Episode 6 "Desperate Measures on the River Styx"

Session #21: 11/17/2019

 4th of Octoban 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began as the party tried to catch their breath following their victory over the githyanki pirates and their red dragon.
 * As Vendrin guided their astral barge back to the portal, the party took the time to rest and assess the loot from their fallen enemies.
 * The party returned through the portal to Sigil, returning to see that Etain resting near a freshly killed corpse. Etain explained that an "uppity dustman" had tried to "deader" him.
 * One of the crates they transported back to Sigil cracked open upon passing through the portal, and Kandra discovered that it was filled with completely ordinary rocks.
 * Etain swiftly guided the party back to the Fortune's Wheel, where Shemeshka thanked them for taking care of her pirate problem. As agreed she told them where they could find the former Archduke of Malboge, Moloch, and in recognition of their above and beyond service told them where they could find a Merrenoloth named Theresh who could ferry them down the River Styx.
 * Etain guided the party to the bar The Styx Oarsmen where Shemeshka had indicated Moloch could be found. Descending down a steep staircase, they found themselves inside of a pitch-black bar filled with fiends of all shapes and sizes. They found Moloch seated near the back of the bar. Kandra and Thokk made contact first before bringing the rest of the party over. Together, the party negotiated with Moloch for information and contact with a hellish forger. Moloch took, as payment, a scimitar Thokk took from the Sword of the Seelie and Zeevha's Helm of Devil Control. In return, he offered the party intelligence on hell and introduced them to his forger, an insane human named Korkinorka.
 * Moloch offered to accompany the party to Baator if they would complete a task for him, retrieving a book from the ruins of Darkspine in Avernus, but the party declined.
 * Instead of hiring Moloch or purchasing the exorbitantly expensive forgeries, the party went to meet the ferryman and see what he could offer. Theresh was amenable upon hearing Shemeshka's name and agreed to ferry the party into Dis as a favor for Shemeshka, telling them it would take between 1 - 5 days depending on whether the waters of the Styx were favorable.
 * Theresh required about 12 hours to prepare for the journey, so the party returned to the Fortunes Wheel and readied themselves. The next morning, they returned to the Smoldering Corpse bar and passed through the portal in the basement, traveling to Gehenna.
 * Upon reaching Gehenna, the party boarded Theresh's ferry, which was little more than a flat barge, and set sail. The journey into Avernus was relatively quick and Theresh told them that they would make good time.
 * The party was not in Avernus long before they were targeted by a series of devils, hoping to claim their souls. First a massive pit fiend stomped across the field, flattening a tax collector and leaving a pile of gold, then another devil, disguised as a man, attempted to trick the party.
 * After evading some of the more beguiling aspects of hell, they were attacked by two abishai (fiendish servants of Tiamat) but held their own fairly well. However, a bad bit of luck nearly destroyed the party, as a fireball rained down from the sky, directly onto the barge.
 * Though the barge magically kept from sinking, Theresh was desperately injured as they went over a series of rapids, denoting the border between Avernus and Dis. And as the party went over the rapids they had to try not to go flying off, into the poisonous waters of the Styx below. Sadly though, both Zeevah and Vendrin went tumbling into the river.
 * Vendrin, with his rigorously trained mind, was able to resist the effects of the Styx's water, but Zeevah was not so lucky. Her mind was destroyed.
 * The party quickly leapt into action to save their friends. Kandra drank a Potion of Mind Control and took control of Zeevah's body, using her to grab the unconscious Vendrin. Thokk threw a rope into the water and began pulling with all of his might, dragging them both toward the barge.
 * Theresh brought the destroyed barge to the shore and the party was able to disembark and try to figure out what to do now that one of their own had been feebleminded.
 * Vendrin unilaterally decided that he would make a hail mary to save Zeevah. He summoned Asmodeus.
 * Without the party noticing, Vendrin was suddenly gone; teleported to Nessus. Vendrin found himself stood in a hellish throne room in the middle of a blasted craggy planetoid, standing before a 13 foot tall fiend dressed in finery who greeted him with familiarity. The king of hell, Asmodeus.
