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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXIX: The Penultimate Struggle

A few things I neglected to mention in my last entry: after the battle, the land was wracked by earthquakes and a red glow appeared on the horizon where the Worldwound lurks. Our enemies are undoubtedly preparing their greatest assault, so time runs short for us to achieve our end.

Also, we did, in fact, resurrect Waxberry, who chose to return from the bosom of her goddess to continue the fight.

Continuing on:

Acquiring the chisel turned out to be much easier than expected. It was, for some reason, concealed in a demonic brothel. We went in, and were presented with all the usual, completely uninteresting temptations. Demons seem very unimaginative. I was greeted by a succubus in the guise of Arueshalae, who was baffled when I turned her down, since, as she said, "this is what you want". It didn't occur to her that I would be uninterested in a fake Arueshalae, especially when a real one was back in Drezen. Jadni was offered two Vudrani men (interesting), Thane a woman who looked much like Iomedae (disturbing), and Zsoltan was shown Irabeth and the entirely of the Eagle Watch (absolutely horrifying). Of us all, Zsoltan was the only one who seemed tempted, which... well, I might stop shuddering some day.

When we declined, the furious owner of the brothel threatened us until she was possessed by Nocticula, who gave us leave to look for the chisel after taking another stab at corrupting Thane. Once we acquired it, we teleported away before things went south.

The "suture" proved more difficult to obtain. As we searched for it on the edge of the Worldwound, we were attacked by the undead corpse of the dragon Terendelev and a host of demons. I drained the life out of one of the demons while the others set about with weapons, and were able to at last lay the great dragon to its rest.

After the fight, we found a humble, badly injured Dretch who was curiously overflowing with mystical power, and managed to determine that he was the "suture" -- the byproduct, perhaps, of the magic that a witch, furious at her imprisonment for using magic, had used to open the Worldwound in the first place. This is why you should never piss off magic users unnecessarily. He was bound to the Worldwound in some way, and attempts to take him away from it had apparently resulted in him dying -- over and over and over again. We freed him and he immediately attempted to run away, but I hit him with a charm spell (I hate those, but it seemed important), and took him with us to the ritual site at the heart of the Worldwound itself.

There, we were attacked by the great Balor lord Korramzadeh, and that was a fight that seemed touch and go for a while. He was so steeped in magic that I could barely hit him with my best spells, and Thane would have been slain by the Storm King's terrifying whip had it not been for the shard of Iomedae which still resided in the paladin's breast. In the end, though, we were able to defeat the demon and avenge the sack of Kenabres.

And then it was time for the ritual to begin...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXVIII: EPIC-ER THROWDOWN-ER!

Jadni managed to wrest the heart out of the Herald's hands while Zsoltan kept him restrained. In the meantime, I saw that Thane was in dire straits, so I blasted the demodand he fought with fire and then stunned her. While she was tottering on her feet, he slew her, and a good thing too, since at that point an enormous minotaur appeared and charged towards him.

Jadni shoved the heart into the Herald's chest once again as he struggled in Zsoltan's grip. The priestess threw curtains of fire over all of us. The minotaur smote Thane with a mighty blow of his axe, leaving the paladin on the point of death. But only on the point, and Thane's return blows were a shimmering wall of steel that slew the minotaur in only a few seconds.

Jadni once again tried to force the shard of Iomedae into the Herald, and this time it took. He transformed from a demonic abyssal beast into the servant of the Inheritor, albeit one deeply wounded by Baphomet's torture.

The walls of the prison began to shake, and the Herald told us that we must leave, and quickly. Asking no further questions, Zsoltan activated his gift from Iomedae and wrenched us out of the Abyss and back to our home plane.

On the way, we were beset by visions. We saw Queen Galfrey transform on the battlefield into a Herald of Iomedae herself, sprouting wings and assaulting the demons. They fell before her, turning the tide of the fight.

My theory is that some of Iomedae's power must have been bound up in her previous Herald, and while he was in captive and transformed by Baphomet, she had no access to it. Once he was freed, she allowed him to retire from his service (or at least, so I hope), and transferred the gift to the queen.

In any case, we arrived back in Drezen to find it once again under siege by a horde of demons! Arriving in the middle of a war, we wasted no time. After taking a bare instant to consult with Irabeth, I rushed to defend the gates. Zsoltan took to the skies to fight dragons, and Jadni did the same to battle a group of Vrocks before they could unleash their destructive powers. Thane toppled the very buildings of Drezen onto the foes inside the walls.

Burning through our spells and abilities, we vanquished our respective foes only to learn that demons were pouring into the citadel through a portal in the basement. After taking a moment to make sure Arueshalae was safe -- she had been shooting arrows at demons from a high tower -- and steal a kiss from her -- which drained a part of my life (well, she did warn me about that) -- I teleported below. A group of guards, including Anvie, and to our surprise, Zsoltan's uncle, were fighting a losing battle against the incoming demons, which included a marilith general of horrendous repute. She shot forth knives of force to divide and injure us.

Zsoltan had arrived before me and was already in fierce battle with enormous enemies. Jadni and Thane arrived soon after, and I teleported them close to the marilith, then brought myself away. The two titans of battle, pooling their might together, brought her low. The rest of the conflict didn't take long after that.

The demons routed, we had a final debrief after which we planned to decamp, exhausted, to bed, when the Herald Galfrey appeared before us and tasked us with a new mission. A final mission. To close the Worldwound itself. Using the ritual that had been tested to close the gate to Nocticula's lands, plus some items we would have to gather in the ruined, Worldwound-adjacent city of Iz. We would need a magical chisel, and the "suture", although we are unclear what it is.

I found Arueshalae, and we apologized to each other, her for draining my life, me for kissing her despite what she'd said. Once past that, we decided to spend the night, well, snuggling, Just sleeping, side by side.

It was lovely.

And come the next morning, Thane, Zsoltan, Jadni, and I teleported to the city of Iz...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXVII: Epic Throwdown

Thane had previously noticed that our en-mazed comrades appeared to have been trapped in a tapestry. When he and I teleported back in and began fighting the various enemies, he came up with the brilliant idea of destroying the tapestry to free them. I joined in, blasting it with fire, and soon our fellows were free and we took care of the various demons, minotaurs, and living statues in short order.

Unfortunately, the maze itself had been fraught with danger, minotaurs roaming within its walls, and poor Waxberry did not survive. We collected her corpse, in the hopes that we could resurrect her at a later time.

Poking around the treasure vault, we eventually figured out the mechanism which allowed us to gain access to its contents -- mostly useless junk, like an ordinary ball of twine, or an enormous weapon that injured Jadni when she tried to touch it. But we did also find the heart of the Herald, although it had been tainted by evil. Acting on a supposition, I placed the shard of her own essence that Iomedae had granted me into the heart, and healed it of the taint.

Acting on another supposition, I stuck my head in a stream of glowing light and rEceIveD aN iMagE oF tHE enTirE PrisON In mY bRaiN

It, um, broke my head a little.

Armed with this mental map, we decided to go directly to the prison where the Herald was held, after resting first. I created a Magnificent Manor, not with difficulty in the strange environs of the prison, and we spent the first night in ages comfortable and well fed. When we emerged, we found ourselves in an unknown place, as the prison had tried to shunt us out, but we reoriented ourselves and teleported to the holding cell of the Herald.

This is when things went a bit pear-shaped.

The Herald had turned fully evil, some kind of demonic and possibly undead slave to Baphomet. We had determined that to save the Herald, we would need to return his heart and imbue him with more shards of Iomedae's essence. I gave the heart to Zsoltan, as the one most likely to be able to hold the Herald down. The Herald blasted us with painful magics as Zsoltan and Jadni charged forward, and mutual spell turning made castings bounce between him and me. But Zsoltan soon had him in a grapple... which is when the other denizens of the prison started to appear. All of Baphomet's head guards came to defeat us.

The first to come was a two-headed, twelve-arms demon that trapped me behind a wall of blades and beset Thane. Thinking he would be in deep trouble facing so many attacks, I drained her power until she could barely stand, and Thane cleaved her in twain. No sooner than he had, though, when the torture room demodand who had escaped us earlier arrived to hurl spells at us, and an arch-cleric of Baphomet arrived to send waves of fire into us. He caught me in a mystic, crushing giant hand, but I was able to dispel it.

In the mean time, Zsoltan had managed to pin the Herald and shove his heart back in his body, and Jadni tried to gift him with Iomedae's essence... only for the Herald to resist it, and send it back into Jadni. Then he reached into his chest and pulled his own heart out with a gout of blood.

So, um... that seems bad.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXVI: Bedeviled and Amazed

It will be another short entry today, as Thane and I are about to charge back into battle.

The new demodand summoned a horde of others to assail us and then unleashed a cloud of poisonous gas upon us. I was rather annoyed by this, so I dispelled them. In the confusion, Zsoltan stepped upon a trap and was lost in a maze spell for the rest of the battle. Meanwhile, while I stayed to make sure that Waxberry the halfling was safe, Thane and Jadni pursued the demodand through a number of chambers, and brought it near to death twice (it healed itself using a statue of Baphomet), but it was able to teleport away through a pentagram. Thane stepped in the pentagram in an attempt to follow, but to no avail. Further examination revealed that it might be possible to employ them to teleport through the prison, if we could figure out how.

Thane determined that the captured being -- an Asura -- was evil, but Jadni kindly elected to cure and free her nonetheless. For unknown reasons, it took Jadni's form before it vanished away, which was rather disturbing.

More wandering through the prison followed. We passed the cell of a powerful devil, who asked me to free it as a sister of hell. Feeling in my element, I began to bargain -- first for our safety, and then, at the advice of Jadni and Thane, for directions to the vault where the heart of the Herald lies.

Waxberry was extremely disturbed by my bargaining tactics, and I fear she is convinced that I am still on the side of Hell.

With the devil's directions, we found our way to the vault, where I, Jadni, and Zsoltan -- again! -- were immediately trapped in a maze spell. I found my way out to discover Thane fighting alone against a demon, a minotaur, and an animate statue. We managed to slay the demon, but Thane was sorely injured by then, so I used a Dimension Door to take him out of the fray where he could heal. But the others might find their way out of the maze at any moment, so soon we must return, lest they find themselves battling all alone.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXV: That's Just Demodandy

I still do not know if Arueshalae is receiving my messages. I will keep sending them, nonetheless.

The battle against the Father of Worms proved to be a tough contest indeed. Thane had his strength sapped by the surviving shadows, leading him to grumble that he should have protected himself from their strikes rather than attacked them. Of course, if he'd done that, half of us might very well have died rather quickly, so I'm rather glad he didn't. After that, though, I was able to destroy the rest of them using targeted beams of fire.

The Father of Worms, however, did not fall so easily. He ate Zsoltan AGAIN, who escaped to a safer distance this time around. I teleported Jadni close, at her request, and he ate her, too. When Thane went in to do battle, he suffered the same fate. And they had no monk powers to bring them to safety.

However, by that time, numerous strikes against the beast had taken their toll, and Thane was able to fell the creature with a final strike from inside its stomach. Jadni was on the point of death from being digested by then, but we brought her around, and collected the Father of Worm's blood in the cup Iomedae had granted us.

Several more days of twisty travel followed, where we had to survive off the foul scrapings of the land. But at last we emerged from the caverns, and found the destination we sought -- the Ineluctable Labyrinth. A vast sphere of bone the size of a city, suspended in space. We crossed the bridge and approached the great doors. After much hesitation and trepidation (rather too much, actually) we applied the blood to the lock, dissolved the mechanism, and entered within.

The maze inside was almost impossible to navigate. We were turned, twisted, and found ourselves doubling back, or veering into unknown territories when we thought we knew our steps. At a bridge, we were attacked by some strange creature of water and, to our great surprise, demodands, who are supposed to loathe and despise demons. What were they doing serving Baphomet? In any event, I was able to sap the essence of the water creature with my newly perfected draining spells, while the others defeated the demodands, although I believe Thane's holy sword Radiance was nicked a little in the fight.

Much, much later, we found ourselves beckoned by a floating hand. With some concern, but also with little better to do, we followed it. It took us to a prison cell where we found an imprisoned halfling, who had prayed to Iomedae for help and thereby received our aid. Freeing her, we learned she had been captured in the same battle that took Iomedae's Herald, and she had seen what happened to him -- his heart ripped out by Baphomet, and turned to the side of the demons. But, she thought, if we could restore his heart to him, perhaps we could bring the Herald back. And there was only one place the heart could be stored. Within Baphomet's vault.

In trying to find it, we first encountered a torture chamber where yet more demodands had driven some other extraplanar being mad with agony. We fought and slew them, but then another stepped from the shadows...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXIV: We're On A Mission From God

Well, after a memorable first date, Arueshalae and I have put the brakes on our relationship, a bit. At first, it seemed that the problem was that she feared that her soul-sucking powers might spontaneously turn back on, since she had no idea why they'd turned off in the first place, and she might find herself unable to stop and drain me to death. I told her I trusted her, even if she did not, but if she was nervous about it then there were magical prophylactics we could use to avoid the problem, assuming we were willing to make a somewhat embarrassing request of Thane and limit ourselves to 15 minute increments. Further discussion, however, revealed that this was just one of many issues, from her shame at her demonic history to her confusion at her new and unknown status. I tried to reassure her that we could take things as slowly as was necessary, and however we felt comfortable. There is no need to rush. Just talking with her is an endless delight.

The one thing that saddens me is that she acts as if I am doing her some kind of favor with my affections. As if she were not the most remarkable person I had ever met. As if she were not a DEMON WHO HAD TRANSCENDED HER VERY EXISTENCE TO BECOME SOMETHING NEW. There's a reason I haven't been with anyone else before her. No one has affected me this way before. And if she has a past, well... so do I.

In less important news, Iomedae herself summoned us from our plane and sent us back to the Abyss to determine what had happened to her kidnapped herald.

OK, so maybe that's fairly important, as well.

We were in the midst of a meeting with Irabeth and the others who still remained in Drezen -- Anevia, Anvie, Aravashniel, and so on -- to discuss the current state of tactics and strategy. Drezen itself has seen little action since the great battle, but Queen Galfrey has been hard pressed by demons in the south. We were chatting about the information we had recovered from the Abyss when Thane, Jadni, Zsoltan, and I were wrenched from the material plane by a blinding light.

We found ourselves in the daunting presence of Iomedae herself. Unable to intervene directly in mortal affairs, she had chosen us to act as her surrogates. And the situation was grave; just as we believed, her herald had been taken by Baphomet himself, in a grievous blow to her celestial forces. She tasked us to deal with the situation.

And in doing so, she gave us gifts, including bestowing upon Zsoltan a magical chalice which could hold the blood of the Father of Worms, the only thing which could dissolve the lock of Baphomet's notorious prison. As always, things were... complicated. To me, she offered the opportunity to become a celestial being rather than an infernal one. Nervous as I was to say no to a god, I declined.

I do not wish to erase my past. Like Arueshalae choosing not to disguise herself, I wish to transcend it. What is my life, if not a testament to the idea that all our notions of the sources and meanings of "good" and "evil" have nothing to do with how we are born or how we appear, but what we choose to do and why?

Iomedae did not leave me empty-handed, though, gifting me with valuable magic. And then she sent us into Baphomet's labyrinth.

We found it guarded by a multi-armed demon, who demanded we swear fealty to Baphoment in order to pass. We we refused, a fight broke out between us and her, backed up by her invisible minions. We triumphed, unsurprisingly -- killing demons is something we are quite good at by now.

We wandered through the labyrinth for a seemingly endless time, trying various tricks to find our way through, to no avail. Eventually, we pooled together our knowledge of the main city of Baphomet's realm, and with that description I used a newly-learned spell of Greater Teleport to take us there. The plane resisted me, but I broke through.

Baphomet's city is a sad, frightened place, with none of the bustle of Nocticula's realm. With me taking the lead, since I look the most demonic, we asked around about the Father of Worms and the prison. Little turned up until we attracted the attention of some kind of gestalt vescavore entity. It seemed to have little love for Baphomet, and while it didn't think much of our chances, we amused it enough that we were able to get directions, to the mountains, and then into a great crack in the earth.

The journey took many days. We ran out of food, and were forced to subsist on the foul growths of this abyssal land. They do not seem healthy. I am attempting to learn the spell of the Magnificent Manor, so that we may do better with food and rest in this horrible land. I attempted to contact Arueshalae with Sending spells, since we were forced to leave without so much as a goodbye, but I have received no reply, so have no way of knowing if they made it through.

After a long trek with some false trails delaying us further -- Jadni is a skilled survivalist, but everything is a maze in this place -- we at last came upon the cavern of the Father of Worms. A gigantic, centipede-like creature attended by undead shadows. When we launched an assault, Zsoltan was swallowed whole by the creature, although he managed to escape with his monk powers. Thane, however, used a Sunburst granted to him by Iomedae to do significant damage, not just to the shadows, but to the Father of Worms himself. It may very well be an undead creature rather than a demon. We shall see, as this fight unfolds.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXIII: Good News, Everyone!

Well, today is certainly a banner day to enter in my journal. I'm happier than I've been since...

Since...

Hm. I can't recall ever being happy before. How odd.

In any event, much has happened. First, I have faced down a Demon Lord in battle, and lived to tell the tale. Not because of anything I or my comrades did, but nonetheless, I'm alive, so that's good.

Second, my wings have grown in! I wasn't sure they ever would; often Tiefling wings remain vestigial for a lifetime. But I'd always hoped, and now I can fly without the aid of a limited duration spell! I can fly forever.

And third, Arueshalae and I, um. We. That is to say, we -

*Blush*

Probably I should recount events in some semblance of an order. So, where last I left off, my fellows and I were descending into a mining pit to face the daughter of Baphomet himself. We swooped down with spells of flight, passing a group of fiendish minotaurs who cast unholy blights upon us as we passed, eager to get to the bottom of the pit, where there was... nothing. We ended up having to go back up.

Once there, we engaged the minotaurs, along with a large demon, in fierce battle. Evil spells and brutal blows were met by freezing cones, slashing swords, fists, and arrows. Things went well for a time, but then Baphomet's daughter, a fearsome being half-demon and half moo-cow, entered the area and began separating our group with walls of flashing, deadly blades. Arueshalae and I were left fighting on one side, while the others faced the demon lord's daughter. Thane charged forward... directly into a trap, which left him nearly dead. Zsoltan had also been severely injured by the minotaurs and the walls of blades, and Jadni had to decide which one to heal. Choosing the nearer one, she cast her healing spell upon Zsoltan.

Unfortunately, this meant that Thane did not last long in direct combat with Baphomet's daughter. After an exchange of mighty blows, she struck him stone dead. I think with some kind of spell? My vision was occluded by the bladed walls.

Jadni and Zsoltan moved in to engage her, but I, in the meantime, had been left stunned by a word of power I could not resist. When I recovered, Arueshalae encouraged me to join my fellows -- and indeed, she was safe enough firing arrows at the demon who'd stunned me, who seemed to have few long-distance attacks remaining -- so I walked through a dimensional door, arriving just in time to see Jadni and Zsoltan strike the demon lord's daughter down.

A wave of mystical force passed through the cavern, strong enough to drag Thane back from death's hallways. And emerging from the corpse of his offspring, Baphomet himself emerged, bent on revenge.

We did our best to fight him, but were barely able to scratch him with out mightiest attacks. With few spells left, I expended almost the last of my magical energy in an assault that did him no damage at all. We looked certain to die.

But then Nocticula herself emerged, displeased that Baphomet had trespassed in her lands. The slayer of demon lords lived up to her reputation, banishing him back to his own labyrinthine halls in a way that looked extremely unpleasant.

After we thanked her, she said she would send us back to our own plane if we stepped into her shadow. With a bit of trepidation, we did, although no harm came to us.

We arrived where we had left, and Anvie and Aravanshiel greeted us with joy -- and surprise, since from their point of view, we had been gone for months rather than the few days it had been from our perspective.

It was during the journey home that my wings finally grew in. Excited, I went to Arueshalae, asking if she wanted to go on a flight together. After a joyous time in the air, we found what might be the most beautiful vantage point in all tha Wounded Lands. We stopped for a picnic, and, um...

*Blush*

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXII: Filthy Attractions

Our audience with the Queen of the Succubi went surprisingly well. Although she clearly considered us nearly beneath her notice, we managed not to offend her, and even to fence with her verbally a bit. She'd agreed to let us take care of the demons mining crystals from her kingdom -- Baphomet's own daughter was in charge of the operation, as it turned out! -- and we were starting on a rather interesting discussion of the boundaries of chaos and law when Thane, for some reason, decided to try to convert her to the worship of Iomedae. Happily, Nocticula seemed more amused by this than anything else, so no harm was done.

