Episode 72 - The Fool's Choice
| The Assassins |
Azareth - Wizard 5th Level LE (PC) Craven - Fighter / Rogue 3rd / 3rd LE (PC) Creighton - Fighter 5th Level LE (PC) Keldirk - Rogue 6th level NE (PC) |
| Locale | Unknown |
| Date | 24th Goodmonth 582 CY |
| Time | Late Afternoon |
An hour had passed since the two fiends had cut, ripped and torn the hapless prisoner apart before they disappeared into the portal and only now did the assassins feel safe enough to approach the macabre scene. As they closed a foul odour filled the air.
| Azareth | Pfhew, what an awful stench. (gags) |
| Creighton | (coughs) Okay, who farted? |
| Keldirk | (covers his mouth and nose with his sleeve) |
| Craven | (coughs) Whoa, that's ripe! What is it? (blocks his nose and covers his mouth) |
| Azareth | Look, over there. |
As the assassins approached the stone platform they saw dark clumps of rotting meat, decaying human innards scattered over the platform and around its base. No flies or bugs were present to devour the offal, instead the intestines, stomach and worse had to simply rot away. As gruesome as it looked, it smelled even worse.
| Azareth | I would estimate that at least twenty people have been dismembered here. |
| Craven | Looks like many more. |
| Azareth | Perhaps those demons routinely sacrifice people here. Perhaps we are to be their next victims. |
| Craven | (sucks in his breath; alarmed) I hadn't thought of that. |
| Creighton | What is this place? |
| Keldirk | No idea. |
| Creighton | It could be Hell. |
| Azareth | (shakes his head) I doubt it. |
| Keldirk | Well there's nothing else to do but get this search under way. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. I'd rather Stretch and Fatso not catch us pottering around their play-pen. |
| Creighton | Stretch and Fatso? |
| Craven | (whispers to Creighton) The two demons. |
| Azareth | Agreed, let the search begin. I shall keep watch while you three conduct your investigations. |
The assassins, careful not to disturb the environment too much, set about searching the area. Keldirk checked the stone slab then the pillars for traps, while Creighton and Craven searched for hidden mechanisms or etchings. Some twenty minutes into the search Azareth shouted out in alarm, calling the others to his location at the front of the platform.
| Craven | What is it? |
| Azareth | Look for yourself. |
The assassins followed Azareth's gaze to the mutilated corpse suspended between the pillars; it was moving. Slowly but surely the man's hideous wounds were beginning to close, a regeneration in the earliest of stages.
| Keldirk | (whistles, impressed) |
It was a fascinating site, tendrils of flesh inched their way together even as internal organs began to reform. Muscle, bone and sinew stretched and grew, veins and arteries dripping fresh blood onto the stone. The figure was still unconscious but nerve-endings fired crazily during the regeneration, sending the man's limbs twitching like an out-of- control marionette.
| Craven | He must have a regeneration ring. |
| Keldirk | He wears no ring. |
| Craven | Something else then. Azareth, can you check for magic? |
Azareth was already casting, detect magic being one of his most basic spells. Moments of considered study later he broke from his examination.
| Azareth | It is most peculiar. The man himself emanates no magic that I could detect; rather it is as though this place is pouring magical energy into him. Somehow this strange realm is the cause of the regeneration. |
| Creighton | So he's going to come back to life? |
| Azareth | It would appear so, yes. |
| Creighton | Creepy. |
| Craven | Do you think he will return as one of the undead? |
| Azareth | Regeneration will rebuild the tissues and essentially restore his life, it is a power from the conjuration school - conjuration within the healing devotion to be exact. There is no necromancy at play here. |
| Craven | So will he be undead? |
| Azareth | No. |
| Craven | Then just say that, Azareth! Alright, I'm open for suggestions. What do we do now? |
| Keldirk | Whatever we do, let's do it fast. The regen-thing is speeding up. |
But it was too late, just as the assassins were about to move, the man's eyes snapped open.
| Keldirk | Whoa! (draws two knives, ready to throw) |
| Creighton | (steps forward, his twin blade drawn) |
| Man | (whimpers) Argh groargh... |
| Creighton | What'd he say? |
| Keldirk | (shrugs his shoulders) |
| Man | Argh yraghh... . |
| Creighton | What's that? We can't hear you. |
| Craven | This is just wrong. His chest cavity is still wide open! |
| Creighton | Shh! He's trying to say something. |
| Man | Fwagh schwar yurrl. (head lolls around, barely conscious, barely alive) |
| Creighton | I have no idea what you're saying buddy. (to the others) What now? |
| Azareth | We can wait, I suppose. The rate of regeneration seems to have increased, he will be completely restored soon enough. |
| Craven | (nods) Stay on your toes, and keep your eyes peeled for the demons. |
| Creighton | Stretch and Fatso. |
| Craven | Any demons, just keep your eyes open for anything. |
Minutes passed and the remarkable transformation continued. Before long the figure's chest cavity closed, then the small scars began to heal and eventually disappear. Where before had hung a mutilated corpse, now hung a thin, frail gray-bearded man, fully alive if somewhat weak and malnourished.
