Through the Bowels of Chernoggar

Rhegar let us sleep exactly eight hours before he started pounding on the rooms of the Order members. When he got to Yvala’s room, he had to force the door and drag her out. Muttering curses at the dragonborn, she fell into step next to me as she adjusted the last few strands of her hair. The only member of the party we couldn’t find was Kalena. Since none of her stuff was in the room, we figured she probably went to Swan Tower early.

The sun had yet to crest over the city by the time we arrived at the teleportation circle. Kalena was indeed there chatting with Ioun’s powerful wizards. She seemed giddy, though I couldn’t quite tell if it was because of the interesting wizardry going on in the Swan Tower or if it was the cute wizard she was talking to. As I got closer though, I could hear that the chatter was in fact about the teleport we were about to make.

“So if the wizards are getting us into Chernoggar, how are we getting back? Is there a teleportation circle on the other side?” asked Vixi.

“Not exactly,” answered Kalena. “That’s part of what makes this teleport more difficult than usual. Honestly, they are hoping that we actually manage to rescue Bahamut since there isn’t a good way of getting us back from Chernoggar.”

Yvala was more than a little annoyed at being woken up by Rhegar and declared, “Let’s go if we’re going. This place sounds downright dirty so let’s try to get in and out and back to civilization.”

The wizards made some final calibrations to each of our signals and turned the final step over to Kalena. “Here we go,” she said before taking a deep breath and uttering the final lines of the incantation. The circle on the floor glowed then flashed with a bright white light. When my vision cleared, I could see that we’d arrived in a desolate landscape. The scrubby brush around us looked as if it had been burn. The scrubland stretched on for miles to the horizon. An enormous black castle loomed over the otherwise featureless landscape. Rhegar was already running toward it.

Luckily we caught him before Rhegar – in a very dragonborn manner – attempted to charge the front gate. With her exceptional ranger skills, Kyri set about finding the tunnel we would be using to sneak inside.

Kalena looked at the enchantments for a moment and declared that they had not been kept up and that it would be faster to force the gate. Together, Kyri and Rhegar obliged and the party climbed inside. The acid trickling the tunnel gave off noxious fumes. We tried our best to keep from coughing and gagging as we walked along. I whispered a few healing spells when people seemed to be having more trouble.

By the time we got out of tunnel, we’d easily covered a mile. Overall, this didn’t surprise me much. From the outside it had been easy to see that Chernoggar was miles on a side. Fortunately the room we came out in was empty. The devils living in the castle had smashed the room and all the fixtures, so it was impossible to tell what it had once been.

We started into the hallways with Yvala leading. She would at least be more likely to spot any of the guards before they spotted us. Sure enough, before we’d covered the length of three corridors, Yvala spotted a group of devils.

“Their leader is a succubus and they all look bored,” she told us. “They’re probably on watch or something.”

With a dragonborn, an elf, and two humans in our party, we didn’t trust our luck to bluff our way past them, nor did we think we could beat them in a fight without drawing attention. In the end we opted to sneak by, Yvala and Kyri keeping a close eye on those of us wearing clunky metal armor.

The rest of the day continued in much the same way. I’ll wager we crept through halls until well into the afternoon, but without the sun it was hard to be certain. My legs certainly told me that we had logged a respectable number of miles. The map Erathis had given us was far from complete, nevertheless it more than proved its worth.

At last we came to the final door between the avatar of Bahamut and ourselves. The door was sealed with a magic lock that couldn’t be undone with a spell. Yvala drew the masterwork picks from her pack and settled down in front of the door to work. She gave a little cheer when the last bolt fell into place and swung the door open triumphantly.

The door led to a balcony. In the chamber below the great avatar of Bahamut lay sleeping. Naturally, he took the form of a massive platinum dragon. His blindingly shiny scales glimmered as his chest heaved up and down. Surrounding Bahamut were a crowd of abishai. The largest were breathing clouds of poison gas into the great dragon’s nostrils.

“Those are the same abishai were at the siege of Aurincia,” breathed Kalena as she peered over the railing.

“What?” asked Yvala.

“We saw some of those creatures back in the fight that started this whole thing, well at least for us anyway,” I explained.

“Tiamat was probably going to use them to enslave the population,” added Vixi.

“But then she struck the deal with Prince Farin, which doesn’t exactly make sense. She could have easily broken Perinor but something stopped her,” Kalena mused.

Rhegar pulled his sword. “Well we’ll show the Black Dragon that the sons and daughters of Perinor are not beaten down so easily. For Bahamut!” he crided before running down the stairs.

The abishai, of course, noticed his cry. About half of the guards pulled out wicked iron lances from the floor around the dragon and coated the ends with their poison breath. The other half stayed behind, continuing to drug Bahamut.

The abishai met us partway across the room. We fought hard, making sure to avoid the poisoned tips. If even one of us went down to their poison, those that remained would be in serious trouble. We worked in tandem, flanking the abishai whenever possible to gain the advantage.

We’d beaten down about half of the first wave. The big abishai that seemed to be the leader signaled to two more that they should fight us. I took the chance to look over at Bahamut. It seemed like the dragon was sleeping less soundly now that more abishai had left their places. Thinking it was just my imagination, I glanced over again. This time I could see an eye fluttering open. If one or two more abishai could be forced to leave their posts, Bahamut would awaken! Another abishai left its post and the big dragon gave a shuttering gasp as he shook himself awake.

Too late the abishai realized their mistake. The remaining guards scattered away from the god as he rose angrily to his feet. With a mighty roar he bellowed “You have kept me here too long cowards! Now you will feel the wrath of a god!” Lightning crackled along the length of his body which he unleashed at the abishai closest to him. He plodded forward a few more steps and let loose another round of lightning that took out the remaining abishai.