In any case, she transported us to the region where the mining operation was in place, and it was good thing she did, for we later found out (after an expenditure of far too much of my magical energy for the purpose) that the area was warded by some kind of ancient protection dating back to the origins of the Abyss itself, and we probably could not have reached it on our own.

Once there, we were greeted by a furious Minago, who was in a rage because after her previous defeat by us, she had been punished by Baphomet, leaving her severely reduced in power. Which meant we won the fight without too much trouble, in spite of the shadowy abomination of some kind she had fighting on her side.

We were in a jungle-like region of Nocticula's realm, with a vast river plunging through it, and Nocticula had told us that the mining operation was at the river's head. Having neither a boat nor any skills in boating, I cast repeated spells of flight so that we could proceed, leaving me lower on spells than I would have liked. I will learn the spell of Mass Flight soon, that will help.

About halfway up the river, we spied a boat run aground on the bank, and stooped down to see if we could get a ride the rest of the way in exchange for getting it riverbourne once again. The captain of the boat, however, was some kind of irritating undead who did nothing but prophecy our doom. It seemed that he had been trapped in Baphomet's maze, then released to help transport the crystals, then abandoned when Baphomet had no further use for him. After a tedious conversation where he showed no interest in anything but doomsaying, his undead crew came out and damaged us just by looking in our direction, so we flew away.

At the head of the river, we spotted a cave we took to be the mine, but before we could enter, we were greeted by what appeared to be a succubus covered in muck and filth. A quick discussion revealed that she was some kind of local overlord, and would only be too happy for us to get rid of the miners. Before she let us go on our way, she cast some seductive looks in the direction of Arueshalae and me. She seemed to be partial to wings.

Once in the mine, dense magical darkness impeded our vision, and some kind of shadowy dragon started womping on us immediately. It was a difficult fight, where I achieved little, mostly missing with my deadliest rays (which, I later found out, would have done us more harm than good anyway). We took quite a bit of damage, but prevailed in the end.

A pit in the ground leads down, and we wonder if it may lead to Baphomet's daughter herself...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXI: Let's Put On A Show!

It feels odd to say that my reaction to a realm of unbridled chaos and evil is... disappointment, but nonetheless, it continues to be so.

I expected Nocticula's lands to be a place of temptation and moral dilemma, where everything the heart could desire was available, albeit at a terrible cost that could all-too-easily be ignored. Would I be offered more power to save my world from the demon invasion, at the risk of eventually becoming one myself? Love and happiness, with the price tag being my soul? What would they try to sell me, and what would I be tempted to buy?

Instead, magical floating buildings and demons everywhere aside, it turned out to be a rather dull, unregulated merchant town of the type I might find in any country with a laissez-faire tax policy. Rather than anything I wanted readily available but fraught with unknowable dangers, everything we needed was either out of stock or unobtainable, and the merchants seemed vaguely offended that we wanted to buy from them. Stage blood? We had to make it ourselves. Costumes? Stage lighting? The same. It seems pathetic, all things considered.

Perhaps I shall be forced to eat my words when we encounter Nocticula herself. We'll see, I suppose.

In any case, as might have been gathered from what I already said, we decided to stage our performance extravaganza first, figuring that it would have more impact if we did not already have a reputation as fierce warriors. We divided up primary responsibilities for the various tasks -- I took the lead on the script, Arueshalae on the costumes, Jadni on the lighting, and so on -- but all pitched in to help with everything. And we managed to restrain Thane from putting in a comic monologue; not that it was a bad idea per se, it's just that our comic timing and delivery is, er, lacking.

After days of working and rehearsing, we were ready to present "How the Heroes of the Mortal Plane Bested the Demonic Enemies of Nocticula, Sending the Plunderers of the Midnight Isles Packing from Their Realm and Turning the Tide of a Century-Long War (a Tale of Derring-Do)." We were keeping our ultimate intended audience in mind.

When we arrived at the residence of the entertainment-seeking succubus, we were hit with a few surprises. First, Arueshalae introduced us as her slaves, an apparent necessity for maintaining an appropriate cover. We rolled with it, although there were a few close calls where we risked causing grave offence -- my friends are TERRIBLE at acting like slaves. Which is, frankly, a wonderful thing. I am deeply ashamed of the fact that I know how a slave is supposed to act, as useful as it might have been in this particular situation.

We also learned that Arueshalae and the other succubus not only knew each other, there was some serious bad blood between them. The last time they'd met, Arueshalae had stormed out and said there would be injury if they ever met again. Our performance was presented as being by way of an apology. The other succubus accepted it with... not the best of grace, saying that if she was disappointed, she'd tear Arueshalae's wings off and punish her "slaves" appropriately as well. A great deal suddenly hinged on our performance.

But if I do say so myself, it went well. From the moment Jadni and I began our spells for lights and sound, our hours of rehearsal paid of. Feats of dwarven acrobatics and spell-powered flight! Dazzling spells and intimidating speeches! Flashing magic swords and buckets of stage blood! Beheadings and dismemberments! And no poorly acted comic monologues. In the end, the succubus decided our performance was acceptable, and even said she might ask Arueshalae to bring us in for an encore performance at some point. Hopefully, we will be long gone from this plane of existence by then. I have to say that while there have been moments in my life that were more stressful than putting on this show, there weren't many of them. It was... a lot.

Next on our agenda was a battle in the arena. The current champion was some kind of mutant four-armed incubus, with a reputation for brutally slaying all who went against him. We were warned that entering into battle with him would surely mean our death in the no-rules, no-holds-barred arena.

The fight, though, was a great deal less stressful than the show. This is what we're GOOD at. I won't say it was easy -- a number of huge demonic constructs joined the fray to our surprise (no rules), and poor Jadni was nearly laid low -- but it also wasn't particularly difficult. Once the warriors got within striking range of the main foe, it didn't last long. Much, MUCH less stressful than putting a stage performance together. Arueshalae worked the crowd to promote the skills of her "slaves", and the after the fight we had quite the reputation.

Finally, we enacted the final part of our plan, and purchased seven slaves -- crusaders from our home plane who had been captured by demons in the fight -- and freed them in a grand public ceremony, sending them home using magic that Arueshalae had been granted by Desna. Or, close to home, at any rate; Plane Shift is a somewhat inexact spell. We tried to do our best to ensure they'd be all right.

And soon after that, we discovered our plan had born fruit. Nocticula herself had invited us for an audience.

Um.

Yay?

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXX: Dark City, Featuring Kiefer Succubus

Annoyingly, the first thing the demon did was turn Aravashnial's mind into a puddle of goo, effectively ending the ritual. Aravashnial has been having a hard time of it lately. The demon was also difficult to target, flipping back and forth from one side of the portal to another and turning near-incorporeal whenever we were on the wrong side. Eventually, though, we were able to wear it down and slay it.

We restored Aravashnial's mind, and finally proceeded with the ritual. Thane, Jadni, Zsoltan, Arueshalae, and myself were now in the Abyss itself, cut off from the mortal plane, with only a single scroll to return us home.

We began in the caverns that the invading demons had been mining for the strange crystals. Those crystals, it turns out, are the congealed blood of Demon Lords that Nocticula has slain. In fact, her entire realm, The Midnight Isles, is built out of their corpses. Remind me not to get on her bad side.

After exiting the caves, we wandered in the strange, dark wilderness for a time -- there is no sun here, plunging the entire realm into eternal night -- until we came across a set of four statues of Noctiicula which, we determined, could be used to transport us to her capital city if a particular set of rituals was enacted. This proved a bit difficult.

One statue required a spell of darkness, which I was able to provide thanks to my infernal heritage. Another required a spell of evil or chaos -- and I can cast evil spells due to that same heritage, but I refuse to do so now. Fortunately, Jadni proved capable of casting a spell of chaos; I wouldn't have expected it of her. My cousin has hidden depths.

Another required rather a lot of blood, which Thane volunteered to provide, and the last needed a kiss. Arueshalae said she would do this, since it would be equivalent to kissing a succubus, which is apparently very dangerous. Thane, however, was able to ward her against death, which prevented the negative effects from occurring. I'll have to remember that.

And so we were taken to the phantasmagorical city in the Abyss. A place of excessive beauty, ugliness, and unknown dangers, as well as a hub of interplanar commerce. With Arueshalae as our guide, we were able to obtain transportation (by canal boat, since walking is impractical in a city designed for teleportation, which I cannot yet do) and lodgings without much incident. The lodgings were at a place where Arueshalae used to be employed herself, and we were offered many temptations at the mere price of our souls. We of course refused, because... well, because frankly so far the demons here seem to be pretty crap at temptation. I haven't been offered a single thing I actually want yet, much less something I both want and would find difficult to obtain elsewhere. It doesn't seem to have occurred to them that tempting people with stuff they want and don't have might be the most effective way to do it. I can only imagine that in general, people who come here are already primed for temptation and are easy marks. Which would make sense, to be fair. I don't think we've come here for the usual reasons.

Thane did fall afoul of temptation once and ate a demon, but that was something of an accident.

Once we had rested, we spent our time looking for ways to attract Nocticula's attention, so as to proceed with the next stage of our plan. So far, we've come up with three possibilities:

1) Participating in a deadly tournament. This will, frankly, play to our strengths more than anything else.

2) Putting on a show for a bored succubus. We are not skilled entertainers, but have come up with a plan that will put our martial, magical, and acrobatic skills most in focus, and we are good at what we do, so perhaps it will suffice. Arueshalae seems to know the succubus in question; I don't know if that will cause any complications.

3) Free some high-profile slaves by purchase, ideally crusaders we can bring home with us.

We can only hope this is sufficient, and we will have to come up with more...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXIX: Some Of Us Heard Yanniel And Some Of Us Heard Lauriel

The battle was quickly joined. Some of our foes raced in to attack us immediately, others were taken by surprise. There were incubi and giants on one side, demons and a tiefling on the other. Aruseshalae asked, not without reason, if starting a fight when we were completely surrounded was the best idea. It wasn't, but I had been genuinely hoping they would negotiate. Pity Minago's offer was both untenable and an obvious trap.

The tiefling turned invisible early on and left in disgust. I could see him, of course, but I let him go. No need to engage a foe who doesn't seek it. Minago also left, as I'd expected, after casting a few spells. The demons poured spells on us, but honestly fell without a lot of trouble; Thane had a bit of difficulty with a big one made of mucus and eyes, but it dropped pretty quickly when Zsoltan stepped in.

No, the big problem turned out to be the giants, especially once they were joined by a snake-bodied woman who seemed enraged to the point of insanity. I guess she'd really been counting on the negotiations succeeding. The giants pummelled us with mighty blows of their pickaxes, and Thane was nearly brought to death's door by them twice, with only Jadni's quick healing spells saving his life. Nonetheless, the giants fell in the end, as did the snake-woman.

Exploring the rest of the place revealed the portal itself, and also a peculiar discovery -- a woman, seemingly dead, wrapped in some kind of cocoon. We determined that this was a method that demons of Minago's ilk used to trap their foes and take their forms, and that freeing the victim without killing her would be a tricky procedure. We enlisted Aravashniel's help, and after some fiddly spell work, we set her free.

And it proved to be none other than the famous paladin Yanniel, original wielder of the sword Radiance, who had vanished mysteriously many years ago! Thane attempted to give her the sword and armor back, but she said they had chosen him and were his to use now. They seemed strangely invigorated by her presence -- I wonder if it will last. After that, Thane spent quite a lot of time trying to browbeat her into accompanying us to the Abyss, but she declined.

Incidentally, I had asked Arueshalae if she wanted to disguise herself before we freed a stranger who probably had every reason to detest demons, but she has decided that she has spent enough time disguising herself, and will do so no more. I must say I think this is a positive step for her in finding her way in her new life.

I also will admit I don't at all mind looking at her undisguised.

In any case, after much discussion with Yanniel -- she had been to the Abyss, but not the part of it where we were going -- we went to the portal to begin the ritual, Aravashnial staying on one side to perform his half, joined by Anvie and her fellows in our escort, and me going through to perform the other with Thane, Zsoltan, Jadni, and Arueshalae.

We emerged in a mineshaft studded with purple crystals. Even in the first moments, I could feel the oppressive weight of the Abyss itself.

Aravashnial and I began the ritual to close the portal.

And that, of course, is when the demon emerged from the portal and attacked.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXVIII: Only Trouble Is, Gee Whiz, I'm Dreaming My Life Away

The past week has mostly been focused upon preparation, for we have a grave, perhaps even stupid, mission ahead of us.

Some recovery time was needed -- all those who have come back from the dead seem rather shaken by the experience. It even shattered Jadni's usual insouciance.

I was also grateful to have an opportunity to speak more with Arueshalae. I discovered that she is troubled by her newfound ability to dream -- demons do not, it seems -- and we discussed the meaning of dreams, and the difficulties of attempting to lead a non-evil life. I think in some ways I am a good sounding board for such issues, since I have done extensive research on it, and in some ways a terrible one. I can offer none of the casual reassurances that my fellows can -- that redemption is possible, that there are rewards in the afterlife for the good and punishments for the bad, that leading a good life is in some way meaningful to the universe as a whole. Those all seem like nonsense to me. Candy rewards for children who behave in the desired manner. If a system of ethics is based on reward, for example, then changing what is rewarded changes the ethics. What kind of basis for morality is that?

Zsoltan also took some time to speak with his uncle, who as a result is now on some kind of work-release program. I can only see this as a positive development. Thane also requested that the execution of the deserter be delayed, at least until he returns from our upcoming travels -- more on that in a moment -- to sort things out. Perhaps he plans an act of mercy? I am not certain.

We debated for many hours over what to do with our scroll of resurrection, the whys and wherefores -- bring back Aron, Aravashnial, or keep it for our own use? Eventually, we decided to leave the decision in the hands of Irabeth, with a recommendation that it be used on Aron. However, she ultimately decided that it would be used on Aravashnial, for a purely practical reason; his skills were essential in the next mission we would be undertaking.

That mission? To travel to the Abyss itself, closing the portal behind us as we went, in order to negotiate with the Demon Lord Nocticula in the hopes that she would prevent further mining of the crystals being used to grant the demon invaders the incredible powers we have seen some exhibit.

This is, of course, completely insane. Should we even survive a jaunt to the Abyss, we have been given nothing to offer Nocticula, have no leverage to use upon her, and may have difficulty even getting her attention in the first place. The one point we have on our side is that she has not given permission for her realms to be mined, and may be incensed that her fellow Demon Lords have gone ahead with it anyway. Will that be enough to sway her? We shall see. At least having Arushaelae as a guide will be an important asset; she has been to Nocticula's lands. Without her help, I can only imagine we would be completely lost.

Which makes me glad that Irabeth, after listening to our assurances, made Arueshalae welcome in Drezen, even if she did not offer her complete trust. After discussion with Aruseshalae, we had brought her there in disguise, to avoid any difficulties with... crusaders who might be overly hasty to judge.

In any case, Aravashnial is crucial because a ritual must be enacted to close the portal, which requires someone remaining upon the mortal plane, and he is best suited for the task on that end. We have, at least, been granted a scroll of Plane Shift to enable our return.

If the ritual proves successful, a larger-scale version might someday be used on the Worldwound itself! So it is crucial to test it out. Which brings me to our task itself.

We travelled to the location we had been given for the portal -- something called The Lost Thane, possibly named after a relative of our paladin? -- and to our surprise, were greeted not with an attack, but with an offer to negotiate. Incubi ushered us inside, where an illusory projection of a demon named Minago, whom we had vaguely heard of, offered to let us be on our way through the portal, and even said she would grant us a wish for our trouble!

This was, of course, an obvious trap, and I am somewhat worried that Zsoltan seemed eager to take her up on it. I am not sure if that augurs well for his behavior on the plane of temptation itself.

In any event, she said closing the portal could not happen and was a non-negotiable point, and since that is non-negotiable on our side as well, I declared we were at an impasse, hoping my fellows would take the hint and start the attack. And indeed they did, but not all the demons surrounding us were fooled...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXVII: The Diet Of Worms

Another short entry, I think.

We fought our way through most of the complex without much trouble. A set of spider-like entities sizzled us with lightning (Arueshalae asked after my health in the aftermath, which I thought was very kind of her.) Some demons appeared and attacked as Jadni tried to sneak invisibly past a room. We are experienced monster-slayers by this point, and disposed of both threats without much trouble. I think this may have made us a bit overconfident.

I was beginning to wonder where all the demon-cultists were in this demon-cultist headquarters when we opened a door and found the lot of them, a squad of warriors and wizards seeking to do us harm. One of them led with a stinking cloud, which rendered Arueshalae and myself helplessly vomiting. When I finally recovered, I dispelled it, and found myself faced with a dire sight. While the corpses of cultists littered the floor, all of my comrades seemed to be on their last legs. Thane was only moderately wounded, but Zsoltan was on the point of collapse, and Jadni was knocked unconscious even as I watched. Swarms of magic missiles from the wizards, I later learned, had taken a ferocious toll.

I waded in and began castings of my recently-learned spell Cone of Cold, which helped alter the odds as I was able to take out multiple foes at once. Jadni was revived, and the tables soon turned. Even the entrance of some enormous hunter demons, the kind who had been in pursuit of Arueshalae, did little to halt our second wind. But then a cultist used a dimensional door to go and alert her superior of our assault (a warning that resulting in her death at the hands of that superior, we later discovered.)

A hideous wizard made entirely of worms, as if they had devoured his corpse but retained its shape, strode into the room and began blasting us with deadly spells, leading with a killing cloud. We had been warned of his existence, but the warning did little good, as there wasn't much we could have done to prepare. Soon, he hurled a spell of disintegration that blasted poor Jadni down to her component atoms AGAIN. And this time, she didn't shrug it off (fortunately, we found some scolls which eventually enabled us to revive her.)

The battle that followed was a long fight of attrition -- we could barely hit our foe due to his spells. We ended up wearing our enemy down slowly with what little attacks our damage could do when they chanced to hit, while he blasted us with magic. But many small cuts have their effect in time, and finally we had worn him down so much that Thane was able to end it with a final strike from Radiance.

And that's all, really. We carried the day, and the holdout of the Ivory Templars is no more.

So, anyway. I've been thinking more about the issue of being good. Is what I've been doing enough? Fighting demons and cultists, defending cities, that's all very well, but couldn't any neutral mercenary have done the same? So what's the difference? My motivation? A vague and abstract quality at best. How does one distinguish between someone who saves puppies for altruistic reasons and someone who saves puppies for selfish reasons? Still, motivation might lead to differences in behavior over time, so should not be dismissed out of hand.

However, as everyone no doubt knows, all the motivation in the world achieves little without action. And have my actions truly been sufficient? What does good call for? What is its nature? Self-sacrifice? Selflessness? Empathy? Simple kindness? Whatever my murky motivations, when will I have done enough to begin to fullfill the precepts?

A puzzling, possibly endless question. Do paladins wrestle with these issues every day? From what I have seen, some do, and some very much do not. And that, possibly, is something I should take into account as well. At what point does one intermalize it enough that one stops doing good, and starts being good?

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXVI: She's No Fun, She Fell Right Over

This entry is likely to be short; in many ways, not much has happened.

We spent sone time after the battle picking up the pieces. I made my apology to Jadni, who seemed to think I had little to apologize for. This horrifies me, since it likely means my irritation with everyone has been going on for so long that it's been taken as my normal behavior. And we all went to help Sosial bury Aron. Sosiel has lost his love and his faith, and is in a bad way. He had little time for platitudes, which I certainly understand. He is angry. I hope he knows he is not alone in that.

Jesker vanished during the battle. Jadni seems to think that the evidence does not absolutely point to him (or a demon possessing him) having killed Aron. I will admit that it is circumstantial, but nonetheless I thought it seemed fairly damning. I have attempted to contact him via Sending. He responded at first, asking me to leave him alone, and then stopped answering as the days passed. I will probably persist anyway. He may not wish to hear my 25 words each day, but it offers him a line to respond and ask for help if he ever needs to make use of it.

Once we were assured the city was safe and secure, we decamped to make our way to the secret redoubt of the cultists.

We met Arueshalae in the Wastelands, and I gave her a holy symbol of Desna I had acquired for her in town, by way of Horgus -- an icon formerly owned by a now-dead defender of the Citadel. I cleaned and repaired it. I like to think whoever it was would have appreciated its continued use in respecting their goddess. In any case, Arueshalae seemed to appreciate it. At one point, I thought she was on the verge of giving me a hug, but she refrained.

The entrance to the hiding spot was covered by an illusion that made it seem part of the cliff face, but as intended, I have now learned the use of True Sight, so I was able to pierce it easily. A lowered portcullis lay beyond. I caught a glimpse of guards in the shadows, so it seemed unlikely we could slip in unnoticed. We decided on frontal assault. I sprayed the guards with a Cone of Cold while my fellows attempted to bash through the portcullis.