 * Vendrin had come to barter for Asmodeus' help in restoring Zeevah's mind, but Asmodeus pointed out that Vendrin has precious little to barter with. To underscore his point, Asmodeus produced Vendrin's true contract, burned onto the skin of a damned wretch that he summoned from a pocket dimension.
 * Vendrin, thinking quickly, used the wabbajack on the wretch. Taking a great deal of damage but reducing his contract to ash. He watched before his eyes as the runes on his arms faded to little more than vague scars.
 * Asmodeus though seemed unfazed. He congratulated Vendrin on his freedom and asked what he might barter now. Vendrin asked what Asmodeus wanted. In exchange for Zeevah's mind being restored and safe passage back to his friends, Asmodeus simply wanted the right to whisper into Vendrin's ear on the eve of his destiny. He would come to Vendrin and make an argument, plead his case as it were. Vendrin agreed and a new contract was forged in lava that Asmodeus summoned from the ground.
 * Back in Dis, the party was startled as Vendrin suddenly appeared out of nowhere, with papers in hand, just as Zeevah came to her senses.
 * Theresh, heartbroken at the loss of his barge, lamented his situation, telling the party that without his barge he would be forced to fight in the blood war. Thokk suggested that Theresh could come inhabit their ship on the prime, and Theresh leapt at the chance. A contract was drawn, in exchange for being given safe passage to the prime, Theresh would pilot their ship for them until the demise of the last member of their group.
 * Theresh inhabited an empty potion bottle for Kandra to carry back to the prime.
 * The party began walking toward the Iron City of Dis and quickly found themselves teleported within the red hot walls.
 * Within the Iron City, the party found themselves confronted with red hot iron everywhere they turned. Confronted at every turn by fiends and frightening creatures, the party did their best to quickly find their way to Mentiri.
 * The party was confronted by an inquisitor who demanded their papers, which Vendrin produced. The party noticed that Vendrin suddenly had papers of passage that they had not purchased.
 * The party reached the prison of Mentiris and passed through the door denoting the Bastille of Flesh, but found themselves not in a prison. Instead, they found themselves in a lavish office confronted by a unique fiend with cloven hooves and bat wings.
 * The fiend introduced himself as Titivilus, Dispater's second in command. Titivilus had an "off the record" deal for them. He would teleport them into Ver's cell so that they could rescue him and kill the fallen angel, Irathone. Titivilus wanted Irathone dead because she had become a rival for Dispater's approval.
 * The party agreed to Titivilus' terms and was teleported into a massive open room of obsidian with a glass cage in the center. Within the cage, they could see Ver being put through corrupting conditioning. He was repeatedly run through a scenario designed to corrupt him into murdering innocents.
 * Liosynth, ready to be done with hell, called out for Irathone to appear so that they could do battle. Instead of an angelic figure, however, they were approached by a monstrous green fiend. An amnizu.
 * What followed was a brutal fight, the Amnizu used psionic trickery time and again to dominate members of the party and turn them against each other, or trick party members into launching attacks on comrades, thinking it was Irathone. Eventually, though, the party rescued Ver from his glass cage and Liosynth struck the killing blow against the fallen angel.
 * Zeevah attached the Lady's Doorknob to the wall, opening an escape to Sigil, just as Titivilus entered the room with a legion of Chain Devil's, hoping to double-cross the party and claim the accolades for killing those who had slain his master's new favorite.
 * The party was able to escape through the doorway though, shouting epithets and accusations back at Titivilus as they went.
 * The party found themselves tumbling into the common room of the Fortunes Wheel and were promptly ejected from the bar by the black smoke flowing from the carved dragon's head.
 * The session ended as the party slowly stood in the streets of Sigil in slight disbelief that they managed to win the day and make it out of hell in one piece. As the party looked ahead to their next challenge, Ver looked around and asked: "What the hell just happened?"