| Craven | Who... who are you? |
| Man | (coughs) Water. |
| Craven | (eyes narrow, fearing a trick) Creighton, give the man some water, but be careful! |
| Azareth | Do not let him touch you. |
| Creighton | (nods and carefully pours some water into the man's mouth) |
| Man | (coughs and splutters) More! |
| Creighton | (obliges) |
| Man | (looking stronger, raises his head and focuses on the assassins for the first time) Thank-. (swallows hard, his throat tight and cracked) Thank you for your kindness. |
| Keldirk | Cut the crap! Who are you? |
| Creighton | Yeah, spill your guts! (snickers at his own sick joke) |
| Craven | (to Creighton and Keldirk) Hush! (to the man) Who are you? |
| Man | (calmly) Most know me as Alderayeth, but I am known by many names, for now Alderayeth will suffice. |
| Craven | Alderayeth it is, then. So, what can you tell us about this place, about you? I mean, we have literally no idea what is going on. |
| Keldirk | (cuts in) And while you're at it, why don't you tell me how someone can be so damned calm after going through what you just did. |
| Alderayeth | (nods to Keldirk) A good observation and a good question, young man. I am calm because I am in no real danger here. In a matter of hours a portal will open up at the edge of this plateau, and two daemons will step through. They will tear me apart, much as they have done every six hours for the last twelve years. |
| Azareth | Twelve years! |
| Alderayeth | Twelve years and forty nine days, to be precise. And yet, after each painful death I am restored, a not-so-kind gift bestowed upon me by the one who imprisoned me here. |
| Creighton | Those bastards tear you apart every six hours? You must've pissed somebody off real bad. |
| Alderayeth | Unfortunately this is the price I pay for meddling in the affairs of a Lord of the Nine Hells. This realm is a prison, of sorts, and I will be torn apart until the end of time. |
| Creighton | Note to self - don't mess with Devils and such. |
| Alderayeth | Wise words, friend. |
| Craven | So how did the four of us get here? We certainly haven't pissed off any Demons. |
| Alderayeth | Sadly I believe that you four are here because of me. It is not my conscious desire to bring harm to others but at the height of my pain I do call for help. My power occasionally finds purchase in the prime material plane and pulls other living creatures in. Sadly my blessing may well prove to be your curse. |
| Craven | Your blessing? |
| Alderayeth | I am trapped here, effectively cemented in this realm by chains both metaphysical and material. But you four are not bound by such restriction and can move about under your own volition. |
| Keldirk | Little good that does us. We've searched this place and there's no way out unless we want to plunge into the mists. |
| Alderayeth | There is no escape through the mists, but there is a way out. You can venture into the realm from whence the daemons come. As they torture me you can slip behind them and into the portal. There I implore you to venture to the realm of Hades and petition the ruler of that plane to return the soul of a being trapped there. |
| Azareth | (shocked) You want us to ask a god of a lower plane to hand over a soul? That's suicide. |
| Alderayeth | Or you can remain here until you are found by the demons and killed or die of starvation. I may be immortal but sadly you are not, without doing as I ask you will never leave this place. |
| Craven | Tell us everything and spare no detail. |
| Alderayeth | Very well, it is the least I can do considering what I have inadvertently done to you. |
Alderayeth spoke for over an hour. He told his tale completely, and answered any questions the assassins asked him honestly and openly. It was a story of intrigue and indescribable power, one which left the assassins in no doubt as to their lowly place in the order of the multiverse.
By the end the assassins knew what they had to do. Alderayeth had gambled on the mercy of his opponent and lost. He was cursed to remain in this quasi-realm of perpetual torture until the soul of that man's son is returned to him. Only now that soul was stored in the halls of the god of death, known to the assassins as Nerull.
| Keldirk | So you are basically telling us that the only way that we are going to get out of here alive is if we travel to Hades through that portal, get the soul and give it back to you? |
| Alderayeth | That is correct. |
| Keldirk | Well that's just great. |
| Alderayeth | I apologise that you four had to get mixed up in this; my call to help was indiscriminate and unfortunately for you, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. |
| Craven | It seems we have no choice then. |
| Creighton | I don't care what we do as long as we don't end up dying of boredom here. |
| Alderayeth | If you are successful, then I promise that you will be compensated. As you know from my tale I am not without means and my gratitude would be substantial. |
| Azareth | Very well, we will help you. |
| Keldirk | What? |
| Azareth | (to Keldirk) What choice do we have? If we stay here we risk being found by the fiends and killed, or spending an eternity in the mists, or we do nothing; stay hidden and eventually starve to death. If we agree to this quest now while we are still strong we stand the greatest chance of success; any delay does nothing but weaken us. |
| Keldirk | (shakes his head and breathes deeply) |
| Craven | He's right and you know it. |
| Keldirk | I know that, it's just a fool's choice. (looks at Alderayeth) And I hate to be treated like a fool. |
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