The guards were the fiendish minotaurs who seem to be typical minions of the worshippers of Baphomet. Although they were resistant to the cold, the spell I began with still seemed to be the best use of my magic, as there were rather a lot of them and only a few of my spells cover multiple targets. Aruseshalae fired her arrows to great effect as well. The stabbed at us with their polearms through the bars, which were designed for such defenese, and cast some rather nasty miasmic spells. They caused some painful injuries thereby. But once my comrades had broken through, they did not last very long. I threw some spells that debilitated their strength once I could no longer cast area spells without hitting my fellows, and Thane and Jadni carved them into pieces.

We explored a bit more, and in a room to the side found an elf maiden presiding over a torture chamber. She seemed to recognize us. Unsure of the situation, Jadni attempted to subdue her without harm, and I cast a spell designed merely to exhaust her. But she took this amiss, revealed herself to be a demon in disguise, and cast a spell that blasted Jadni down to her bones (she got better.) Thane waded in and dispatched the demon entirely with a few mighty blows.

Her torture chamber was full of items of magic, including, oddly enough, a hot tub. We'll have to sort them all out later.

And that is where things stand.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXV: This Machine Kills Demons

Well. We have successfully defended the city, albeit at great cost.

Aron is dead, killed by Jesker, the priest of Erastil, who apparently went mad and has since disappeared. With both that and the death of his sibling, Sosiel is devastated, half-mad himself, and has renounced his god.

Aravashniel is dead, slain by lightning in a wizard's duel. We had our differences, but he has been a stalwart companion since the beginning of all of this. Now gone.

Many guards on the gate perished in the battle.

And Nurah is dead, dying as she lived, betraying our world to the demons. I doubt many others will mourn her, but I will. I played my own part in what she became.

Looking back on it, our choices still seemed to make sense at the time. Had we dealt with the barbarians instead of fighting the great wyrm, we might have had reinforcements come to our aid in time -- but would our assailants then have had a great dragon raining devastation down upon the city when they attacked? If we had spent more time in the city rather than clearing the cultists out of their lair, would we have spotted the signs that Nurah had returned, or that the priest of Erastil was losing his mind? But then, would the army attacking the city have been bolstered by the cultists? Looking back, we should have investigated the ritual that summoned the army before rescuing Arushaelae. But at the time, it seemed important to find out what the renegade demon knew -- intelligence that will indeed soon let us strike at the heart of enemy operations in this area -- before looking into what might have been a natural phenomenon of the Wounded Lands.

Or that's what I convinced myself. Oh so cleverly. Clever-clever Tanaquil who thinks she always knows best. Clever-clever Tanaquil who used clever-clever philosophy to successfully talk herself into following the path of evil. Clever-clever Tanaquil who cleverly ignored the fact that sometimes wisdom, like her cousin's, is more important than cleverness.

I've been a terrible cousin.

I've been a terrible friend.

I've been angry, impatient, imperious, unkind. Entirely because I've been dealing with my own s**%. All the stuff from my past -- my parents, my choices. I've been angry at myself, and I've been taking it out on everyone around me. For goodness sake, I should treat Jadni more considerately than I treat Horgus.

I have to do better. People are dead because I haven't done better.

Well. All that being said.

When Thane and I joined the defence of the gate to keep the nonflying demons from pouring into the city and slaying all within, it quickly became apparent that our most important duty would be to take care of the Big Ones. Which we did, with fair speed. I cast debilitating spells until they were barely capable of crawling, and then Thane tore them to pieces with his sword. Things were clearly happening up on the tower while we fought -- the Sword of Valor came down, then went back up again -- but we of course could not assist until we were done. Fortuitously, we vanquished the last of the demons just as Aravashniel's signal came to summon reinforcements to the tower. We left behind us many dead crusaders, but also many who would have likewise perished without our help. And the civilians within the city walls for the most part survived. That isn't nothing.

When Thane and I arrived at the tower, we discovered that a fierce battle had been fought with an invisible Nurah, who had stabbed Anvie unconscious and brought down the Sword of Valor. Nurah was felled, however, by what sounded like a wild, lucky blow from Zsoltan. And Zsoltan's wild, lucky blows are nothing if not powerful. She was killed on the spot.

Soon after, Thane and I arrived on the scene at the same time as a demon commando team. A host of Vrocks, led by their glowing, powerful leader and the Tiefling ritualist wizard. Faced against them were myself, Thane, Jadni, Zsoltan, Anvie, Aravashniel, and Anevia.

And, well. My team may not be the best of strategists -- I certainly have learned that I am not, at any rate -- but as small group tacticians, there is one thing we do very, very well.

And that is kill demons.

They led their assault with some kind of a devastating Vrock dance that lashed us with lightning. Finding us vulnerable to this, the Tiefling followed up with a lightning bolt that slew poor Aravhasniel. The Vrocks were surrounded by mirror images that rendered many of my more powerful spells useless, a tactic I have employed to great advantage myself (I will have to acquire the spell of true sight sooner rather than late if I am to depend on such spells.)

I was not without resources, however, and soon determined that my best tactic was to distract, lead off, or otherwise render ineffective as many opponents as possible to keep my friends from being overwhelmed by numbers and outflanked. With judicious use of glitterdust, mirror image, suggestion, flight, my scrolls of greater dispel magic, and other spells, by the end I was leading two Vrocks on a merry chase, both of them fruitlessly trying to injure me while my friends stabbed and punched the others to death. I am fairly sure that I at least saved the lives of Anvie and Anevia that way, if not others, so that is something to be proud of.

The Tiefling hurled generic insults at us, much less interesting than last time and not worth the dignity of a reply. Having learned from our last encounter, I made her the target of my dispels, and without her powerful magic protections she proved little match for Zsoltan and Jadni. The demons likewise fell to them and Thane's holy sword.

And so we carried the day. Reinforcements have now arrived, and at least they have come to a city damaged rather than one occupied by a horde of demons.

And I am contemplating what I did wrong that led to this. I will try to do better.

And I think... I think we must take more responsibility for those we capture or turn instead of kill. I should encourage Zsoltan to talk to his uncle. I should talk more with Arushaelae. Nurah and Jesker are lessons we should not ignore.

There are many lessons here I should not ignore.

I AM TRYING TO GROW AS A PERSON

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXIV: Our Demons Come Home to Roost

I have, at times in this chronicle, been somewhat judgemental of my colleagues. I like to think, however, that I am capable of being even-handed in my assessments, able to realize both when I have been in the wrong and someone else has been in the right. So I will begin this chapter by saying this:

I should have listened to Jadni more.

Many things went into the dire situation we currently find ourselves in, including some factors we had little control over. But if we had paid more attention to her warnings, the danger might have been considerably mitigated. I suppose I have been foolish not to imagine that while we were making plans against our foes, our foes would be making similar plans against us...

To explain --

We made our return to Drezen expecting little more than a quiet morning followed by a chance for a decent night's sleep. We arrived instead to find a stream of refugees rushing through the gates, a mysterious crowd at the cathedral, and the remains of the armies shoring up the defenses. We quickly made our way to Irabeth to discover what was amiss. She was, to my surprise, somewhat disappointed to see it was us. She had summoned the clerics and been expecting them to put in an appearance, but there had been no sign of them as of yet.

Nonetheless, she quickly explained the situation. The curious lightning storm we'd seen from the high vantage point days ago had been nothing less than a ritual to summon a demonic army. A demonic army that was even now marching on Drezen with the intent to take it back before reinforcements could arrive.

Jadni had opined that the storm might be something that required our urgent attention. But at the time, we had so many tasks pressing upon us, all seeming of the utmost urgency, that I was unable to prioritize one above another.

I should have listened.

We had a quick debate as to where we would be best placed for the defense. Jadni thought that the Sword of Valor was the key to our victory, and had to be guarded against flying foes. Others thought there would be little for it to guard if the demons broke through the walls and slew all those within. I deferred to Irabeth, who eventually decided that we should guard the front gate, with a signal to be sent by Aravashniel if we were needed at the tower.

Once again, Jadni was not wrong. I do not think we all should have been at the tower, but as it turned out, we should have split our forces from the beginning, to save precious time.

That being decided, we decamped to shore up the defenses as best we could. I unearthed a scroll of Move Earth I had been saving for such a purpose, and spent the next half hour or so rendering the bridge unusable to our foes. I was nearly assaulted by a mob for my troubles, when rumors began that I was in league with the demons and stranding the refugees outside the walls, but I managed to calm them down by pointing out that the soldiers would not simply be watching me if my purpose was inimical, and with promises that I would make sure all stragglers made it in.

Meanwhile... HORRIBLE THINGS I still do not fully understand were apparently happening with the walls.

While I was working, a group of barely-armed soldiers WALKED OUT OF DREZEN INTO THE WOUNDED LANDS. I asked what was going on, and they said Thane had told them to leave. (!?) I asked them why he had asked them to desert the city and walk directly into the path of a demon army, and they DID NOT KNOW. (!?) Then one started insulting me. I ordered them to ignore Thane, get back in the city, grab weapons, and defend the walls. All but the one who was insulting me did so. He grabbed me, held a knife to my throat, and demanded to be allowed to desert and die. I had little patience for this, so I Suggested he turn himself in for desertion. I barely managed to cast the spell from within the grapple, but fortunately he was of weak will, and once it went off he duly demanded his own arrest. What was that about?

I finished with the bridge and used another scroll of Dimension Door to bring in the last few refugees, as I had promised (and as I would have done had I made no such promise.) As I took my position on the gate, Thane, Zsoltan, and Jadni joined me -- and Jadni was distraught and covered in blood, although apparently not her own? Something else had gone horribly wrong, but I had no time to learn what before we noticed fighting on the tower. Was someone attempting to filch the Sword of Valor? Who was it? The infiltrator we had never identified?

As I hurriedly cast spells on our group and the guards, the demon army approached, Vrocks and Bebiliths, and drake-riding demon knights, all led by none other than the Tiefling who'd dueled me with spells in the dungeon of Drezen citadel, the one who'd been enacting a foul and dangerous ritual. It was probably too much to hope, when she'd escaped, that we would hear no more of her...

We decided to split our forces, Jadni and Zsoltan heading to the tower, while Thane and I remained to keep the gate from being overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the Vrocks performed a mid-air ritual which shattered our defensive walls in a deafening explosion.

We our not without resources. We have not been taken by surprise this time, their approach has been impeded, and the Sword of Valor will weaken them. But our forces are split, and there are... a lot of demons.

A lot.

Memories of the fall of Kenabres are uncomfortably close to mind.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXIII: Dungeons And/Or Dragons

I finally got my chance to have a tete-a-tete with Arueshalae, when I went upstairs to tell her of our plans to break her out of imprisonment in her comfortable dungeon. She seemed interested in the questions of ethics -- and unfamiliar with them, which I suppose should not come as a surprise -- and asked why we had resurrected Anvie, and if that was something I would do for any of my friends. I did not wish to bore her, so I gave her the quickest possible sketch of altruism theory, barely more than a few sentences. Nonetheless, she seemed rather bemused, and asked if I went through such tortuous mental gymnastics every time I made a decision, and I had to confess that yes, I rather did; having grown up inculcated in the ways of evil I've had to work my way through that labyrinth on a regular basis. I wonder if she is interested in the intricacies of ethical philosophy. That would be almost as great a miracle as a nonevil demon. No one is ever interested in the intricacies of ethical philosophy.

Speaking of nonevil demons, my friends spent a great deal of time before I went up the stairs attempting to figure out a way to prove to themselves whether or not she was trustworthy, starting with the standby of detecting for evil -- as if they had not been traveling with me for MONTHS now. I had to explain once again how useless that would be, particularly in this case, since even a "good" demon, still being metaphysically made from evil, would still register as evil to the spell. Is there any magic more useless? When I took my leave of them, they were debating more intrusive magical measures, without once considering exactly how that would affect her trust of us. Happily, if there is one thing I can trust my companions to do, it is talk endlessly without settling on a plan of action, so I have every confidence such measures will remain unused.

Although, to be fair, we did manage to settle on a plan for crossing the courtyard. We would immediately head, we decided, for a covered stairwell, to keep the demons from trapping us out in the open once again.

This plan, unfortunately, fell to pieces as soon as we entered the courtyard and saw a horde of demons waiting to attack us. Obviously, we could not possibly all get to the stairwell before we were waylaid, so sticking ot the original plan would have split our forces and left us at a terrible disadvantage. Well, obvious to everyone but Zsoltan, who sped through the courtyard and into the stairwell before anyone else had a chance to react, blithely trusting that the plan had not changed. As soon as he was away, the demons set upon us.

A fierce battle followed. A spider-like demon shot webs at us. Another actually peeled poor Thane out of his armor, leaving it broken on the ground, and then injured him grievously in the bargain. There were other setbacks -- Thane at one point had to be told to attack the demons trying to kill us, rather than the large scavengers totally ignoring us, and Anvie, apparently having learned nothing from her recent death, charged headlong into battle and rather came out the worse for it. But Arueshalae turned out to be a capable archer, and once we were able to get everyone pointed in the right direction, we did our usual deadly job.

Well, everyone but Zsoltan, of course. He was gone for the whole of the fight, and we later learned he had fought a one-on-one battle of his own with an Annis Hag. Her weakness turned out to be being punched in the face, so Zsoltan actually was the best one to face her anyway.

We departed the keep, and Arueshalae revealed to us what was no doubt one of the reasons she was being hunted so eagerly by the other demons; she knew the location of the Ivory Templar's fortress. We were low on food by that time, though, and elected to return to Drezen to resupply. Arueshalae did not wish to enter a nest of paladins, for which I cannot blame her, and said she would monitor the Templars and meet up with us when we made our assault, keeping in contact through Sending.

On the way back, we stopped by the smaller Templar hideout to gather some temporary armor for Thane -- it does look odd to see him dressed as a worshipper of Baphomet -- and tried once more to waylay the Woundworm. This time, it was in its lair when we entered, and got the drop on us. We had prepared well, however, rendering ourselves resistant to its acid, and took far less damage then it might have hoped. I rendered it even less effective with a debilitating ray, and then Thane and Anvie did the bulk of the work of smiting it into the ground. This time, Anvie's penchant for hurling herself headlong into peril proved quite effective. She should be proud. After that, we had the sad work of gathering up the bodies the Woundworm had slain, including Sosiel's poor sibling.

Before we entered Drezen, I asked the more religiously learned among my friends what they knew about Desna, Arueshalae's chosen (choosing?) goddess. Neither Jadni nor Zsoltan are much for book learning, so details were lacking, but they did manage to convey that Desna is considered quite different outside of Cheliax than she is within it. She is not, for example, generally considered a monstrous force of chaos that insidiously invades the dreams of the helplessly sleeping to spread her subversive messages of disorder. Nor are butterflies considered an invasive pest in most of Golarion. I suppose I should have realized earlier she was more trustworthy than I had been led to believe, given her widespread support among those in Cheliax who work behind the scenes to free halflings from their bondage. But it is difficult to see beyond what we have been raised to think, sometimes.

Much to consider there.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXII: The Rabbits Quake in Fear Before General Woundworm

I will keep this entry brief, since shortly we have to go out and get slaughtered by rather a lot of demons.

After the temple, we headed south and looked for the lair of the acid-breathing dragonlike creature, which we were eventually able to identify from its fewmets as a powerful, abyss-tainted Woundworm. We found its lair -- or at least one of its lairs -- and hid in wait for its return, but our plans were stymied when it failed to drop by its home. After a day, we decided that other pressing matters required our attention, and we moved on.

A day later, from a high cliff bluff, we were at last able to spot the location I had seen in my dream! Moving on from there, within days we arrived at Arueshalae's holdout. In spite of her warnings, however, a pair of wyrm-riding demons circling the place were able to get the drop on us, out in the open where their advantage was at its greatest. Their powerful lance charges wrought terror in our ranks before I had a chance to cast a single spell. Jadni was brought to the brink of death and turned invisible to save herself. And Anvi, who had been keeping us all upright with her channelled healing, was slain -- at least for the moment -- by a single blow.

With much painstaking effort, though, we were able to turn the battle around. I managed to drop a demon with repeated Enervations, giving Zsoltan and Jadni the space to annihilate the rest. Wounded and weary, we made our way to the tower where Arueshalae waited.

... And I nearly died for it. The powerful protections against demons wrought on the tower by the grace of Desna pegged me as a potentially inimical foe, and I got fried like an egg when I passed through the wards. I survived it, though, and at last met the woman of... the woman from my dreams.

She was less enthused to see us than I expected, more hesitant. She may have been wondering what our reception of her would be; certainly when we suggested that she would find safety among the paladins, she found the concept laughable. As I would have, once, and still would for many, but I trust Irabeth. Possibly we can convince her of the same.

She informed us that we were surrounded by demons led by a hag, and left us alone to recover and use a scroll to resurrect poor Anvi, who seemed a bit discombobulated by the experience. Understandably.

Once our spells and powers are regained, we shall do our best to bust Arueshalae out of her prison. It promises to be a tough fight. Before that, however, I hope to have a chance to talk to her alone. I have had none, as of yet.

I would very much like to have a conversation of her more than 25 words in length.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXI: Her Eyes Have All The Seeming Of A Demon That Is Dreaming

I am nearly as exhausted as Sosiel. Every time we solve one problem, three more spring up, hydra-like, to take its place. I've honestly lost track of all the dangers that must be investigated at this point.

Before we left, I had a conversation with Irabeth and Anevia which somehow led to a discussion of my parents' final days -- their summoning of undead minions to replace the halflings I insisted they let go free, and how that ultimately led to their deaths at the hands of adventurers. Irabeth seemed a bit taken aback by the story. It is a disturbing one. I avoided having any truck with the undead even when I was still casting evil spells. I do not like them.

Following that, at Anevia's urging, we had a conversation with Sosiel, whom she said was troubled about his sibling. After failing to get an answer out of him subtly, we managed to pry out of him that his sibling had gone on patrol some days ago and never returned. We promised to keep an eye out, and headed in the direction the patrol had gone, to begin with. Not a grave inconvenience, since danger lies in every possible direction we could go.

Jadni turned out to be an expert tracker. Who would have thought? Apparently it is part of the skill set inquisitors use to track down the unfaithful and set them on fire, or however inquisiting is done.

Thanks to her skills, we soon found the site of a massacre. The patrol had been slain by claw and acid, by a creature that left no tracks. A dragon? The number of bodies remaining did not equal the whole of the patrol, and we feared the creature might have taken them to wherever it laired. With that in mind, we continued to the lookout point Anevia had identified, in case we saw something useful.

During our travels, I began a lively correspondence by Sending with my dream visitor, who revealed her name to be Arueshalae. She is trapped where she is, but safe for now, although she did not know for how long. She is charming.

But then, she would be.

When we reached the lookout point, we saw several spots of interest -- more dangers to investigate -- including an island in the lava sparking with blue lightning, a series of caves where the dragon might potentially be lairing, and I remember not what else. I could not spot the location of Arueshalae's hideout. We decided to aim for the caves by way of a possible evil temple we'd been alerted to, and then on to a cliff where we might get a better look.

On the way to the temple, Jadni and Anvie both began feeling ill, but paid no mind to their symptoms. That was a mistake. In the morning, they had come down with Demon Plague, and fled from us in paranoia, hallucinating plots against them. Jadni managed to throw off the effects after a while, and I calmed Anvie down with a casting of Charm -- possibly the only ethical use of that kind of spell. After an hour of prayer, Thane was able to instantiate a spell that temporarily suppressed the effects of the disease. It's the best we can do for now.

Onward to the temple, which proved to be filled with Baphomet worshippers. They were armed with polearms and led by a peculiar magic user with a draconic sidekick. Zsoltan found himself the subject of multiple smites, and Anvie was hurt severely, but the end of the fight wasn't ever really in doubt.

After the battle, we discovered their records (Baphomet worshippers seem to love leaving incriminating evidence behind) and made some disturbing discoveries. They said they had slipped an unnamed infiltrator into Drezen, which wasn't good news. We also found a great deal of material about their attempts to track down the rebel succubus who had fled from Staunton Vhane's prison, and might have been privy to important information.

It was not, I am ashamed to say, until that moment that I realized that the succubus in question had to be Arueshalae. One of the very beings I have dedicated my life to eradicating.

I guess sometimes the pretty ones aren't demon worshippers.

Sometimes they are actual demons.

Neither. She wants to help, and she's an adult.

Oh, and incidentally -- Anvie has volunteered to join us on our various tasks and missions. We have tried to ensure that she is properly armed and armored for the task.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XX: Jadni Insists That I Name This One "Call Him Mr. Vhane"

Many things in my life have not gone the way I expected them to.

I expected that when I died, I would be steeped in evil and descend to Hell to see my parents. Now I am... not so sure of that.

