to relax when you hear a small scraping sound on the ice. It slowly grows louder and resolves into a few scraping sounds, one larger than the others. Four strange, horrible looking creatures, shaped like men with long barbed tales and goat heads enter the cave followed by a large monstrosity of some sort sporting huge, wicked claws. You hear Abraxas' voice in your heads "Very good, my friends. Turn the Lodestone over to me before Fierna's minions show up."

Tinuk looks to you then sits down on the ice, legs crossed and eyes closed. His lips seem to be moving but you hear no sound.

Abraxas grins and inclines his head politely. "I am intrigued to see what you do next." He snaps his fingers and the rolling black mist all around him envelopes him then shrinks into a smaller and smaller cloud, leaving no trace of him behind, then popping out of existence.

For sake of pace, I'll assume that means you're calling Lord Abraxas back. If you wanted to say more without him there, put it in a retcon spoiler.

When you ask Lord Abraxas to return, he stalks back over to your corner of the library, bowing theatrically to mock you. "Anyhow, this Lodestone that you must protect can be found in the far norther, icy reaches of your world. It rests in the heart of an old shaman, a healer for his tribe. The tribe is known as the Bear Children and they make their winter home somewhere along the banks of the Great Bay of Wind. I'm sure a competent sailor could find the place." He eyes you thoughtfully then spreads his hands and gold coins pour onto the floor of the library. "These will help you find your passage there."

150 gp each. It will take 75 to get passage to an unpopular location like the Great Bay of Wind in winter.

Abraxas grins and nods "Of course." He stalks off around a corner, resulting in the shriek of a terrified librarian who runs, dropping books, while Abraxas chuckles.

Lord Abraxas chuckles. "Well my forces will be securing the Lodestone for my own ends shortly after. I suppose you could try to fend them off while running from Lady Fierna's reinforcements as well? It will be difficult for you to hide and evade for long, though, with one or the other of us always a day behind you. The hunt for a Lodestone will only stop once it is secured. The only power I know of to secure one would be myself or Lady Fierna."

Earlier:

Sam, take inspiration for the cool description of your reading.

Sam learns about the Blood War, the conflict raging between chaotic evil demons of the Abyss and lawful evil devils of the Nine Hells from before human memory began. If one side were to gain the upper hand, their relentless evil hordes would be released upon the rest of creation.

Presently:

Lord Abraxas chuckles at Sam's question and bows in mock deference. "Of course you do not wish to deal with me. But I do not possess any lodestones at this time while Lady Fierna possesses one. This makes me... What do you call it... The lesser evil. Temporarily, at least. Your unwillingness to work with her led me to believe you might understand this. As for tracking you, yes it is quite difficult. At best, we are able to determine where you were a day ago and extrapolate from there."

He turns to Enizver and considers "Well her control of the Lodestone could be removed but it would be incredibly difficult. Her grip on such an important piece of this game would be centered in her domain in Phlegethos. If you managed to infiltrate that, then perhaps you could free your acquaintance. But no, not all of the Lodestones are people. Then again, I know of one that Lady Fierna likely has not yet discovered."

To Horat, Abraxas grins and spreads his hands. "You wish to see your world preserved. Without cooperation on a higher level, if only to obtain information, how will you go about defending it?"

The demon chuckles. "Ah so Lady Fierna did not explain that to you yet? We are both employing our forces and means rather vigorously, both on your plane, the Nine Hells, and the Abyss. But our kinds have fought each other for a very, very long time. It is very easy for one of us to track the movements of the other's outsider servants on your plane. But you can move unnoticed."

Unfortunately, being frightened means disadvantage on ability checks, remember.

Olivia disadvantage: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 So Olivia isn't really sure about this demon/devil thing, unfortunately. For sake of pacing, we'll assume she still says the same thing.

You do get to repeat the will save every round, tho. We're not exactly in combat rounds but I'll cue you guys when it's time to repeat the save if you haven't passed it yet. Go ahead and try again to throw off the fear.

Abraxas turns to Olivia and eyes her, drool still dripping from his fangs. It sizzles and burns holes in the carpet wherever it drips. "Certainly." He cackles, eyes gleaming. "Certainly. If Lady Fierna collects enough Lodestones, she will bring your world into Phlegethos, her circle of the Nine Hells. You see the problem?"

The large being grins toothily at Horat and Enizver. "I am Lord Abraxas of the Abyss. I would say 'at your service' but that isn't remotely true." He cackles madly. "I am something of a researcher and am quite interested in these Lodestones. Lady Fierna now possesses one. If she comes into the possession of more, it will cause problems for both you and me. So I will tell you where you can find another Lodestone. You will defend it from her forces. Simple." He grins again.

Funny you should mention that just now...

Your group and Wrinil huddle in a corner of the library, reading assiduously and doing your best to research these cosmically-important artifacts without much in the way of leads. Suddenly, there's a slight shaking to the floor and the library grows darker. Black smoke pours along the floor, billowing from around a corner. You hear a "clack clack clack" and a tall, purple, vaguely human being with teeth, long limbs, scales, claws, and odd, long curving horns walks into view. "Well hello there, Pawns of Lady Fierna. I do believe you've caused me quite enough trouble in her employ. But you seem to have parted ways with her so perhaps you'd be interested in what I have to say." Salivia drips from the fanged maw onto the floor but does not ruin the strange creature's air of sophistication.

DC 22 wisdom save or be frightened.
Frightened: A frightened creature has disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight.
The creature can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear.