| Pushing on through an ethereal passage, the party (Dominic, Fick, Ignatius, Jack, and Nemo with Drusila and Yarol) reached the great sage, Faust. The aged gnome possessed incredible power and knowledge. They questioned him on ARCHIE and ways of defeating him. The information was depressing. It turned out that ARCHIE is a quasi deity with incredible powers of creation, resistance to most magics, and invulnerability to normal magical weapons can not even hurt him. In the world there are only three weapons that can harm him, Athatch, a crossbow lost for ages in Dalmara; Shatterspike, a bastard sword which has broken countless blades and lies in the hands of the Ivalians; and Rauthym, blade of the kings of Rauthymar now held by Lothar Noctus. After leaving the sage, the party was able to meet with the forces of Chaos. After stepping through a temporary portal, they found themselves on a balcony overlooking a tortured and beautiful land. The terrain was like frozen black waves crashing on the shore. A vast sea of cool flames ate at the shattered black stone underneath a crimson sky untainted with clouds. Atop a great cascade of stone is a spiraling tower where the PCs now stood. In a meeting room walled with entwined petrified monsters, the party met a woman dressed in finery and flanked by two huge diamond scaled dragons. A golden pattern of entwined circles was tattooed across her forehead and down her temples. Her head was crowned with blue-feathered hair and her eyes were black orbs set on a pale face. She identified herself as Lady Amethyst, a high-ranking official in the loose knit organization, which includes groups known as Guardians of Destiny, Doomguard, Revolutionary League, and Xaositect. She offered to help the party in various ways in exchange for several �jobs�. The first job was a raid into the Nine Hells to destroy a devil-run railroad train. Of course journeying to the second layer of Baator and destroying a heavily guarded train isn�t easy. The party quickly prepared, gathering scrolls, weapons, and a water cannon of holy water. After arriving on the first layer, they quickly rushed to the pillar of skulls (home of Tiamet) and to the long spiral staircase to the city of Dis. As they headed downward, they encountered an obese devil huffing and puffing its way up the stairs. Shortly after it pushed past them there was a horrible scream followed by crunching sound and bits of falling devil. It was then the party while running away was attacked by a half-fiendish red dragon. With his powerful attacks and abilities he quickly consumed Dominic in unholy flames. As Yarol snatched up his master�s fallen gear, the other returned fire. After a painful battle, the unholy creature tumbled a 1,000 feet to its death. Worried the party pushed on despite the loss of Dominic. In the city of Dis, they began to gather information about the train that could travel between worlds. The cagey fiends soon caught on the party and some monstrous police soon closed in on the party. While Ignatius and Drusila ran away, Yarol and Nemo allowed themselves to be questioned about the others until Jack and Fick were able to sneak attack them. As reinforcements rushed down upon them, the party fled into the �sewers�. After surviving a flow of lava and boiling water, the party pushed on finding their way to the train yards. The train yards were covered in thick sulfurous smoke and guarded by three iron golems who soon became aware of the party. The ensuing combat was painful and they were only able to destroy one of the constructs before the train began to flee. Blowing off the rear end, the party quickly latched onto the steel behemoth as it tore off onto bizarre planes. While Nemo, Ignatius, and Drusila fought their way to the engineer�s booth, the rest of the party found themselves in a deadly battle with a being known as FIRE. The elder fire elemental attacked with incredible speed, power, and burning. It snatched Jack and tossed him around like a rag doll and burned Fick into a crispy treat. Finally he was simply retreated, promising another flaming battle. At the controls, the party found themselves unable to stop it despite injections of holy water. Finally by turning a pressure valve they forcefully stopped it up and the devilish train exploded over the deserts of Zelencia. |
| Answers & Flaming Death |