The spells I'd intended to take as I ascended through the levels of sorcerous power have been planned out for years. At the ninth level, I would take the Excruciating Deformation, a hideously evil spell. Although I do not understand why it is more "evil" than, say, Dominate Person, which apparently I can use all day long without affecting my alignment. But in any case, I didn't take it. My excuse at that time was practical. Our group was sadly lacking in utility spells, and the ability to dispel magic seemed more important than another debilitating spell when I already have several in my arsenal.

Well, I thought it was a practical choice at the time. But now, at the 10th level, I have traded away Infernal Healing, the "evil" spell I used to use to treat my wounds (why is it more "evil" than spells of harm?). It still has practical uses, but I no longer wish to use it any more.

And I'd also planned to learn the Cone of Cold, to add a much-needed direct damage spell to my list. I have few. But I have not taken that, for other reason. Instead, I have learned Sending. There is someone I... wish to talk to, if I can.

Are you out there?

Where are you?

Who are you?

I should resume my chronicle.

The laundry list of tasks we needed to see to in the Wounded Lands continued to increase. Some six-legged dragonish creature has been spotted, Anevia found a lookout point of some kind that needs investigation, and so on and so forth. We started with one of the earlier tasks, searching a nearby village for survivors or threats.

Of survivors there were none, but there was one non-survivor who demanded our attention. At a family crypt labeled "Vhane", we encountered the ghost of... another of Zsoltan's uncles. Or great-uncles, I think. Apparently, his family has been in the business of crusading for generations, and the Wounded Lands are absolutely littered with his family, living and dead.

In any case, this Vhane said a demon had been despoiling his tomb. He attempted to mentally compel us to fight the demon, which was completely unnecessary since we immediately agreed to fight the demon. Zsoltan aside, I have not been impressed with the Vhane family thus far.

On entering the crypt, we first encountered some undead creature, which we disposed of without too much trouble. I hope it wasn't another of Zsoltan's relatives. Shortly after, we met the demon itself, munching on the bones of Zsoltan's great-grandmother.

It proved a tricky one to fight. It had a life-sucking gaze attack which took me a ninth of the way to death, a magical axe, and a propensity for stealing the vital energies of its opponents and adding them to its own. Thane was damaged by such an attack, leading to the odd circumstance that when I did the same to it, I ended up with Thane's life energies. They felt weird.

When the battle began to go against it, it left the battlefield with some spell. I searched for it, but it was able to take the time to cast a spell of potent darkness, and summon a number of Babau demons to its side. Fortunately I had surrounded myself with mirror images, so I took no damage when it struck at me from the dark, but its magic proved too powerful for me to dispel, despite repeated attempts.

By then, though, the others had joined me, and went through the darkness to the other side. There were some tense moments as the demons surrounded them and probed at their weaknesses, but the outcome by then was in little doubt. We won the day soon after.

The ghost of Zsoltan's great-uncle, however, was still restless; we needed to reconsecrate the mausoleum, which required the help of a cleric. So, back to Drezen we went to find Sosiel. Who was utterly exahusted, with all he had to do. We need more clerics here. Perhaps Jadni can help in some ways? In any case, he agreed to accompany us back to the village in the morning.

That night, I had a dream. A Dream, actually, although that shouldn't be possible, since you can only send a Dream to someone you have touched, and I would remember if she had ever touched me.

She said she needed my help. She said she was trapped, and they were looking for her. She said she understood what I was going through.

I said that of course I would help.

I did not say that I felt thunderstruck the moment I saw her.

I woke in the wee hours of the morning, and went to the map room to see if I could determine her location from the clues in the dream. Irabeth was there, still working, and helped me some, but we did not have the skills to pinpoint it. While we waited for Anevia to wake up, as she was more knowledgeable of such matters, I learned from her that the butterflies I had seen in the dream were a symbol of the Chaos Goddess Desna, which may explain how the Dream was possible at all.

Irabeth asked me if, perhaps, the Dream was a trap. You'd think I'd assume it might be, given the involvement of a Chaos Goddess. Like anyone sensible, I have little trust for the forces of Chaos. But I did not believe it to be a trap.

I asked how Irabeth met Anevia, and if she'd fallen in love immediately. She told me the story of how they met in the River Kingdoms, but said the process took some time, and that Anevia wasn't then who she is now. I gleaned her meaning for that, I think, when she asked if I had ever thought about changing my body with magic, perhaps to rid myself of my horns, wings, and tail. (My body is as it is, though, and I am well used to it by now.)

When Anevia arrived, she was indeed better able to pin down a location from the clues in my Dream, although the potential area was very wide. I wonder if I might be able to get a better sense of things from that lookout point Anevia discovered.

In the morning, we gathered Sosiel and set out for the village again. From there, we shall continue our tasks.

And I shall search for a spare ten minutes to send a message...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XIX: What Shall We Do With The Evil Mutants, What Shall We Do With The Evil Mutants, What Shall We Do With The Evil Mutants, Early In The Morning?

After some days spent getting Drezen sorted and settled after the battles, Irabeth called an early morning meeting to deal with a pressing question. The city was not entirely uninhabited; in fact, there was a small remnant population, some of whom had been tainted by Abyssal energies and detected as evil. What, it was asked, were we to do with them, given the fears of the same kind of infiltration and betrayal that had occurred in Kenabres?

Early suggestions ranged from imprisonment to banishment to forced re-education. All of these sat ill with me, considering we were discussing people who had committed no known crimes. I detect as evil, after all, for the grave sin of casting spells of healing and protection upon myself.

I found an ally in Sosiel, who thought that mistreatment of the populace would interfere with their rehabilitation, and together we were able to convince the rest to mostly let things be -- taking the precaution of placing extra security on any sensitive or dangerous areas.

Interesting how quickly "good" can fall into doing exactly what it purports to despise. I am glad it was averted.

That being said, after the meeting, I had a quick chat with Irabeth about the "issue of redemption". She quickly saw through my efforts to frame it as an abstract question -- I am not skilled at deception, even by omission -- and realized I was asked about myself. She first proposed religion as a method, but that always struck me as a way to avoid ethical questions rather than answer them, by placing blind faith in a being who theoretically "knows better". When she saw that missed the mark, she told me that deeds were what mattered. I will think on that, although clearly it is not true; see what I said earlier about spells of healing and protection.

Irabeth, incidentally, has been placed in charge of Drezen, to the surprise of no one but herself. She will do an excellent job, and hate it. Fate save us all from being promoted into administration.

At any rate, there were a number of tasks that my group was asked to see to -- checking on various locations, dealing with a potential barbarian threat to the south, finding this "heretic demon", and tracking down a missing priest of Erastil. The last one seemed the most pressing, so we started with that.

We began at the chapel he had been rededicating, which seemed... decidedly un-rededicated. Evidence suggested he had come under the sway of some bizarre Erastitelian cult, which eschewed any group or population higher than some small arbitrary number. We thought he might have gone to the tomb of the cult's founder.

When we got there, in the lava-streaked wilds, we found the priest indeed, and determined he was a victim of demonic possession, poor fellow. We managed to drive out the demon -- an odd creature that looked half-demonic and half-angelic -- and destroy it, but the priest was shattered and lost by the deeds he had done when influenced by the demon's whispers. He felt that all was lost and nothing had any point. So far, the greatest threat to our cause has been nihilism, far more so than outright wickedness. Zsoltan is having similar problems getting through to his uncle.

Incidentally, the tomb of the cult leader cracked open, revealing a number of powerful magical artefacts and weapons. So... thanks, weird dead cult leader?

We left the priest in the hands of Sosiel, and went on to our next task.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XVIII: Beyond Good and Evil, Chapter Three -- The Alignment Brood

Our further adventures beneath Citadel Drezen were, as it turned out, quite boring, so much of this section will concern my ongoing ethical crisis.

I no longer wish to be associated with evil; no matter what I know to be true, it has been irrevocably tainted by the use others have put it to. There are even demons that are now, apparently, eschewing their very natures in revulsion.

However, the idea of becoming "good" seems like the ultimate betrayal of my parents, who were murdered by "good" adventurers. And whatever their faults -- and they had many -- I loved my parents and they loved me, this I know. It has, of course, occurred to me that neutrality is an available option, but it seems so... pointless. "What is your stand on the ultimate questions of ethical philosophy?" "Eh, pass." Not to mention, of course, that most so-called "neutral" people are anything but, little more than an excuse to avoid damage from aligned spells while they indulge their rapacious appetites in the case of the "chaotic" neutral, or fight invariably on the side of good for the sake of "balance" in the case of the "lawful" or "true" neutral... Ugh. The hypocrisy makes me sick.

There's no one I can TALK to about this. Jadni is hardly an expert in ethical philosophy, and Thane and Zsoltan are, I'm afraid, infinitely worse. There's Irabeth, I suppose, but confessing to a paladin that I am considering conversion feels like such a failure. As if I were proving all the smug moralizing of the good correct. Anevia? Might be more able to empathize with my plight, but again is hardly a philosopher.

What do I DO with this?

Anyway. We continued on through the dungeon, and found ourselves in a kind of demonic cathedral, with another false Sword of Valor hanging on the wall. We suspected it was another fake (it detected as neither good nor magic), but examined it anyway, and, of course, sprung the trap. Illusory demons burst from the wall to decapitate us, but fortunately we did not fall for the trick, although Zsoltan nearly succumbed.

A bit further on, we found a walkway around a pit, concealed by a powerful spell of darkness. Jadni dispelled it was a casting of daylight from a wand, and then there was much dickering until I got bored and went ahead. And the same thing happens to me that always happens when I go ahead; I got smacked down for my trouble. A trap thrust me into the pit, through the illusory floor, and into the pit of green slime. A spell of flight got me out of the pit, but the green slime was rapidly killing me until someone recalled that it was vulnerable to fire -- which I am not, very much, so I turned a spell of Burning Hands upon myself. A few healing spells later, and I was right as rain (and set off the trap again, but this time I was flying and it did no harm.) I brought the others over in our bag of holding to prevent them from meeting a similar fate.

In the room beyond, again draped in darkness, we heard a voice that chilled Jadni and me to our very souls. For there was the very demon who attacked us when we were children.

Or, attacked Jadni, as it turned out. Apparently, he had no actual interest in me whatsoever. I was simply collateral damage.

I'm a bit miffed about that, actually.

The battle nearly went badly at the very start, when the demon possessed my body -- an extremely unpleasant experience I do not recommend. But Jadni was able to expel the monster with a spell almost immediately. Another casting of daylight made the shadowy creature visible; perhaps it was the very shadow demon who had provided the drug to Nurah? And as we moved in to attack, its undead shadowy minions emerged from the wall.

The battle that followed was ridiculous.

After a casting of mirror images to evade the shadows -- I have little enough strength to lose -- and an enervation that missed the demon's shadowy coils, I was entirely out of spells. Every single one. Down to whatever equipment I had on me. I used a wand of magic missiles to good effect against the shadows, at least.

In the meantime, the demon moved in to attack Thane, correctly guessing he was the deadliest foe, and did grievous damage, but a few healing spells put that right. Thane answered with Radiance, and struck mighty blows against the demon.

The problem was, Radiance was the *only* weapon capable of really hurting the demon. Nothing else had much of an effect. I hit him with a demonbane crossbow bolt right in the face, and it did nothing at all. Zsoltan's mighty kicks might as well have been love taps. Once the demon realized this, he flew to the ceiling, out of Thane's range. We did minor damage to him after that -- I managed to tag him with magic missiles from the wand, Zsoltan actually managed to leap up and kick him once -- but nothing more.

The thing was, he couldn't do much to us either. His spells were pathetic. Illusory shadow fireballs and lightning bolts that we easily saw through and took negligible damage from.

If I'd had a spell of flight left, I could have cast it on Thane. If I'd had spells of attack left, I could have fired them at range. But I had nothing.

We had dispatched the shadows without much trouble, and I was on the point of suggesting Thane throw the damned sword at the demon when the demon became as fed up with the whole thing as we were and left.

The Sword of Valour lay crumpled up in a corner.

So, with an anticlimactic whimper, we have secured the Citadel from the foe. The banner protects it against demonic incursion, and now we have a beachhead in the Worldwound itself. Soon we shall begin to see what we can find there.

And in the meantime, we have encountered intriguing things in the notes of Staunton Vhane. Crystals that can be used to increase demonic might somehow. And a strange report of a "heretic" demon, one they were desperate to find. Perhaps a demon that has renounced its heritage?

Strange days.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XVII: He's So Vhane, I Bet He Thinks This War Is About Him

I have been left with much to think about.

The dwarf turned out not to be Staunton Vhane, but Zsoltan’s other uncle Joran, discussing the merits of fleeing or staying with Nurah. Zsoltan recognized him at once, but Joran Vhane had not seen Zsoltan since his infancy, and was not aware of their relationship until it was explained.

Zsoltan did not particularly wish to harm his uncle, and a long discussion ensued in which we attempted to convince the pair of them to surrender, or at least leave without doing further harm. Joran’s experiences had led him to a nihilistic philosophy, which made him resistant to these ideas. The others attempted to convince him that redemption was still possible.

Redemption. As if such a thing exists. As if there is any balance in the cold, uncaring universe. As if you could say, “Ah, I have now saved 1,000 babies, and my previous murders have therefore been redeemed.” Like a coupon. Joran correctly perceived the nature of the universe, even if he responded to it poorly.

The fact is, past sins are never “redeemed”. People are never “redeemed”. The past has happened and cannot be undone, and the weight of it hangs around our necks eternally. The only thing we can do is move forward as best we can, doing the best we can, trying to be better than we have been. But let us not pretend this is “redemption”. Let us not tell ourselves the happy lie that we can erase what we have done.

Which brings me to Nurah.

While the others focused on Joran, I primarily talked to her. And in doing so, I found out where she was from.

Halikarnassos. She had been my parents’ slave.

My slave, for all I had no say in the matter at the time.

I didn’t even remember her. She must have escaped long before I reached the age of majority.

I tried to tell her that I had freed the others, asked if she had family, told her I could put her in contact with them. She didn’t believe me. Why should she? What had my family ever done to convince her that any of us would ever put her welfare first? What had we done but convince her the only thing that matters is power, and the only real power is the power to put your boot in another’s face. No wonder she turned to...

Well.

I have been thinking more about the nature of evil.

I am not wrong. I KNOW I am not wrong. Evil is not what people think. How can it be, when there are evil healing spells? Evil spells of protection? There is something fundamentally wrong in everyone’s interpretation of it.

But it is everyone’s interpretation. Everyone but mine. If I have seen the truth, does it matter? My parents did horrible things in the name of evil. My country has done horrible things in the name of evil. The demons ravage in the name of evil. And if they are all wrong... so what?

Have I ever convinced a single person of the truth? And in the meantime, does my dedication to evil tacitly support these horrors? I can say, no evil is not that, it is this, but all people hear, all they ever hear, is that I am evil, and therefore my allegiance is to selfishness, to spitefulness, to bigotry, to agony.

If I remain evil to uphold the beliefs of my parents, what does it mean if my beliefs are no longer theirs anyway? Why do I cling to it, if I never convince anyone of the truth? If I only make them suspect that I am part of the lie?

What my family did to Nurah is unconscionable. It can never be "redeemed". I can only try to do better moving forward.

I wish there were someone I could talk to about this. I'm not sure even Jadni would truly understand.

In any event... we had, I think, convinced Nurah and Joran that we had no wish for further bloodshed and would let them and Staunton leave unharmed, when Staunton and his demonic allies attacked us. Joran bellowed that this was not what they had agreed, but Staunton did not seem to care. He nearly cut Thane down while I fought against a demon. When Zsoltan tried to attack Staunton, Joran restrained him, loathe to let kin battle kin. Nurah stayed out of the fray, and eventually turned invisible and slipped away without interference on our part.

After a great battle in which I drained much of Staunton’s life force, he was left tottering on his last legs, so I sent a small missile of magic at him, intending to knock him unconscious so we could bring him in for trial, and he simply disintegrated. Dissolved into porphyry dust, oddly reminiscent of the Abyssal realm of Alushinyrra. Hmm.

Joran surrendered to us, and told us that the Sword of Valor could be found in the Citadel’s basement, beyond a secret door in the cells. We followed his directions, and encountered a forge serviced by salamanders. Although none of us spoke their language, Jadni was able to communicate that we meant to pass them by without doing harm, and they let us go.

Beyond, we found an astonishingly attractive tiefling enacting a powerful ritual with some of the Goatfaced Killah demons, a ritual that might be powerful enough to open a second Worldwound! Obviously, we interrupted their designs, and the battle that followed was... a complete stalemate. We dealt with the demons handily, but the tiefling was another matter. We resisted her spells and attacks, she resisted ours, she trapped some of us behind a wall of force, they got out, and so on. She led by trying to enchant me with a Charm, and I followed up by Suggesting that she come over and kiss me. Neither worked, although we continued to flirt throughout the battle. Eventually, she used some manner of teleportation to make her exit.

Why are the pretty ones always demon worshippers?

Oh, I forgot about the minotaurs.

At some point, there were minotaurs.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XVI: Yondah Lies Da Castle of Zsoltan's Uncle

After a council of war, it was determined that Zsoltan, Jadni, Thane, and I would fly in through the parapet in which the chimera had been nesting, in the hopes that the beast's death had left it lightly guarded. Aron gave us a rough map of the Citadel, including the location of a secret vault where the Sword of Valor used to be stored, although we doubted it still remained there. I asked Irabeth if she wanted to join, since she had a personal bone to pick with Staunton Vhane, but she worried that if she encountered him, she would be too overcome with rage to spare his life even if the situation called for it. I told her I would be happy to overreact in her stead. However, we agreed that we would do our best to take him alive and bring him to justice -- and Nurah, too, should we find her, for we speculated that she might have fled to the Citadel.

Our initial entry proved of little difficulty, except for the need to bash our way through stone doors of dwarven design. My fellows worried that this would put those within on the alert, but I pointed out that they had probably noticed the, you know, war going on outside already. One thing I have noticed about my companions is that they are strangely fussy. Every choice of which door to open, which direction to go, takes tedious ages and requires debate and a careful search of every room. It's almost as if they believe that the entire universe is run by some sentient, inimical force that means them personal harm and will punish them for any incorrect decision.

The chimera had left a hoard behind, which provided us with some useful items of magical potency. We left the gold and gems behind for the army's use, of course.

Shortly after descending the tower, we met a small group of demons and engaged them in battle. They were relatively easy to defeat, but apparently they had used some kind of spell that made Thane extremely rude to the rest of us. None of us noticed the difference.

Further exploration led us to the center of the castle, where we saw an enormous Vrock demon. Beyond our sight, as it turned out, there were also cultists skilled in archery and fire demons who caused magical explosions. The Vrock demon led with a paralyzing scream, and only my experience with demons enabled me to resist it.

In the pitched battle that followed, Jadni was infected by the Vrock's poisoned spores and, bearing the brunt of its attacks, was brought to death's very door. I sapped its strength in an attempt to help her, and drained its essence with a potent spell of vampiric touch, but it proved a difficult foe, throwing up mirror images to spoil our attacks. Thane and Zsoltan waded in and eventually brought it down, and then began picking off the lesser enemies while I revived my cousin with a potion. I was struck with several balls of fire, and if not for the extra vampiric essence from my spell I surely would have fallen. But in the end, we prevailed.

Heading towards the secret vault, we crossed through a chapel of Torag which had been despoiled and dedicated to a plague demon. Jadni attempted to clean it up a bit, but was unable to achieve much. When we made our way through the secret doors to the vault, we saw what appeared to be the Sword of Valor, although we doubted very much it was the real one. Nonetheless, when magical analysis appeared to confirm it's provenance, we picked it up -- only to be buffeted by waved of negative energy which we were fortunately able to resist. It was, as we thought, a fake. Oh, well.

We then explored a vast armory, where there was nothing much of interest, and made our way to the officer's quarters, where we thought Staunton Vhane might have installed himself. And indeed, upon opening a door, we saw an unfamiliar dwarf arguing with an all-too-familiar halfling...

Aravashnial informs me that the demons we fought in the first battle were more properly known as "Goatfaced Killahs".

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XV: The Battle of Five Armies, and Also Some Other Armies

The next morning the paladins set out to tackle the horde of goat-faced demons that was keeping a cadre of crusaders held captive in the northeastern section of the city. This was a literal uphill battle, as our forces had to charge up a steep slope, putting them at a considerable disadvantage. After a volley of arrows had little effect, the fighting once more dissolved into fierce back-and-forth melees in the city streets. The battle lasted all day, and more than a few paladins fell, but we were once again ultimately victorious.

And our victory brought with it a considerable reward ... the crusaders kept captive by the demon proved to be a force nearly twice our size, and eager to join us in the fight against their erstwhile tormentors! While they were not as skilled as the paladins, which overall made them a less effecting fighting force, they were nonetheless to prove decisive in the combats to come.

The next day, my small group -- the de facto commando team of the legion -- was sent to clear the fireball-throwing demons out of the citadel watchtowers. If they were left to hurl death and devastation upon us when we assaulted the citadel itself, the fight would be grim indeed. I granted the power of flight to my colleagues once again, and up we flew to deal with the problem, keeping widely spaced so that fireballs could strike no more than one of us at a time.

The fiery demons we found worked well in tandem strategically -- some hurling fire, some attempting to dispel our protections or power of flight, and some doing melee battle when the warriors moved in. I hung back and cast my longer range spells, and did a fair bit of damage to a demon or three that way, while my fellows went in for the kill. We didn't escape entirely unburnt, but our victory was never truly in doubt.

We returned to a fierce debate among the leaders of our expedition -- should we tackle the army of ghouls, and risk losing a vital part of our force to their paralyzing touch? Or should we leave them be, and risk leaving them at our rear? We debated shattering the bridge behind us when we crossed it, and Zsoltan was particularly fearful of their powers, but ultimately we decided to make a fight of it.

As it turns out, we need not have feared so much. With the Haunted Mausoleum reconsecrated, their powers were low, and we annihilated them with our arrows without taking so much as a scratch.

It was a day for good news in general. Aron had largely recovered from his withdrawal symptoms, much to our relief -- Anevia was likewise grateful to have his scouting assistance again. We needed what good news we could get, for on the morrow we would face the armies behind the citadel walls.

As we assembled in the morning, Irabeth remarked that if death were to come for us, dying fighting demons was an excellent way to go, and I heartily agreed. She said she was surprised by how much she had come to appreciate my presence, and after dissembling a bit and claiming that I was, of course, only there for selfish and evil reasons, I admitted that she had done much to dispel my prejudices against paladins, as I had not expected to meet any I respected so greatly as I respected her.

With these thoughts on our mind, we set out ... only to face horror before we even arrived at the citadel walls. A great Chimera, an unnatural mix of dragon, tiger, and goat, landed on the bridge to block our way, ripping apart a paladin in the vanguard as it did. It immediately sprayed us with its terrible dragon breath.

My group launched into action. I began casting spells of flight, fearing that if it took to the air, it could rain death down upon us with its breath without taking a counterblow. Zsoltan charged in boldly, and was nearly ripped to strips for his trouble in the first few instants. At that point, we began to worry things might be dire indeed.

But then Thane attacked the beast with Radiance, and with that mighty weapon needed only a few powerful blows to bring the monster down. Zsoltan was healed, and we escaped with much less damage to the army than might have been.

And with that, it was time to breach the citadel walls.

Five armies had gathered to do battle there. Our troop of paladins and the freed crusaders on one side. Three massed groups of tieflings, cultists, and dretches on the other. We broke through the gates, and the battle was joined.

The smiting powers of the paladins made short work of the dretches, which was fortunate -- their enchanted stench might have debilitated us otherwise. I had been placed in charge of a squadron of crusaders, and bade them fight defensively to protect their numbers while sapping away at the enemy's strength. After a successful initial sally against the cultists, this meant matters devolved into a stalemate on my side for a while.

Not so for the paladins. Mighty attacks were traded back and forth, the healing abilities of the paladins unable to keep pace with the damage they took. The army of tieflings fell before them, only for the cultists to launch a series of devastating counterattacks which nearly wiped them out.

At that point I broke my crusaders out from cover, and smashed the cultists between those forces and what was left of the paladins. The last of our foes perished.

We had won the day. But not without cost. Scarce a third of the paladins who set out from Kenabres survived the day. We checked on Anvie, but she proved to be among those who survived.

All this combat took place outside the citadel buildings themselves. While the armies defending it are gone, we would be foolish to think that no traps, demons, or other surprises are left within. Some small group capable of room-to-room fighting will have to clear it out before we can truly say that Drezen is once again ours.

Three guesses as to which small group that will be.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XIV: From the Pages of The Tick Steps... MAN EATING COW!

The assault on Drezen began remarkably well.

The army of paladins charged the tieflings on the southern bank, and smashed them into a chaotic rout. I don't think a single paladin fell.

Of course, immediately after, the cultists organized themselves into reinforcements, and their more cautious approach led to some difficult street-by-street fighting along the city blocks. The stalemate lasted for hours with neither side being able to take advantage. But once the tide began to turn, it turned swiftly; the paladins gained the upper hand, and victory was shortly achieved.

By then, it was mid-afternoon, and we turned our attention to taking the bridge leading to the citadel. A full-scale assault was deemed too risky; our enemies might collapse the bridge as soon as they got wind of the approach. Instead, it was decided that a small group of commandos should launch a surprise attack. Accordingly, Anevia snuck Thane, Zsoltan, and myself close enough to do what we do best. Jadni was busy doing inquisitor things or some such; I decided not to enquire too closely, since that side of her makes me a bit uncomfortable.

The ancient dwarven bridge was mounted on four pillars, and to each one was chained some kind of mutant aurochs, ready to pull the structure down on command. Guarding the bridge, a platoon of tieflings waited in readiness.

We decided that our priority should be the animals; nothing else would matter if the bridge fell. Zsoltan was first on the scene, but his fists at first achieved little against the beasts' tough hides. I could not, initially, get close enough to cast a useful spell upon the beasts, so I instead Suggested that the leader of the tieflings flee lest he meet the same fate as his brethren on the southern bank. When he did, it threw the remaining troops into some confusion. By then, Thane was attacking the cows, doing great damage to them with Radiance.

The tieflings organized themselves enough to fire crossbows at us, which mostly missed, and attempt to get their cows to pull on the pillars. Thane and Zsoltan were knocking cows unconscious on the eastern side (and occasionally getting gored), so I took to the west side and peppered the animals with spells of fire and weakness. One cow, even though weakened by magic, was able to pull its pillar down, but the sturdy dwarven structure remained intact nonetheless. Soon we had all the cows neutralized, and it wasn't difficult to convince the tieflings to follow their leader in panicked flight.

At this point, Thane examined the cows to determine if they were evil, and found they were.

Evil cows.

Terrorizing the grass, perhaps? Hatching vile plans to torture a field of flowers? No doubt they moo maniacally whilst they do so. This kind of thing is exactly why I say that most people's idea of "evil" is nothing but complete nonsense. If a COW can register as evil, the term is meaningless. You might as well call a gerbil evil when it eats its own young. Ot a bird when it kills a worm, for that matter. They cannot be judged in those terms, because if you do then the terms MAKE NO SENSE.

Anyway.

Evil cows.

Really.

We camped for the night, and early in the morning (VERY early, before sunup) Anvie woke us to relay the message that Irabeth had called for us. After checking in on Anvie -- she said she was fine, and I had no reason to disbelieve her -- we tumbled out of bed and stumbled towards Irabeth's tent. I asked Thane if he returned Anvie's possible romantic interest, but he thought her to be too young for him. I may be misjudging her intent, anyway. I am not, I have found, anything like an expert at understanding people.

When we reached Irabeth's tent, we found it was because Anevia had bad news. Her scouting had discovered an army of ghouls gathered in the graveyard, not a thing we were comfortable having on our left flank. We called an utterly exhausted Sosiel in as our local expert on the undead, and through discussion determined that they were likely gaining power from the unhallowed building Anevia had dubbed the "Haunted Mausoleum". He judged that if it was reconsecrated, the power of the undead would be vastly diminished and they would be easier to battle.

Once again, this seemed like a job for a small strike team, since otherwise we would have to fight through the army of ghouls to make it easier to fight the army of ghouls, if you take my meaning. Zsoltan, Thane, and I set off with Sosiel, leaving Jadni behind to look after poor Aron.

I will be frank -- I do not like the undead. I have become even less fond of them since my parents' experiments with them led directly to their deaths at the hands of "good" adventurers. I blame myself, mostly. If I hadn't begged for them to free their halfling slaves, they never would have looked into alternative labor methods, and our villagers would never have been terrified into seeking aid. But all that being said, I do not like undead.

Especially ghouls. Paralysis is particularly... unsettling.

Unsurprisingly, soon after we broke into the mausoleum, ghouls poured out of the walls to assault us. I'd hung back a bit (I've learned my lesson about being the first through a door), and was able to do quite a bit of damage with burning rays, but first Zsoltan and the Sosiel were locked into paralysis at the hands of the winged undead leading the ghouls (A... Benbecula? I forget what Sosiel later said it was called.) It was touch and go for a minute, and both Zsoltan and Sosiel came close to being slain, but quick action with a sword on Thane's part and a few spells from me managed to keep the worst from happening.

Soon after, Sosiel worked his clerical magic, consecrating the mausoleum (to Shelyn? Is it a party mausoleum now?) and we returned to the main camp before the larger ghoul army realized we were there.

There are demons and ghouls still left to fight before we even reach the main citadel. And that, Anevia says, may put all the initial fights to shame. It's built for just this kind of siege, and she saw someone or something was casting practice fireballs from one of the watchtowers. Unless that gets taken care of, no attack against it stands a chance.

I suspect my small group's skills will be called upon again for that...

My cousins declared me dead approximately 38 seconds after my birth. It hasn't stood up in court thus far.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XIII: Shouldn't Vescavores Eat Vescas?

Further attempts to find Nurah came to naught, even though those of us who could see in the dark stayed up all night searching. Of course, if she was able to turn invisible, as I suspected – how else would she have snuck past Sosiel’s careful guard on Aron? – then we had little chance of spotting her anyway. Our magical resources are woefully inadequate against invisibility. Of course, it is entirely possible she attempted nothing, now that we are looking for her actively. Certainly no obvious sabotage came to light in the morning. The following day, the army moved on.

Half a day’s trek from Drezen, however, Anevia reported that something lay in our way. A fog of greenish vapor blocked our path along the narrow canyon defile. We went to investigate, taking Aravashnial along in case it proved to be some sort of magical trap. And indeed, he was able to identify it, although it was not precisely what we had envisioned. Rather than a cloud of gas, it was a horde of demonic insects – vescavores, he called them – emanating from an underground cavern of some kind.

So many were swarming around that he theorized that it could only be explained by the presence of a vescavore queen, and that if we disposed of the queen the rest of the swarm would disperse. This was troubling to us, as our magical resources are woefully inadequate against swarming creatures. In fact, I begin to wonder if our magical resources are particularly adequate against anything.

After quizzing Aravashnial as to whether he had any spells that might be of assistance, and meeting with repeated denials, he at last produced a wand of lightning bolts, albeit one that contained only three charges. With that in hand, and a few usable spells of my own, we decided that I would fight against any swarms and keep them occupied while my fellows pressed forward and assaulted the queen.

Just before we went in, Aravashnial remembered that vescavores hunger for not only flesh, but practically all matter, and were notorious for destroying equipment. Since everything I possessed was likely to be useless in the fight, and either of magical, material, or sentimental value – even my clothes were those gifted to me by Garn and Julli – I decided to strip down, counting on my colleagues’ professionalism to keep any untoward comments at bay. My confidence in them was misplaced.

The others debated leaving some of their equipment behind as well, but after determining that anything they were likely to lose was either essential to the fight or easy to replace (and Zsoltan, being a monk, had nothing besides his clothing anyway), I cast spells of flight and Zsoltan, Jadni, Thane and I descended into the depths.

We explored a series of connected caves, the insects fluttering ominously on every surface. Soon, they were amassed together in sufficient numbers to swarm us, and proved very difficult foes – will sapping, resistant to magical damage, confusing to fight, and prone to vomit acid on their victims. As expected, the attacks of the warriors proved useless, and the creatures swiftly devoured even their metal shields, so I began using the wand of lightning bolts. I kept perhaps half of the insects focused on me while my comrades flew forward to find the queen.

My battle was not without difficulty, with the insects driving me to distraction at some points. But between lightning and flames from my hands, I was eventually able to disperse the demonic vermin. Meanwhile, the others had encountered the queen, and that was to prove a more difficult fight. She was a monstrous creature, and before the end of the fight, Jadni lay bleeding on the ground before her. But though Zsoltan’s attacks did little damage, Thane’s mightly blows were able to put her down.

When she died, as expected, the other vescavores left the area. A quick search of the caves found something troubling – a direct portal from the Abyss itself to the material plane. We blocked it as best we could but could not destroy it, as our magical resources are woefully inadequate against Abyssal portals.

A definite theme is developing here.

With the obstruction gone, the army was able to press the rest of the way to Drezen. We camped overnight in sight of the city. Given that the next day was likely to be a difficult battle that not all would survive, I asked Jadni if she would like me to will her the Barony in the event of my death. After considering it, she opined that it was probably more trouble than it was worth. No doubt true. I shall die intestate, then, and let my horrible cousins battle it out amongst themselves. Maybe they will kill each other off and the world will be much enriched thereby.

Anevia set out to scout the enemy forces, sadly missing the assistance of Aron. I gave her my remaining potion of invisibility in case she needed a quick escape. Much to the relief of Irabeth, she returned unharmed.

The citadel of Drezen appears to be surrounded by loosely affiliated armed groups, unlikely to come to one another’s aid. To the south is an army of cultists and (sigh) tieflings, north of them (and a bit out of our way) is a group of demons guarding prisoners, and off to the west is a disturbingly haunted graveyard. At the bridge leading to the citadel itself, there are monstrous beasts, perhaps ready to pull it down in case of an attack.

After a strategy discussion, we resolved to attack the forces at the bridge in an attempt to preserve it, while also smashing through the cultists and proceeding on to the demons in the hopes that their prisoners will join our efforts. The graveyard, though, we are leaving alone for now.

Soon the battle will be joined. I hope luck is with us, because our magical resources are probably woefully inadequate.

BTW, just to mention -- Tanaquil's reports have been missing an ongoing subplot involving a Thersites-type who is trying to convince Thane and others to give up and go home, but she wasn't an eyewitness to any of that and knows nothing about it.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XII: The Nurah Nurah Dance

Eventually, ceding to Jadni’s decision as the most religiously inclined among us, we elected to clean up the temple for an hour or so, but not go to the length of fully arranging for its rededication. There was, after all, a war on.

As we returned to camp, I noticed that Horgus was unusually quiet. While I assumed it was a result of trauma, it did not seem outside the boundary of possibility that one of the prisoners might, for example, be a disguised infiltrator intending to trick us, so I detected for magic. Jadni and Thane, likewise, checked for evil.

To our surprise, we spotted both of them lurking in Aron’s backpack! We asked if he had picked anything up while on guard at the temple, and he denied it. Wondering if perhaps something had crawled into his pack when he wasn’t looking, we asked to check his belongings. He argued with us, growing increasingly belligerent, until my suspicions were aroused and I asked Zsoltan to restrain him, at which point he attempted to flee on horseback.

A display of remarkably poor horsemanship on the part of both Aron and all of my friends left us in much the same situation as we all began, so I used one of my few remaining spells to Glitterdust Aron, leaving him blind. At that point, Zsoltan restrained him easily while Jadni cast spells in his pack, searching for the evil presence. I kept well away, knowing that it if I were the one restraining or rifling through the belongings of a low templar, it probably would not look favorable for me.

And in fact, we were near enough to the camp that Aron’s increasingly loud protest brought a pack of paladins to us, including Irabeth and a very irate Sosiel. While Thane attempted to explain the situation, Jadni produced a pair of potions from Aron’s pack, which I quickly identified as the highly addictive magical drug Shadow’s Blood. Sosiel went silent when they were brought forth, and rather than shaming Aron before the assembled cohort, I asked Irabeth if the matter could be spoken of in private.

In Irabeth’s tent, the truth came out. Aron, as was already known to Sosial, was an addict in recovery, but he claimed not to have brought the drug with him. He said that instead, he found it appear as if by magic among his things, and could not resist the temptation. A victim, I deduced, of the spy in our midst. Some wondered if he might be the spy himself, especially as Shadow’s Blood can make one more susceptible to mental domination by the shadow demon it comes from, but they generally came around to believing he was being truthful about what had happened.

Thane had very little patience with Aron and hurled insults at him, which I did not think was very charitable on his part. (Many paladins do not rate tolerance very highly among their supposed “good” virtues.) But the rest of us were more sympathetic to Aron’s plight, and in spite of his despair told him that recovery was always possible.

Sosiel vowed to care for Aron and said that they would leave if that was what we desired, and left to return to their tent. The rest of us assembled discussed both what to do about them, and what to do about the probable spy among us. I argued for keeping Aron and Sosiel among us, fearing that the shameful rejection of being sent away would be harmful to Aron’s recovery. Along with the more practical consideration that a temporary loss of our scout and our cleric might be better than a permanent one, this carried the day.

Aravashnial was summoned to help explain the potential effects of Shadow's Blood, but told us little of consequence.

As for the spy, I recruited Zsoltan to keep a close watch on Nurah, who remained at the top of my suspect list. I was accused of simply hurling out a random name, and was told that Zsoltan, whose uncle was a famous traitor, or I, for “obvious” reasons (sigh), might seem to be more obvious subjects of investigation. But it was pointed out that we had proved ourselves to the group many a time, and no one else seemed to have much of a better idea. Aravashnial helped by confirming that the aura I had seen around her was indeed one of abjuration, such as might be used to hide one's alignment,, and then warned me that, as a mere sorcerer instead of an educated wizard, I was at dire risk of exploding myself through sheer ignorance. Which he insists is a thing that happens.

Irabeth speculated that if Nurah did prove to be a traitor, the Queen herself might be compromised, but I thought that was rather getting ahead of ourselves. Most of us then decamped to bed, having been up all night long, while Zsoltan stayed awake to shadow our suspected spy.

Before sleeping, I went to check in on Horgus. If his unusual silence was not the result of a spell, I feared it must be the result of trauma. An indeed, instead of directing the baggage train, which had fallen into complete chaos without him, he was sitting silently in his tent, staring into empty space. He did not even notice I was there until I spoke.

When we did begin to converse, he was in the depths of depression, certain that we were all doomed to die in these lands. He had been through terrible tortures and seen his comrades die of them, and from my experience in Cheliax, I knew how heavily that could weigh upon the soul. Nothing that I said seemed to get through, and when I asked if he wanted a hug he seemed, er, repulsed.

I was rapidly running out of ideas when I almost casually mentioned how catastrophically the baggage train was suffering without him. His gaze immediately sharpened and he asked me for details. Before I was half finished, he was out of the tent, furiously barking orders and informing his subordinates what idiots they were. He seemed so contented in this that I at last went to bed.

The next day was to prove … eventful.

First, after our rest, Jadni could not be awakened and was feverish. Remembering our encounter with ghouls the day before, I went to fetch Sosiel. On the way, I ran into Zsoltan, who had been able to find neither hide nor hair of Nurah – not anywhere in the camp. Leaving Zsoltan to watch over Aron, Sosiel came to our tent and quickly diagnosed Jadni with ghoul fever. But he was, at that time, unable to cure it.

Not too many hours later, Anevia reported that her scouting had found the demonic army that we knew might be awaiting us in the gorge. While the paladins prepared for battle, I went with her to scout further, aided by a spell of flight and a potion of invisibility. She told me not to startle her upon my return, and when I asked how, she requested I sing a lullaby.

My own scouting merely confirmed what she had said. Their forces seemed unprepared for us, and a bold strategy seemed to be called for. I quietly sang Anevia a traditional Chelaxian lullaby --

As the sob of the breeze
Sweeps over the trees
And the mists lie low on the fen,
From grey tomb-stones
Are gathered the bones
That once were women and men --

but she did not seem to find it soothing.

Upon reporting back to Irabeth, the paladins prepared their charge. Remembering the poor horsemanship of my fellows, I gave my friends spells of flight as well.

The battle was furious. The paladins smashed into the ranks of the assembled Tieflings, causing great damage. A counterattack was soon to come, though, for they were not as unprepared as they had seemed; a flanking attack of hidden dretches burst out of a nearby ruin. Dretches, however, stood little chance against paladins, and were soon well smited.

As the battle raged to a conclusion, we noticed a horned figure in the back teleport to the top of the cliff to observe the events. When my comrades and I flew towards him, he vanished once again, this time we knew not where. Our movements are still being tracked.

The fight was successful – some even thought it too easy, but I judged them rather pessimistic – but the news was not all good. During the fracas, or perhaps before, someone had snuck into Aron’s tent and left him more Shadow’s Blood. He had consumed another vial and his already shaky recovery was in tatters. Realizing subtlety was no longer an issue, we searched Nurah’s caravan and asked around after her whereabouts. She had been seen that morning, but not since, and her personal items were gone. Kidnapping is a possibility some of the others seem partial to, but I think we have found our spy.

If so, though, she remains uncaught and at large.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XI: Zsoltan Rod Rogor and the Temple of Doom

In the wake of the gargoyle attack, we began to plan the rescue of our kidnapped comrades, trying to ascertain where they might have been taken ... and many of us became increasingly suspicious that a spy had entered our midst and was relaying our plans to the enemy.

The others, of course, began immediately detecting evil (and loudly announcing their intention of doing so), seemingly untroubled that the VERY FIRST THING a spy in the midst of 100 PALADINS would do is attempt to evade that particular approach. When this detected nothing but, you know, me, and the discussion continued to practical matters, I quietly began detecting magic to see if anyone might have an aura indicating that they had, for example, attempted to disguise their alignment with a spell, reasoning that avoiding this equally inconclusive but somewhat more indirect approach might be more difficult and be seen as less of an immediate problem. I discovered a number of people with auras, and after eliminating those that I judged from personal experience to be extremely unlikely to be turncoats or disguised substitutes (such as Irabeth), I was left with Nurah and Sosiel as possible suspects by this method.

Meanwhile, it was determined that given the direction the gargoyles were flying, they might have been heading to a ruined building Aron saw while scouting. Nurah found the site on and old map and said she thought it used to be a temple to "Iomedae or Ragathiel or someone." Which is ... interesting, since it was an obvious trap, and mentioning both could well serve as a lure to those among us who worship one or the other. Hmmm.

At any rate, we decided that trap or no, we had best spring it considering the circumstances, so a small group of us headed to perform this task. Before we left, I quietly took Irabeth aside, told her my findings, and suggested she ask Anevia to keep Nurah and Sosiel under watch, adding that in my judgement Nurah was the likelier of the two to be a spy (pretending to be a priest of one deity while worshipping another would be a difficult task!) She was, to my surprise, reluctant even to consider the possibility that a spy might be in our midst -- this, after all the evidence of infiltration we uncovered in Kenabres! I also got the distinct impression that she was wondering if I might be an infiltrator myself, attempting to sow discord and doubt, which came as no surprise to me. My only shock is that no one came to that conclusion sooner or accused me directly. So far. I do not expect my luck in that regard to last much longer. At any rate, I hope she realizes that my coming to her quietly and privately is an argument against such motives on my part. At least she agreed to put the matter to Anevia.

After that, Zsoltan, Thane, Aron, Jadni, and I went to find this temple while the rest of the army marched on. We encountered it soon enough. Aron stayed behind to guard our backs, while I helped most of the rest up the steep stairs with spells of flight. Zsoltan decided to climb up by himself, and proved ... far less graceful than I would have expected from a monk. He made it up eventually.

At the top, we found the temple complex, and had hardly begun exploring before we were assaulted by gargoyles who had disguised themselves as stonework. Well, we were clearly in the right place. We disposed of them with sword, fist, and magic missle, and made our way inside, where we found the first prisoners -- in the midst of being devoured by ghouls. We fought our way through them only to be challenged by a half-fiend who flung open the door and filled the room with an evil miasma, which of course did nothing to me. The benefits of leading an honest, healthy evil lifestyle.

He then called dire bane and judgement and smiting down upon poor Jadni, who was soon left bleeding on the floor. My spell of glitterdust did nothing more than glam our foe up a bit, but Thane and Zsoltan soon defeated him.

Further exploration led us to find some dead prisoners (not of our cadre) and a traumatized Horgus. We set him and the other survivors free, and began discussing what to do about the defiled temple. I deferred to the religious among us, and found them curiously hesitant to commit to its repair. Jadni wanted to clean up, but seemed to be struggling to find a practical consideration to guide her, such as using it as a redoubt (an unlikely proposition, given its relative inaccessibility). I would have thought the religious types would have been more avid about it.

While that talk proceeded, though, we were suddenly attacked by a foul demon from the depths of the abyss itself, the one who had defiled this temple and made of it a home. This was to prove a difficult fight. Low on useful spells, I began firing enchanted crossbow bolts at it, missing as often as I hit, while the others moved in to do close battle. It struck us with a gaze that drained away my very energy, and then, to our horror, though, a spell it cast left both Thane and Jadni paralyzed, leaving only Zsoltan going toe to toe with the fiend! He made great work of his monk training, though, sticking the monster in place by stomping on its foot and keeping it from slaying our frozen friends. I managed to tag it with a draining ray of my own that sapped its strength considerably, while Thane threw off the paralysis and set at it with a wild swing that accidentally left Zsoltan bleeding out below him. The demon flew into the air to rain spells down upon us, but was already greatly wounded, so I managed to bring it down with a final enchanted crossbow bolt.

Quiet descended upon the temple once more. Once again, we had all survived.

We're back, baby!

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part X: I Dreamed I Didn't Exist For 23 Months

NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING --

Aaaaa!

...

What a very strange nightmare.

Where was I?

Oh, yes. In the morning, our band set out on our mission to retake Drezen, 100 paladins as well as some faces both familiar and new. Irabeth and Anevia, of course, newly minted paladin Anvie, Aravhanshial, and Horgus brusquely taking charge of supplies, as well as Nurah and the couple Sosiel and Aron, whom I have mentioned previously.

Journeying on the other side of the river from the Worldwound itself made for a disturbing trip, as the shifting landscape overwhelmed by dark clouds and oily rain filled our vision at all times. An eerie red light sometimes seemed to flicker from the stones themselves.

On the first day, we made our way to the small village of Vala's Gift, which had been razed to the ground, perhaps in the same assault that overran Kenebras. There was some debate as to whether we should press on or search for supplies, and decided in the end that being properly supplied would be paramount as we entered the territory of the Worldwound, so we spent a day gathering what we could from the remains of the village and, at Sosiel's insistence, burying the dead.

As proceeded onward, I made a point of seeking out Nurah. My motives were a bit obscure, even to myself, but I will not delude myself by denying that the fate of Halflings is something of a concern to me. As we chatted, she probed at my thoughts about Cheliax, which I assumed was an attempt to divine my opinion of slavery, and I told her I thought it was an abomination. I do not know whether or not she believed me. She also seemed oddly cagey about her country of origin, and tried to steer me away from the topic; I am not sure why.

Anvie, I noticed, is training with Thane now. I wonder if he knows about her crush? He sometimes seems a bit clueless.

Further travel brought us to a ford which had recently been the subject of a demonic attack, the guard garrison there killed or captured for the pleasure of the cultists. Seeing they were disorganized, we thought our best approach was a quick and brutal frontal assault, which swiftly won the day against the (sigh) Tieflings -- but not before a demon present teleported away. I fear any chance we had to take Drezen by surprise has now vanished. Aravashnial "helpfully" asked why we did not simply kill the demon before it could teleport, as would have been his advice.

We rescued what remained of the garrison, and convinced them to join us in the assault on Drezen. They were initially reluctant, but presenting them with a vision of a world where they need no more fear attacks like the one that had overcome them won their hearts.

They told us, however, that the host we had defeated was but a fraction of the one that had attacked them. The rest had moved north to a canyon on the way to Drezen, perhaps to stage an ambush. Had our plans been revealed even before the demon spotted us? We decided to press on as planned, scouting ahead to get a sense of what we might be dealing with.

That night as we camped, though, we were assaulted by gargoyles as we slept! They were led by some kind of massive one who breathed acid upon the camp, while others abducted some of our cohort and flew away -- including Horgus, I very much fear. I cast a spell of flight on Jadni in the hopes that she could prevent the abductions, but she was too far away to be of help. Instead, we all found ourselves in isolated pitched battles. I saw Jadni and Zsoltan handily dispatch ordinary gargoyles, while Thane went toe to toe with the big one. Although he suffered quite a bit of damage at its claws, with a few massive smites from Radiance he brought it low. I suspect a lesser blade would have done much less damage against that beast.

Meanwhile, having sent Jadni off, I found myself alone against a gargoyle of my own. While my blows are not as mighty as my fellows, I like to think I held my own. After protecting myself with Mirror Images, I blew a puff of Glitterdust in its eyes and blinded it. One wildly flailing claw managed to cut me, but at that point I simply moved away and began blasting fire at it. When my comrades, done with their own battle, joined that fight, it was over very quickly.

But still not quickly enough, for all we heard of our abducted comrades were their wails as they vanished into the night, borne on stone wings ...

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part IX (section 3 of 3 ... Criminy): Beyond Good And Evil, Chapter Two – The Evil Aura

So now the time has come to wrestle with some of the issues that have been plaguing my mind of late. I have been chosen as a champion of Iomedae. I can feel her presence.

This is ... more unsettling than I would care to admit.

It shouldn't be unsettling. I have vowed to fight in her Crusade. I am her ally in the cause of Law. If she claims to be "Good", what of it? What does that matter to me, when our goals are the same?

Once again, I must consider the case of the Chaotic Good ranger. Would such a one in my position feel discomfort or disquiet? I am not sure, but I think they would consider a calling on behalf of "The Good" to be sufficient cause to be proud of the distinction they had been granted.

It all comes back to my parents, and what "Good" people did to them, for "Good" reasons. Reasons I cannot, truly, even consider unmerited. But they were my parents, and they loved me, and now they are dead. And it was, somewhat, my fault.

And if I embrace the Good, they would consider it ... would have considered it ... the ultimate betrayal. How close have I come already?

Good. Evil. Words of little meaning and vast import.

Which brings me to Thane. In an attempt to root out treason in the ranks, he has apparently been Detecting for Evil auras. Which is in and of itself ridiculous; any traitor embedding themselves in a nest of paladins would disguise their aura as an obvious first step. That is, in fact, one of the best pieces of evidence that I am *not* such a traitor, since I wear my evil nature proudly. Not that anyone is likely to be logical enough to come to this conclusion.

In any event, he detected my Evil aura, and came to consult with me about it -- seeming almost to believe it was a secret, or a surprise revelation, which was rather odd when Irabeth announced it in front of him a few days ago.

And so I asked him this:

Picture two rebels in Cheliax, attacking a caravan. One is thinking, "I will kill these evil guards and free the slaves!" The other is thinking, "I love killing guards; killing guards is my favorite thing!"

But wait! Both of them are lying to themselves. The one who thinks they want to free the slaves actually just loves killing guards. The one who is convinced that killing guards is their true motivation secretly, in their heart, wants to free the slaves.

But wait! They were mistaken as to the nature of the caravan. It was not slave traders at all. It was bringing ice cream to orphans.

But wait! There is something they will never know, and never find out -- that ice cream was poisoned!

And now you cast Detect Evil upon them. Leaving aside the many ways that the spell can be deceived ... WHAT IS IT DETECTING?

What they think their intentions are? Their true intentions? What they think the effects are? The true effects? And in whose opinion of their intentions and effects? Their own? The gods? The universe? Some combination?

WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS EVIL? WHAT DO THOSE WORDS EVEN MEAN?

This is why I cling to the one, known universal FACT. Evil spells are evil acts. Everything else is a mess, a muddle, a confusing and conditional set of circumstances. The same, I admit, is true of Law and Chaos, but Law at least embodies the principle that you should HAVE a principle. That you should build something solid to hold on to in the ethical mist.

Thane, as it happened, had a ready answer regarding what would have been revealed about those two hypothetical rebels. Detecting an Evil Aura, he told me, meant that an Evil Aura had been detected. Which is true enough, I suppose, albeit a complete tautology and not much use in answering the ethical questions involved. Certainly it is a more thoughtful response than espousing that Detecting an Evil aura meant the subject was ripe for killing.

In any event, he told me that in spite of his Detection of my nature, he would judge me by my actions alone. It came off as a bit of a warning. I thanked him, in any case, biting my tongue on the fact that I was thanking him for announcing that he would not actually act on his unreasonable prejudice against me unless he deemed it appropriate.

Honestly, though, to be fair, it was no doubt well meant. It is the best I can likely expect from a paladin, and it would be churlish to wish for better than the best.

I wish, though, that he had a better answer for me. Until someone does, though, I will cling to what I know.

I am Lawful, because I abide by my code.

I am Evil, because I use Evil spells to achieve my ends, regardless of why I use them, how I use them, or the goals I use them for.

I have not betrayed those who loved me. I have not betrayed my country.

I am, somehow ... blessed by Iomedae.

And I am so very, very tired.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part IX (section 2 of 3): Irabeth Tirablade And The Last Crusade

Speaking of newfound friends, during this time, we received another surprise was when we learned that Anvie had joined the Eagle Watch as well! Proud in her new armor, she approached us a few days later to bring us some of the spoils found in the Garrison after it had been cleaned out (I selected some cold iron bolts and found one magicked against demons; Thane picked up some full plate armor. I imagine Jadni might inherit his half-plate.)

Anvie was curious about our brush with divinity, although disappointed that we had not seen the goddess herself in person. When Thane posited that the gods seldom if ever talk to mortals directly, Anvie wondered how anyone could know what was right or wrong, and confided to us that she was nervous about how to know whether she was doing the right thing. I wondered if she was thinking about the deluded fools who tried to sacrifice her. Was that really only a few days ago?

I counselled her as best as I could from my own experience, telling her that her best approach was strive to have a code arrived at through thought and wisdom, one that could bend to acknowledge difficult situations without breaking, one that asked only that she try her best.

Advice I should keep in mind myself.

She had also, incidentally, very clearly developed a bit of a crush on Thane. Not at all shocking, considering the circumstances under which they met. And, I mean, I get it, obviously. He’s an attractive man, an impressive warrior, etc. But my own flush of lust for him has passed, I think. (It had already waned considerably, and there was a conversation we had later which put the final nail in that coffin. But more on that in good time.)

Horgus was also a frequent sight around the Defender’s Heart, as he had fully taken on the thankless role of quartermaster and supplier to the Kenabres branch of the Crusade, albeit with characteristic ill-temper. He at one point tried to convince Thane to become his bodyguard and flee with him to the River Kingdoms, but I don’t think his heart was really in it. It was more just for old time’s sake.

Several days after the destruction of the Wardstone, Queen Galfrey’s army at last arrived in the city. And soon thereafter, as we sat to a meal, Anevia informed us that we had been summoned to an audience with the Queen herself. I nearly choked on my soup, and quickly went to change into the outfit Garn had gifted me. (It was to be the third time I was in the presence of royalty, and I never do so without being aware of the risk of being summarily beheaded.)

We went to the riverside to find the Queen – unaccompanied by any guard, curiously enough – in conversation with Quednys and Irabeth, discussing the necessity for curing Aravashnial’s blindness to some end. The pair of them left as we arrived, Irabeth nodding to us and Quednys hardly bothering to acknowledge our existence.

The conversation with the Queen was interesting, if something of an etiquette catastrophe. Jadni interrupted her once, and Thane went on and on about his pet topics. She seemed to take it gracefullly, though; I imagine spending so much of her time among the military has sanded away any impatience she might have had for such things.

She told us that there were two views of us in the army – some considered us to be the “Wardens of Kenabres” and saviours of the Crusade for our destruction of the Wardstone network. Others blamed us for destroying the entirety of the Crusade’s defenses and looked upon us with suspicion or outright loathing. She very graciously did not say that my presence in the group did not help alleviate the latter view, although it surely must have been a factor.

Further, the demons were not resting idle after their defeat. Hoping to take advantage of the loss of the Wardstones, a demonic army was marching south from Drezen. Queen Galfrey intended to meet this force on the field herself, but thought it a grand opportunity to send a smaller force to retake Drezen, so was planning to send the Eagle Watch, and us along with them. The morale victory of this would be threefold: reversing one of the greatest losses of an earlier Crusade, cementing our position as heroes rather than villains, and ideally retrieving the lost “Sword of Valor” – a banner carried at one time by Iomedae herself. This, Queen Galfrey thought, would be key to rallying the long-dispirited troops at the start of what she was already calling the Fifth Crusade.

Thane, however, took exception to this title, insisting that “The Fifth Crusade” sounded somewhat weak, and that we should instead grandly call it “The Final Crusade”. I am not sure he realized that could be taken in two ways, one of them rather ominous.

He also went on at some length at how important it was to be on the alert for demon cultist infiltration of the ranks. He isn’t at all wrong about that, and we should be vigilant, but he did go on for quite some time. I wonder if the others realize how likely it is that any failures, sabotage, or difficulties will be immediately blamed on me, though. I have no doubt, given the obsession with Evil characteristic of paladins, that half of our fellow soldiers are expecting it of me already.

I will bet you anything you care to name that not a single person is going to be checked for Chaotic tendencies, no matter that they would be no further from demon cultism than I am ... or closer, in the case of the Chaotic and Neutral. “What is your purpose here?” “To SOW CHAOS!” “Well, that can’t possibly be a problem. Please be on the lookout for any Evil.” This isn’t to say that all Chaotic people are a problem – far from it. But I guarantee that a Lawful opponent of demons who happens to be Evil will not receive the same benefit of the doubt.

In any event, not long after our audience with the Queen, we found ourselves at a council of war, planning the assault on Drezen. There were some familiar faces there – Irabeth, of course, and Anevia, who will lead the scouts, as well as a newly-sighted Aravashnial. I’ve no doubt Horgus will be dealing with logistics and supply, although he was not present. There were also some new faces – Nurah, a halfling bard and advisor to the Queen who had participated in a failed attempt to take Drezen some years before, Sosiel, a priest of Shelyn, and Aron, an expert in traps and similar matters.

The plan was laid out quickly for a journey up the east side of the river, with a stop at an allied village, before crossing at a ford. And then we shall go on to Drezen. Zsoltan, of course, has personal reasons for going, although as usual he said little. He did mention at the end, though, that he wanted to have “a word” with his uncle Staunton.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part IX (section 1 of 3): Maybe The Real Demonic Invasion Was The Friendships We Made Along The Way

This is a very confusing time for me, ethically speaking. I ... appear to have received the blessings of the goddess Iomedae. That is definitely not anything I had been expecting.

I will revisit that later, however. First, I shall resume my narrative.

In some ways, the situation was the most dire we had ever faced. Eight Babau demons and a Vrock had materialized in the room before the gates slammed closed. In ordinary circumstances, our fate would have been sealed. But we were infused with power of the shattered Wardstone, which muted their blows and added power to our own. Which side would win was an open question.

The fight began well for our side. As Jadni and I fell back to entryway, I once more cast a spell of Glitterdust which blinded some of the Babaus. Jadni and Zsoltan flanked the Vrock and pummeled it with blows, while Thane flung his greatsword through no less than four of the Babaus in a single mighty sweep. The Vrock shrieked its stunning cry, but we were able to shrug it off – and neither its spores nor the Babau’s acidic slime had any effect on us. The wards upon us were mighty.

But then the demons began to show their power. A strength-sapping spell I cast upon the Vrock failed to penetrate its natural resistance to magic, and the great demon clawed through Zsoltan’s protections. Meanwhile, the Babaus encircled Zsoltan and Thane, and began to work together to wear away at them. Although Jadni and Zsoltan brought the Vrock down early, with a floor-shaking crash as it fell, the monk and the warrior were soon in poor shape.

Abandoning offensive magic as unlikely to work against them – I had few spells left at that point anyway – I healed Irabeth with a potion, and after a few moments of disorientation she leapt into the fray, smiting a Babau for grievous damage. But a counteroffensive from the Babaus brought low Thane and Zsoltan, who had suffered dozens of cuts that snuck past their guard, and Irabeth as well, as she lacked our mystic protections. It became a race between the powers closing our wounds and the demons determined to rend them back open.

I fired my crossbow from the other room, landing shot after shot that penetrated their normally nigh-invulnerable hides. Thane soon opened his eyes and used a never-before-seen ability to heal himself; apparently, his faith in Iomedae had been restored by the visions he had seen (I knew his distaste for the Good wouldn’t last; unconsidered positions are castles built upon sand.) Zsoltan soon awoke as well and used a potion to lessen his wounds, and the two of them drew themselves up, shrugging off opportunistic attacks like the bites of small insects. Jadni drew Irabeth’s ancestral blade from the scabbard on Thane’s belt and lay about her as well.

The tide by now had turned again; the more Babaus that fell, the less they were able to use flanking against us, and without flanking, the damage they could do was little. When half had been slain, they switched from tooth and claw to longspears in an effort to do more damage, but it availed them little. Finally, one broke and fled down the stairs with Jadni and I in pursuit, while Thane and Zsoltan finished off those who remained in the room. I slew the final one with a magic crossbow bolt as it tried to make its escape.

We had prevailed.

The power of the Wardstone drained away from us bit by bit, but did not leave entirely. We felt the brush of the goddess upon us. Both my magic and my body seem stronger than they were.

When we woke Irabeth, we learned what had transpired outside. The diversionary attack had been initially successful in leading the demons away from the Garrison (although with great cost of life.) At some point, however, the fiends realized something was amiss, and the fight became a running battle into and through the Garrison itself. When Zsoltan destroyed the Wardstone, however, a sphere of light pulsed out of the room and annihilated what demons were left in the city.

Our return sparked another enthusiastic reunion between Irabeth and Anevia (those two melt my heart.) As for myself, I plucked up the courage to ask Irabeth if I might join the Eagle Watch, all things considered. Anevia and Zsoltan clamored for her to accept me before she had a chance to speak. And she allowed that I might join if I wished. I asked what oaths I would have to take – for I take oaths seriously, and could not have sworn to violate my beliefs – but it required me only to fight demons and defend the helpless against them. The very thing, in fact, to which I have already dedicated my entire life.

So now I am a member of the Eagle Watch. Admittedly with my joy at this tempered by the death and devastation that preceded it, joining was nonetheless one of the happiest moments of my life. Jadni signed on as well, although Thane declined. He is distrustful of crusading organizations, I think. In any event, we all spent the next few days repairing the damage the demons had caused – cleaning, building, hunting for the remnants of the cultists, and, alas, burying the dead. I did my best to check in on all the people I have met over the past few days. There are so many that I have come to care for. That is, perhaps, the single most unexpected result of my coming to join the Crusade.

I don't know if it's been decided what we're doing yet, exactly. The GM has mentioned the possibility of extra levels, but also isn't sure whether adding a secondary class after Level 20 would end up all that great. So we might end up with something else entirely.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part VIII: Time Flies Like An Arrow; Demon Flies Apparently Like A Pigeon

Well ... I appear to have helped save the world.

I may be about to be ripped to strips by a small horde of demons, but even if that happens I HELPED SAVE THE WORLD.

From demons. I feel it's important to emphasize that point. I saved the world from DEMONS. That's OK, right? No Chelaxian citizen or devil could possibly object to my striking a great blow against demonkind. That's entirely within the remit of Lawful Evilness.

Right?

I'm sorry, I'm infused with Celestial Energies right now and that has me feeling ... confused. After what happened to my parents, dancing so close to Goodness feels a bit like spitting on their graves.

But it's for an important cause. A Lawful cause. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to ally with the Good for it. It's OK.

It's OK.

Where did I last leave off? Oh, yes. We were fighting our way into the Grey Garrison, our path blocked by a pack of Tieflings. They held us at the door while one ran off to gather reinforcements, and did a fair job of barring our entrance for a bit. A spell of Darkness affected Thane and Jadni's senses and caused several of Thane's most powerful blows to miss entirely in the dim light. However, I was able to cast a spell of Glitterdust that blinded a number of them (the power of Glitter for the win!) and once Jadni used her wand of Daylight to banish the darkness, we soon fought our way inside.

The building throughout was a wretched scene of devastation, defiled chapels, blood and filth, and even at one point body parts stitched together to form a totem to some demonic lord. A grotesque demonstration of the habits of demons and their followers.

While the others pursued the Tiefling that had run down a hallway, I dragged in the corpses of the Vermlek demons and shut the doors so that there was a chance that any passing demon wouldn't immediately see that things were greatly amiss. While I was doing so, the fight turned into a running battle against a number of Cultists who had been holed up deeper in the Garrison, and a Tiefling (of course) alchemist who began tossing bombs at us and proved to be one of the greatest threats we had to face in the entire complex.

While the cultists blocked the warriors from getting at the alchemist, he threw explosives that left Thane and Zsoltan not only deeply injured, but on fire. Jadni was able to douse them with a Water spell or two, but it generally wasn't long before they were aflame again. Soon they were in dire straights. I noticed an unopened door that I thought might lead me around to flank the alchemist from behind, and reasoning that any reinforcements must surely have come out to join the battle by that point, I opened it.

And was promptly reminded why I should Never. Ever. Ever. Open a door. Behind it was not a back way to the fight but rather two Abrikandilu demons who had until that point been preoccupied. I backed off quickly.

The cultists had by that time been vanquished, and the fight split in two, with Jadni and I fighting against the demons and Thane and Zsoltan battling the alchemist. Jadni and I did fairly well between her morningstar and a demonbane crossbow bolt I fired. Although the demons tried their hardest to scrape Jadni's face off, soon one was felled. But Thane and Zsoltan were finding the alchemist almost impossible to hit, and it wasn't long before Zsoltan was unconscious, dying, and on fire, and Thane was barely standing. And also on fire.

I left Jadni to face the final demon and forced a healing potion down Zsoltan's throat before he burned to death, and happily at that point the tide of the battle turned. Jadni doused the fires and bashed the demon to death, and Zsoltan and Thane cornered the alchemist and finally struck true.

Thane had been left exhausted by the fight, so we paused briefly to examine our surroundings, and soon found Irabeth's ancestral sword! It was accompanied by a note that seemed to indicate that there were fell plans to do ... something to it, but fortunately they had not yet come to fruition. We briefly discussed sending Zsoltan, invisible, to bear the sword to Irabeth for use in her battle, but decided that since we could not know exactly where she was in the Old City, it would take too long for Zsoltan to search her out. We decided to press on and complete our own task as quickly as possible. But I was filled with worry for our friend.

The next door we opened led to a nest of Dretches, who assailed us with a Stinking Cloud that left me briefly nauseated and unable to fight. They were less of a threat now than they were previously, however, when we lacked cold iron weapons and other means of dealing with demons. We bested them in short order and raced up the stairs.

At the top, we found more cultists and Tieflings, and though they tried to bottleneck us in the stairwell, we fought our way through. I fired off magic missiles whenever I could get a glimpse of one, which proved effective, although my second attempt at a Glitterdust was not so devastating as the first. When a final fleeing Tiefling was felled by a magic missile, we began exploring the floor, looking for the stairs up.

And of course, we went through EVERY SINGLE ROOM before we found proper door. First we found an eyrie that had once been filled with pigeons, but the pigeons had been devoured by a pair of giant, demonic flies. We rid the world of them while I groused about the ridiculousness of a pigeon cote in a building without windows, but it turned out there was one small window we had missed.

We dashed through the rest of the rooms and finally found the stairs, guarded by zombies. (It reminded me of home, a bit.) A pair of zombies got a couple of lucky hits on Thane, leading him to predict doom and devastation, but in fact we disposed of them rather quickly because, well. They were zombies. Not the gravest of threats.

Knowing that the Wardstone must lie on the floor above, Zsoltan took a potion of invisibility, so that he could make effective use of the Rod of Cancellation. The rest of us cast what spells we could. Jadni gave us the Blessing of Ragathiel ... which was weird ... and offered me a spell of Protection from Evil, which would have been weirder, but we decided it would be better to put it on Thane anyway.

But we clambered up the stairs to find not the Wardstone -- at least not at first -- but a door guarded by an enormous minotaur.

Thane immediately shouted that we should run away. We ignored him. It later turned out that he had meant this as a ruse, hoping to draw the minotaur away from the door so that the invisible Zsoltan could pass through.

Perhaps we might have realized he was not in earnest, had he not spent the past several days encouraging us all to run away from Kenabres.

At any rate, we engaged the minotaur. I took my own potion of invisibility to get into position, and soon was able to sap its strength with a spell. While it dealt mighty blows with its axe, it proved not to be particularly well-guaded against our own attacks, and we brought it down before it was able to fully decapitate anyone. Zsoltan became visible for the fight, and then downed another potion. I cast a spell of Mirror Images upon myself.

And so we passed through the final door.

In the last room of the Garrison, the Wardstone was in an iron cage, guarded by an oddly mutated woman with a claw for a hand, whom we later learned was named Jeslyn. She shouted that we would not defeat her. Thane and Jadni engaged her in combat and at first had difficulty landing their blows, although I was able to tag her -- barely -- with a Scorching Ray. But meanwhile, Zsoltan slipped invisibly to the cage and attempted to destroy the Wardstone ... to no effect. It resisted the Rod of Cancellation.

Jeslyn attempted to freeze Zsoltan with a spell, but he was able to shrug it off. After that, I waited until she attempted to cast before hurling my offensive spells at her, aiming to spoil her magic; realizing my tactic, she switched to striking at Thane and Jadni with her scythe -- but to little effect; she was not as mighty a warrior as a spellcaster. Zsoltan jabbed at the Wardstone again and again, each time failing. We heard the sounds of battle from below, our allies and the demons they fought having come back to the Garrison, but we had no way of knowing who was winning, whether Irabeth would come racing up the stairs to aid us, or a horde of monsters bent on destroying us.

At almost the same moment, Jeslyn was brought a hair's breadth from unconsciousness by mighty blows from Thane and Jadni, Irabeth appeared at the top of the stairwell, fresh from her victorious fight, and Zsoltan thrust at the Wardstone a fourth or fifth time

And

It

Cracked

And the room was filled with light as fragments of the broken Wardstone shredded Jeslyn to pieces, leaving the rest of us unscathed (I half expected it to shred me as well, but it did not)

And we saw visions, that we knew to be true; the rest of the Wardstones across the front line exploding, destroying the demons lying in wait or damaging them so badly they fled back to the Worldwound

Visions of the past, of the Herald of Iomedae launching the second Crusade ... of Lord Hulrun launching the third by slaughtering a pack of accused "witches" ... of the Kenabres Wardstone being cracked by a blow from the Balor Lord who slew Terendelev ... of Staunton Vhane, Zsoltan's uncle, battling Irabeth and burning his hand on the Wardstone before he fled ...

And of Areelu Vorlesh, the wtich who opened the Worldwound, cursing us and vowing that even though we had stymied her plans, we would not live to see our victory. Which proved to be no vision at all. Her image was in the room with us.

She cast a spell of Suffocation which affected only Irabeth, who dropped unconscious. But the rest of us, infused with the Wardstone's energies, were unaffected. Puzzled, Vorlesh promptly began opening gates to the demonic realm. Demons began to pour through. The room began to fill; more than half a dozen demons Jadni identified as Babaus, and an enormous Vrock, had already stepped across the gateways when a burst of the Wardstone's energies pulsed out of the four of us.

Vorlesh's image disappeared with a shriek. The gates vanished with demons halfway through, severed in half by their sudden disappearance. We were, however, still left with the demons who had already come through to fight.

However, for the moment, we are still infused with this ... energy, this ... Goodness. And disturbing as that may be, it might be exactly what we need in order to prevail ...

(And, I suppose, all the Wardstones are gone now. That may be a problem later on.)

Addenda:

When I pointed out to Thane that his heroic actions belied his cynical words, he made the argument that he was acting purely out of selfish self-interest, as if the world were overrun by demons he would suffer along with everyone else.

I was rather delighted by this, as it is nearly the same argument I have often used to demonstrate why my own ideals are ultimately Evil ones -- if the Law demands absolute equality, and I selfishly wish to personally be free, happy, etc., then adherence to my own philosophy insists that I must strive for *everyone* to be free, happy, etc.

Not my strongest argument, of course, but a reasonable quick demonstration of the impossibly muddled tangle that is ethics.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part VII: A Child Is Born In Kenabres, In Kenabres, And Joy Is In Golarion, Allelujah, Allelujah!

Once again, this has been quite the day thus far. This morning, I helped deliver a baby. This evening, I may help save the world.

Or see it plummet into doom shortly before my death.

I'll begin where I broke off my narrative yesterday. We returned to the Defender's Heart and found Irabeth. She leafed through the documents tracing the cultists' movements throughout Kenabres with interest, but when she perused the letter from Minagho to the witch Faxon, she swore an oath so profane that Jadni was briefly convinced she was a cultist in disguise, and then she hurried out of the room.

We were not, then, entirely sure what to make of that, although it seemed reasonable to assume that it was nothing good.

That being done, I went to track down Anvie, Garn, and Julli to see if they needed anything, and to check how they were settling in. I was unable to find Anvie -- she was, apparently, off helping the Crusaders with various tasks -- but I was able to locate Garn and Julli. Julli was half asleep, so I chatted with the worried Garn, who begged me for reassurance. For his sake, I forced myself to be optimistic. Reinforcements were coming, after all, so all we need do was hold out for a few days in a place that had been made a fortress bristling with what soldiers remained.

As it turns out, my optimism was thoroughly unwarranted, but I could not have known that at the time.

To thank me for my efforts in rescuing him from the demons, Garn insisted that I take a suit of fine clothes. I tried to argue that I should pay for it, as it was his livelihood, but he would not hear of it, so in the end I accepted it and thanked him. In all honesty, I found myself near tears, although not unhappy ones; I could not say precisely why. (It is, incidentally, the finest clothing I have worn since I gave everything to the Halflings back home.)

When I returned to my ... room, I suppose, although it's really a barracks I am sharing with my newfound comrades and a number of members of the Eagle Watch -- there was something afoot, with many people rushing to the entrance of the Inn. My fellows and I joined the throng, and discovered that several events were occurring at once.

First, the forces of the descendants of the First Crusaders had arrived! Chief Suul had assembled a force of perhaps two dozen, which cannot be discounted as minor when it increases our fighting forces by a significant percent -- maybe two hundred have found their way to the Defender's Heart altogether, and many are not warriors. The Crusaders regarded them with a variety of reactions; surprise, disgust, suspicion, delight. I tried to make them welcome.

Wenduag was also there, I was much pleased to see, with the others she had convinced to abandon Hosilla. They stood a bit apart from the rest -- apparently they had not fully won the trust of their kin. Since the surface dwellers did not universally welcome them either, she was in a bit of a black mood, one I recognized all too well from my own experience. I tried to convince her that fighting on the same side would build trust quickly, but she was dubious, and wondered if Hosilla had the right of it, and fear was a better foundation in which to put one's faith. I did my best to tell her that fear disintegrates as soon as someone stronger arrives, whereas trust binds and lasts, for all that it is slower to form. I do not know how that came across to her. While she is still breathtakingly beautiful, she is also dour and more than a little grumpy by nature, I think.

Which means that, while I still very much hope to keep her as a friend, I am having second thoughts about anything else. I think after everything I have been through in my life, I just want to find someone ... nice to seduce. Someone sweet, who appreciates me. Why is that so difficult? And for that matter, why doesn't someone like that ever approach me, and say, "Hey, Tanaquil, I sure wouldn't mind being seduced by you." Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just not the kind of person people want to be seduced and corrupted into forming a loving relationship with. Maybe I'll just always be lonely.

Gah. I'm getting maudlin. Seeing Garn and Julli, and especially Anevia and Irabeth, has been putting it on my mind. Anevia and Irabeth have seduced and corrupted each other so beautifully, you know? They've so clearly seduced and corrupted each other into caring about each other SO MUCH, and ...

Anyway.

The arrival of the reinforcements proved not to be the only furor at the gate. When we proceeded further, we found that a caravan of supplies had arrived, provided by none other than Horgus! My suspicion that the man had hidden depths proved to be correct after all (although they are DEEPLY hidden.) I later found out that he had, among other things, provided Thane and Zsoltan with cold iron weapons.

But there was still more -- also arriving was Aravashnial and the Rift Wardens, bearing magical gifts; more wands, more potions, and even a Chime of Opening! I have seen more powerful magic objects in the past couple of days than I had ever seen before in my life (although perhaps the most impressive was still to come on the morrow.) Aravashnial was thrilled to learn that his superior Quednys was still alive, and rushed off to find him at once.

After that, we finally bedded down for the night in our barracks ... only to be woken early the next morning by an emergency. A harried messenger woke Jadni with the news that Julli was giving birth; Jadni was apparently the closest thing to a midwife he had been able to find in the confusion of the Defender's Heart.

Jadni promptly woke the rest of us, but by the time we learned what was up, the messenger had already taken off to who knows where. Fortunately I knew which room Garn and Julli were staying in after having located them the previous night, so I led Jadni there while the others searched for anyone who might know what they were doing.

We arrived to find the birth in the hands of Jadni, myself, and an older woman who had at least had children of her own. While I had seven siblings, I was the youngest and did not see any of them born. Or die, for that matter; all of them were assassinated before my birth. Jadni was similarly inexperienced, and the birth, it turned out, was a difficult premature delivery. There was ... quite a lot of blood.

We mustered what resources we could. I cast a spell of Bear's Endurance on Julli from a scroll we had found, and between that and Jadni's healing spells and potions, were were able to pull both mother and child through. When an actual cleric finally arrived, Thane practically towing him there by the ear, it was someone who likewise knew nothing of childbirth, but at least was able to see to Julli's health. Soon mother and child were sleeping in a bed we managed to find for them, with a nearly incoherent Garn beside them.

The child was a boy, and they named it Thane.

In the wake of all that, we had come close to forgetting about the situation outside the walls of the Inn. But we were soon reminded when Anevia summoned us to a meeting led by Irabeth and Quednys. (As we walked there, she begged us to help convince Irabeth to get some sleep; apparently, the paladin has not rested in days. There was, as we found, little we could do to convince her, though.)

The meeting was a tense one. Irabeth and Quednys explained that the letter to Faxon had led them to a dire conclusion. Vorlesh, the witch who had opened the Worldwound in the first place more than a hundred years ago, was in the last steps of a plan that might have been decades in the making. The wardstone of Kenabres had been damaged but not completely destroyed, and she had come up with a way to invert its powers and cause devastation in the wardstone network across the entire border. All of the forces who had lately arrived there to repel the demon assaults had been led into a trap; those assaults were not the opportunistic, disorganized attacks we had assumed. They were a deliberate ruse to lure as much of the host as they could to the border. When Vorlesh's plan was completed, they would all be slain, the wardstone network destroyed, and the demons unleashed unhindered across the world.

There was no time to warn the rest of the Crusade; the plan might come to its completion at any moment. The only hope, it had been decided, was to stage a diversionary assault to lure most of the demons out of the Grey Garrison, where the damaged wardstone was being kept, while a commando force entered and destroyed the wardstone before it could be transformed, using a Rod of Cancellation that Quednys gave to the cause (the powerful magic object I mentioned earlier.)

It was proposed that the commando team consist of ... myself, Jadni, Thane, and Zsoltan.

Quednys was, frankly, not impressed with our qualifications for the task. He treated all of our questions as evidence of our insufficiency, whether they were intelligent (Jadni asking how an artifact like a wardstone might be destroyed, before he presented the Rod of Cancellation), ignorant (me asking about Vorlesh, as I knew little about the history of the Worldwound -- I never did get an answer, since time was admittedly pressing), or ... bizarre (Zsoltan proposing for some reason that we go and lead an assault on Drezen instead; I think he must be very upset about his uncle.)

At any rate, it soon became obvious why we were chosen. Other than Irabeth, who would lead the diversionary assault, we were the most capable people there who were not crippled, blind, elderly, or otherwise incapacitated. Anevia spoke warmly of our skills, but the simple fact is, there was no one else.

As a sorcerer, my greatest achievement is the ability to make a burst of glitter appear in the air. The times are bad indeed if the fate of the world is even partly in my hands.

We prepared as much as we could. I asked around for details about the Grey Garrison, and got as much of a description of its interior as could be obtained. The wardstone will almost certainly be located on the top floor, unless our foes are fools, and I do not think we can rely upon that.

Soon the forces of the Defender's Heart set out, those from the surface and those from below it, warriors and mages and stealthy archers, all led by Irabeth. Anevia stayed behind with a small defense force, worried to anger about her lady love. We had given Irabeth a wand of Bless Weapon we had found, and a potion of Barkskin to aid her defenses, but she insisted that our task was the most important and would accept nothing else.

Irabeth tried to impress upon us that our mission was too important for us to play heroes; if we thought we were near death, we were to retreat and regroup, however much that damaged our chances. Better if we could do it as soon as possible, but better to have any chance than no chance at all. She wished the blessings of Iomedae upon us, and Thane decided this was the ideal time to curse Iomedae and rant about her uselessness, even going so far as to wonder if Iomedae might have somehow been in league with the demons who attacked Kenabres. (I do not know exactly what happened, but the man is DAMAGED. This is why I have decided that seducing him is probably a bad idea.) It was, however, impossible not to note that even as Thane derided the gods, inspiring speeches, and heroism, he was there preparing to charge headlong into danger for a worthy cause.

Anyway, I wished Irabeth good luck. (She called me "friend' today, rather to my surprise! And I notice that there has been no further talk of my ... proclivities. I wonder if Anevia told her more of what happened below the city. She certainly seems to be our tireless advocate.)

The charge was led, and a host of demons were drawn from the Grey Garrison by a cunning, organized retreat, as arrows pelted them from the rooftops. We approached the building.

The remaining guard was only two ... but two demons, as it turned out, wormlike creatures wearing as suits the corpses of Lord Holrun and Lord Nyserian. They summoned lesser demons to help them -- although Jadni had cast a protective spell which prevented summoned creatures from touching her, a great benefit. The battle was by no means easy, as the worm demons devoured their corpse suits to replenish their vigor, and pelted us with harmful spells. In the end, though, our cold iron weapons overcame them.

I worry, though. Our resources are limited, and every fight will use more. How many until we run out?

We approached the doors, and Thane used the Chime of Opening to unlock it. Zsoltan pulled the doors open, and we saw ...

Tieflings.

Sigh.

(By the way, I have noticed something odd. Our little group is two humans, a dwarf, and a tiefling, and every single demon cultist we have encountered or heard about has been ... a human, a dwarf, or a tielfing. No embittered gnomes, no demon-worshipping drow. The only possible exception -- and we are by no means sure he was in league with the demons -- was a half-orc ... who was lying in wait for the only half-orc we know here. It is very strange. Coincidence, I suppose.)

Except that the «set, objective rules» of magical alignment do react to ethos.

I'll save my comments on this for in-game.

Would you rather be eaten alive than lose half your actions?

All right, please explain why it's more evil than (checks other fourth level spells) dropping someone into a pit of acid, controlling someone's mind to make them follow your orders, murdering someone with their greatest fear, cursing someone so that they catch on fire the next time they fall asleep ...

You've made your point that whether or not a spell is Evil is pretty arbitrary and opaque

Well, point's been made, I'll say no more.

Tanaquil would insist she is not "technically" Evil; she is, in fact one of the very few people who is *authentically* Evil -- Evil according to set, objective rules rather than some eternally arguable subjective ethos. (Although if it comes to definitional disputes, she has arguments ready as to why her vision of universal justice is an essentially selfish one and therefore definitionally Evil. And since her conversation with Jadni she has been more thoroughly considering the reasons that Detect Alignment spells, while indicative, are also crude and imprecise instruments; there are several.)

I think Beyond Morality, if it existed for the PCs in our game, would make her point and shriek like a Pod Person and declare her point had been proven forevermore, as it thoroughly severs any logical connection between alignment and ethics.

I'm glad we're not using it, though, because without it, it leaves whether or not she gets Redeemed an open question. I don't know, at this point, whether in the end she will descend into Hell with an Evil spell upon her lips and her, er, idiosyncratic view of alignment still in her heart, or whether she will decide that Good is all it's cracked up to be after all and spend a bunch of levels trading out all her Evil spells while grumbling that if anyone can explain to her why Bestow Curse is less evil than Fleshworm Infestation she'd like to hear it. I can think of pathways that would push her deeper into her beliefs and pathways that would pull her out of it.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part VI (section 2 of 2): Topaz Solutions And Other Problems

In the midst of my ... whatever that was above -- disquisition? I neglected to mention that Irabeth made what is apparently a shocking revelation to Zsoltan. The "S.V." who signed the letter to Hosilla is apparently one Staunton Vhane, Zsoltan's uncle -- a crusader who turned to evil and may currently be in the demon-held city of Drezen. Apparently, this was kept secret so as not to demoralize the troops. I am not sure how Zsoltan took it; he is difficult to read.

She also revealed that the situation that the situation throughout the Crusade was dreadful. The wardstones had been weakened everywhere by whatever the demons had done here -- an attack which might have been years in the planning, apparently -- and demon assaults were rife across the front, although none was so organized and dire as what had happened in Kenabres. Though the Crusade was hard pressed everywhere, reinforcements might be on their way ... although they could not, apparently, arrive for at least several days, leaving the current defenders of the city on their own for some time longer.

After the meeting with the group as a whole, I chatted briefly with Irabeth alone -- not taking too much of her time, as she clearly wanted to continue her reunion with Anevia -- and assured her that whatever our differences, we were on the same side of the Crusade. I think the reassurances of Anevia and Zsoltan had tempered her suspicions somewhat; even earlier, when I asked if I was not welcome at the Defender's Heart, she demurred and let me stay. She said she hoped I was not lying, and I said I did not lie, which I think surprised her. (What do people think Lawful MEANS?) Anyway, she said we had that much in common, at least.

I think, though, that my idle dream of joining the Eagle Watch may end up being no more than a dream.

I went on to have a conversation with Jadni, to see what she felt about the revelation of my alignment, and she was quite reassuring in her belief in my ... well, she sort of said my innate goodness, or perhaps lack of evilness, both of which are rather insulting to a Chelaxian, but I understood she was trying to give credit to me in the only terms she had been raised to use. I ended up explaining a bit about my beliefs as stated above, and while I do not think I won her over completely, she admitted that something seemed very wrong and broken with the rules of the universe we had been given to use. No argument there. Jadni may not be much for book learning, but she is wise.

And I guess I need not fear the dread hand of the Inquisition, at least not in the form of my cousin.

We took some time to trade for a few supplies -- Thane scored a suit of Half Plate from somewhere -- and regrouped to discuss our immediate plans. Since the day was far from done, we agreed that we should go and investigate the remaining hideouts of the cultists before more time elapsed, rather than rest and renew our magic. Irabeth had told us that manpower was scant, so it seemed a good use of our time.

We flipped a coin and ended up traveling first to Topaz Solutions, where Thane knocked on the door and announced the password we had discovered in the note to Hosilla. What we met were not cultists, but looters intent on getting away with what they could carry. (It took Thane a bit of time to realize this, and he repeated the password several times, much to their bafflement.) As we had been looting the bodies of the dead from nearly the beginning of our ventures after the demon attack, we had very little moral leg to stand on in protest, so we let them go about their business, and only ventured into the building to investigate after they departed.

The intelligence we had gathered had not led us astray ... mostly. It *had* at one point been used as a hideout for cultists. Zsoltan, using some kind of Dwarf-sense, quickly detected the presence of a secret door that led to an underground chamber. The cultists had left, however, leaving behind them an obvious trap.

I mean, really obvious. Some kind of clockwork demon was set above a glass bottle and below a symbol of Baphomet, and as we entered a magical voice essentially said, "This is a trap! I hope it is followers of Iomedae who have fallen into my trap, and not mere peasants who would be a waste of this trap's trappiness!"

Needless to say, we ended up setting off the trap anyway.

The bottle was smashed by the clockwork and released some kind of gas with oddly varying (chaotic?) effects, and meanwhile a howling plant creature appeared and attacked us. While I doubt we were in much danger, we fumbled about throughout the fight in an almost comical way, Jadni vomiting from the gas and Thane exhausted and grappled by a plant, until we finally prevailed.

We moved on to the Tower of Estrod, and this time when Thane gave the password we were given entrance by a pair of obvious demon cultists. They bought Thane's smooth lies without question, and when with a wink and a nod he indicated he planned to attack them while their guard was down, we all set upon them as one. The battle was brief, and they did little damage other than tagging Zsoltan and me with a burst of negative energy, although Jadni had some difficulty getting into proper flanking position.

Descending the stairs, we found ourselves in a magical darkness, and soon an evil Tiefling BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS ANOTHER EVIL TIEFLING GIVING ALL EVIL TIEFLINGS EVERYWHERE A BAD NAME BY WORKING FOR THE DEMONS COME ON THERE ARE LOTS OF CHOICES FOR EVIL TIEFLINGS YOU CAN BE LAWFUL EVIL OR NEUTRAL EVIL WHAT *IS* THIS

Ahem.

An evil Tiefling witch began hurling spells at us. I employed my new Wand of Magic Missile to good effect, and between that and the warriors hewing away at him, he did not last overlong.

Moving into the next room, we found no more cultists, but we did discover a list of those who had infiltrated the Fourth Crusade (and I hope it will be realized that my name was, of course, NOT on it.) We also discovered a note filled with names and references we did not understand. Vorlesh? The Red Morning Massacre? Nahyndrian crystals?

We can only hope that there are those who know more of these matters than we do.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part VI (section 1 of 2): Beyond Good And Evil, Chapter One -- Prejudices Of Paladins

Well, the expected has happened.

Irabeth welcomed us and we made our report to her, giving her our news of the descendants of the First Crusaders, of activities of the Rift Wardens, of the refugees we had saved, of the infiltration of the Fourth Crusade by demonic cultists ...

And, well. That is when she nearly accused me of being one myself. She had detected for the presence of Evil, and of course I registered as such. I had hoped to talk to her about that in private when I requested to join the Eagle Watch, but ... there was no opportunity. I have doubts that there will ever be one, now.

Unsurprisingly, she reacted with all the blinkered prejudice against Evil characteristic of those who do not truly understand its nature. Much to my surprise, however, my companions leapt to my defense, including Anevia. I was ... touched.

At first I was enraged by Irabeth's response, I will admit. If a Chaotic Good ranger had offered a sword in the fight, would she have blinked? I think not. Even though that ranger's alignment is as far from her as mine. Even though that ranger's alignment would have been as close to the demons as mine. Would such a one have met with suspicion and distrust? No, the divide is always seen as being between "good" and "evil", never the real fight, the TRUE fight, between Law and Chaos.

After a time, I managed to calm myself down, though. To be fair, I cannot deny that the prejudice against Evil has been well earned by the horrible acts that have so often been committed in its name. That the "good" are usually just as willing to slay and burn in the name of their cause is also a point that should be made more often, but I come from Cheliax and cannot deny -- most self-described "evil" people are as awful as their reputation would have it.

It is not Irabeth's fault that hardly anyone understands Evil.

I am proud of my heritage. My parents were Evil. My grandparents were Evil. All they ever wanted was for me to carry on that tradition. And I do.

An evil person is, of course, one who commits evil acts. But almost all acts are arguable, are they not? The tyrant claims their rule is for the benefit of the country. The cynic argues that the philanthropist gives only selfishly, to make themselves feel better, not from any real altruism. So what is the truth?

There is only one act whose evil nature is literally writ in the very laws of the universe. Inarguably and ineluctably.

The casting of evil spells is an evil act.

It must be noted that intent is IRRELEVANT. Effect is IRRELEVANT. The canonical example given is the casting of an evil spell to save innocent lives. This is an evil act, and doing so more than once or twice turns you evil.

If all evil spells had no purpose other than horror and destruction, then Good might have a reasonable argument to make here as to the reason for this. But ... there are evil healing spells. Evil spells that protect you from mind control. (Mind control spells, incidentally, are not evil, not even Dominate Person.) True, there are evil spells that cause pain, like the Excruciating Deformation ... and also not-evil spells that cause pain. Inflict Pain is not an evil spell. Spells that LIGHT PEOPLE ON FIRE, like Burning Invective, are not evil spells. Innumerable spells with no purpose other than enslavement, death, destruction, and devastation are not evil.

Meanwhile, there is a Good spell that does nothing other than enable you to punch people in the face better. (I would note that the same rules supposedly apply to "good" spells as apply to "evil" spells, meaning intent and effect are irrelevant, so if you cast that spell in order to punch helpless orphans in the face, it would apparently turn you good. I doubt you will hear that mentioned often among the paladins.) There is a "good" spell the elves use whose function is to scour all life from an area, with fire.

It is, I think, not difficult to understand why I believe that the common claims as to the meaning of evil and good are sheer nonsense. That is why, instead of the laughable claims of "good", I hew to the law. And what is the fundamental principle of the law?

That it should apply to all equally. The great principle of civilization, of justice. All are as one before the Law. A rule made by the strong to benefit themselves at the expense of the weak is false Law, the "Law" of the demons where the mighty prey on those below them, and no one and nothing can stop them. In other words, chaos.

So there can be no true Law where some are enslaved where others go free. How could it possibly apply equally to those in such different situations? There can be no true Law where some suffer where others are happy. There can be no true Law where some are poor where others are wealthy. The Law cannot possibly apply to equally. It becomes distorted. An abomination, wrapping back around to the chaotic rule by might that it claims to oppose. Including in my poor, flawed, home country, still struggling to find its way to the truth.

So I will serve the Law. And I will do so with Evil, as my parents would want. I will cast Evil spells, and I will use these Evil acts to heal, and to protect, and to create justice and freedom, and my Evil parents will look up from Hell and be proud of me because I found a way to be Evil like they always wanted and when I am dead I will join them there and ...

I ... seem to have digressed a bit.

I shall move on.

The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part V: When Fire Beetles Battle With Their Spittle In A Hovel And The Hovel's Rather Little In A City That's Been Totaled, This Is What We Call A Totaled City Little Hovel Fire Beetle Spittle Battle

Our initial encounter with the remaining Rift Wardens did not go well. Traumatized by their experience with the vicious Cavalier and his tiefling minions, they assumed we were blackguards as well (which, to be fair, I am, although the others are not), and one of them threw a gout of fire at Jadni and Zsoltan. It wasn't until I went and fetched Aravashnial himself that they realized we were not their foes.

When we finally talked, their story was a terrifying one; enormous demons had rampaged through the area, crushing buildings beneath them, seemingly to some organized purpose. Then, as one, that mysterious purpose completed, they drifted off into the city to wreak random havok. Possibly their cause was an assault on the Rift Wardens themselves; Aravashnial said there were items now buried in the rubble which might provide valuable assistance to the defense of the city.

Finding himself in charge - his superior was gone, and no one knew where or if he were alive or dead - Aravashnial promptly organized his people into a group capable of searching for whatever remaining resources could be found. But before that, for the first time since the initial attack, we slept in the relatively defensible position of the library. We were all so exhausted that not even Horgus or Anevia objected.

We all slept in a single room, so there was no good opportunity to seduce anybody. I was probably too tired anyway.

In the morning, we left Aravashnial and his cohort to their task, telling them we would send word back if we found any organized defense of the city remaining. Before we left, he gifted me with his wand of False Life and a scroll of Dispel Magic to aid in our further travels, and I thanked him sincerely, telling him that his magical aid had been invaluable to our survival. For all my dislike of his utilitarian philosophy and his abrasive need to be in charge, I do believe he genuinely wants to help in the great cause and resist the demonic invasion of the world, and that matters. There are many difference we can overcome if we agree on that.

We set off, Anvie choosing to come with us rather than remain behind at the library. Or next stop was the Nyserian Manor, where the note in Hosilla's quarters said that demon cultists were hiding. It lay behind a mound of rubble that was what remained of part of the city wall, and Anevia said she could not climb it. After much argument (nothing in this group happens without much argument), Anevia, Anvie, and Horgus stayed behind, hidden from sight in the rubble by Anevia's skill as a scout.

The Nyserian Manor, however, was utterly destroyed. Nothing was left but detritus and some kind of oily slick. I detected the remains of some kind of summoning magic - a conjuration, perhaps? - and considered asking Jadni to detect for remnants of evil, but I thought better of it. The longer no one thinks to detect for evil in my presence, the better off I shall be. (Speaking of which, I fell from the rocks on the way back and injured myself slightly, so I once again cast the spell of Infernal Healing to seal my wounds.)

We continued on, wending our way to Horgus' home, but before we got there we came across a pair of Abrikandalu demons trying to break their way into some place of business, the sounds of panicked screams coming from within. Of course we immediately took action.

Thane, Jadni, and Zsoltan engaged them hand-to-hand, while Anevia and I stayed back and fired at them from range. Horgus, sensibly, hid behind a cart, and Anvie stayed well back. The demons seemed particularly enraged by Radiance, and one of the demons tried to break it, to no avail. But their attacks against Thane himself found more purchase, and soon he was left horrifically scarred and bloodied on the ground. It began to look a bit dire at that point, since Jadni was also sorely wounded, and Zsoltan could do little against them with his fists. But the tide turned when Zsoltan picked up the cold iron shortspear I had thrown, and Jadni bashed one of the demons down with a mighty blow. Then Anevia finished the fight with a shot from her bow that took the other straight through the skull. It wasn't even a cold iron arrow. Impressive.

We convinced the panicked couple inside the building that we meant no harm, and eventually they came out - Garn and the very pregnant Julli, makers and sellers of fine clothing. (I miss fine clothing. I sold all mine before I arrived here.)

Apparently they have different names in the AP, but our GM forgot them.

After talking with them, like Anvie they decided it was safer to travel with us and look for a place of safety rather than stay behind. (Thane suggested they flee to Mendev. Because he seems to believe that such a trip would be easy for them to make right now. I was ... sarcastic in response.) Our ranks had now swelled to nine. Although Garn and Julli were no warriors, they did, as it turned out, have valuable information for us; they knew the location of Topaz Solution, the final hideout of the demon cultists mentioned in the letter to Hosilla.

We trekked onwards and came to Horgus' manse, which to Thane's great surprise was intact and in relatively good shape. Horgus, however, was disgruntled to discover that his hired guards had fled, taking with them everything of value they could lay their hands on. His secret vault, however, had been left intact and unrobbed.

Upon discovery of this, he said that our assistance had been "above average". Thane and Jadni took it as another insult, but I think it was the only way he knew how to pay a compliment, and took it as I think it was intended. In any case, he shoved a bag of gold into our hands as thanks, as well, declaring that it would never be said that he did not pay those who "did work for him".

He chose to stay in the safety of his vault, and we once again told him we would send word if we found any defenders of the city remaining.

We next set out for the little home Anevia shared with her wife, and when it came into sight she rushed forward, calling out Irabeth's name. No one seemed to be inside, however ... until a fire beetle materialized from nowhere and attacked her, spitting fire from its mandibles. It was quickly disposed of and, recognizing it as a summoned creature, we looked for the source, who eventually emerged from invisibility as he announced that he would leave Anevia's body for Irabeth to find.

The half-orc sorcerer threw spells that brought Anevia unconscious, but I tossed a tanglefoot bag, Jadni grappled him, and soon he was hard pressed and surrounded. He fought hard, casting magic missiles from a wand, but when Zsoltan revived Anevia with a potion, she destroyed him with her short sword, once again decisively ending the fight.

She was in a near-hysterical state, but we calmed her down by pointing out that if he intended to leave her there for Irabeth, he cannot have killed Irabeth. Apparently, he was some old foe whose life Irabeth had spared long ago, now bent on revenge. We suspected he had joined in the demonic invasion, but for all we know he might have simply been taking advantage of the opportunity. I said that revenge does no one any good, and then realized that was a bit ironic given that I had dedicated my entire life to battling demons after one attacked me as a child.

Anevia searched the house and soon found, to her joy, that a note had been left for her by Irabeth! Apparently, Irabeth was organizing the city's remaining defenders at an inn called, appropriately enough, the Defender's Heart. Anevia nearly collapsed with relief that her wife was alive. I nearly did, too, upon learning that we were not alone. I asked Zsoltan if the Eagle Watch was recruiting, and he said he would vouch for me and they would certainly take me on. We shall see.

When I complimented Anevia on her cozy home, she mentioned that she had always wanted a slightly larger one, but Irabeth tended to give all their money away to worthy causes. She agreed with me immediately, however, that a small home with love in it was better than a large one without.

For myself, I will not deny that living in the baronial manor had its charms, but once my parents were dead and there was no love for me there anymore, leaving it caused me no regrets. (Nor do I regret, before I left, thoroughly ridding myself all of the barony's money and assets as soon as I inherited them. I especially do not regret how livid it made the cousins who had been visibly salivating over their prospects once my trip was approved.)

We decided that we should go directly to the Defender's Heart before we investigated the other hideouts of the demon cultists. We had, after all, much potentially valuable information to share by this point:

- Our evidence of the cultist infiltration of the Fourth Crusade
- The two cultist hideouts we had not yet investigated
- The letter to Hosilla itself, and all it implied
- The army gathering in the tunnels beneath the city, eager to aid the cause
- The potential resources of the Rift Wardens, even now being searched for in the rubble

Quite a lot for a day and a half!

Our way to the Defender's Heart was once again not without incident, for we came across a makeshift stage in the street, where a pair of quasits were forcing townspeople to perform what looked like Chelaxian Opera - or at least it had a death count as high as Chelaxian Opera. We engaged the foes once again, as both the surviving townspeople and Garn and Julli fled in terror.

The quasits proved difficult foes, flying, healing their damage even as it was taken, turning themselves invisible at a whim, and casting a spell that reduced Thane to a quivering mass of terrified jelly. One of them we had taken for dead even came back to consciousness, but Zsoltan, who had once again borrowed my cold iron shortspear, nailed it to a wall. Eventually we prevailed, but I lost one of my last two cold iron crossbow bolts in the fight.

We searched for Garn and Julli, and finally found them some blocks away. We had to coax them to come with us. They were in despair and terror at the fate of their city, and wondered if their gods had abandoned them. Thane, of course, responded by cursing the gods as useless, which I am certain helped matters. (Sarcasm again.) I am seriously starting to wonder if I should switch to some other prospect to seduce and corrupt, although no obvious other choices have thus far presented themselves. Maybe I won't seduce and corrupt ANYONE AT ALL. So THERE.

In any event, we finally made our way to the Defender's Heart, and I cast Protection From Good on myself just to give myself a few extra moments if a pack of paladins decided I was persona non grata. The inn had been fortified into a credible redoubt, and the guard on duty recognized Anevia and Zsoltan even before the password was given (and he let us in once he double checked that they vouched for "the one with the horns". This kind of thing is why I take the precautions I take.)

Soon after we were inside, Anevia saw Irabeth and flung herself into her wife's arms, and ... Well.

I may have found myself with a bit of dust caught in my eye, if you take my meaning.