For a second Bahamut looked ready to launch a third round of lightning at us, but he noticed Rhegar’s tabard and stopped. “So a group of mortals has come to my rescue. I certainly owe you a great debt. Tell me, hatchlings, who sent you here and why.”

Naturally, Rhegar answered his god. “My liege, Erathis sent us. I uncovered some of the details of your capture. She sent my companions and me because there are no others to spare with Hestevar under attack.”

“Much then has happened since my capture. Come hatchlings, I will take you back to the Bright City.” With a mighty roar, Bahamut tore through the chamber wall. Together we left the Iron Fortress, with the great dragon taking obvious delight in creating as wide a path of destruction as possible. Once outside, he plane-shifted the party directly to the throne room of the Great Cathedral where Erathis sat smiling on her throne.

Audience with the Queen of Light

Davir, as it turns out, was an informant for Erathis, the Queen of Light as he called her. He and his former rogue buddies ran information for the goddess and made strategic hits on demon outposts when they could. The rest of their time was spent avoiding the powerful demons that lurked about the city, which was how the system of tunnels we had escaped into had been created. After her conversation with Tierro, Erathis had put word out to her remaining network to watch for our arrival in the city.

“I got to say that the Queen of Light be mighty interested in getting the lot of you to her safe and sound. Must be a decade or more since she’s put out a bulletin that wasn’t about the fight.”

“A decade?” said Yvala a bit incredulously, “Just how long has Hestavar been under attack?”

“Oh, I’d say it’s be around a hundred years now. One day the ambassadors to the Nine Hells and The Abyss just up and left. Next thing you know the demons are back in force and we’re under attack.”

As the githzerai talked, I was putting two and two together. “But a hundred years, that how long we’ve figured the World has been under attack!”

“Well bloody hell if that ain’t a coincidence, but we’ve had too many problems of our own here to notice what’s been going on in the World, much less do anything about it. There’s the siege of course, and gods disappearing one by one. Now there’s none left but the Queen of Light herself to defend the city.”

There was a rumble as Davir finished his statement and he held one hand up to his lips for silence. His other hand he placed flat against the wall. The rogue looked concerned, then puzzled for a minute. Then, his eyes widened and he threw himself to the floor moments before a snake made of magma burst through the tunnel wall. Two more magma snakes oozed through the wall on the opposite side. A shaking below our feet brought our collective attention to the floor, where four more elemental snakes exploded through the floor, these ones made of flowing bits of rock. Though the snakes had effectively surrounded us, we managed to defeat them without collapsing the tunnel on ourselves.

The tunnel led almost all the way to the Cathedral of Light. One block up a boulevard was all it took to get us to the wide golden gates. A cadre of Exalted of Erathis were already waiting to take us inside.

The outside of the cathedral was stunningly decorated with towers and statues but I was still awed by the inside. The whole chamber was enormous. The high roof and long windows gave it an airy feel. The whole thing was decorated in shades of gold, cream, and blue, and it was lit with a warm, golden light. Painted scenes depicting the gods decorated the ceiling and the spaces between the windows. At the head of the cathedral were two thrones. The avatar of Erathis sat on the right hand one. The left one – Pelor’s throne – was empty. Erathis rose as we walked toward her. She wore the same gold chiton we had seen in Tierro’s evaluator. A blindfold made from the same fine fabric of her dress covered her eyes and nestled into the pile of dark curls at the back of her head.

“Bold adventurers, thank you for answering my call. As you know, Civilization is all but extinguished in the World following the God War, and I am seeking champions to drive back the forces of Evil and bring back the cities and nations. The other gods of the Shining Host are missing; I alone remain as a bastion against the Night. I would beseech your aid in finding them.

“But first, let me hear your tales again, this time when I can ask questions. There may be clues there as to what the gods of Evil have done with those of the Shining Host.” Erathis made a motion to her servants who soon reappeared with food and drink.

I told the goddess the story of our travels for the second time in as many days. Erathis peppered the telling with questions, many of which we could not answer. Kyri was able to fill in a few of the blank spots regarding the politics in Perinor while she had been with the elven counsel before rejoining us. Once Erathis was done questioning the lot of us, she turned to Yvala and quizzed her about Vertinina, the cult of Asmodeus, and the new race of tieflings. Yvala was pretty frazzled at the end and could only reply to the goddess’ questions with “I don’t know” and “That kind of thing was way above me.”

Finally, she turned her attention on Rhegar and said “And you, who left your companions to recapture your racial homelands, what can you tell me of Arborea?”

Rhegar bowed before the goddess and stepped to the front of our group. “The campaign has exceeded our expectations and we are advancing fast. Under Garn’s leadership, we have broken the back of Tiamat’s forces. Less than a month ago we were able to break through the forces surrounding our former capitol of Skogg. It was good times. Our forces swept through the city in celebration, putting to the sword those who had fled the front lines and exploring the once great city of our ancestors.

“My squad was searching a tower for several devils that had attempted to escape from the justice we brought to them. While combing the tower we stumbled across a room which must have belonged to a very important advisor or general. There were letters and scrolls from devils in the Nine Hells covering every flat surface. I flipped through a couple on top to see if there was any information that would be of use to our campaign.

“That is when some disturbing notes about Lord Bahamut. Some of the letters spoke of a treasured prisoner; one even mentioned a platinum dragon. I ordered the squad to call of the search and assist me in going through the letters. We managed to piece together that the avatar of our Lord Bahamut had been taken in an ambush by that treacherous black snake, Tiamat. He was then imprisoned in a place called Chernoggar, held in a dreamless sleep by her Poison Abishai. The letters spoke several times of the need to change our the abishai.

“I took the news to Garn, but he waved me away. He told me that it was likely planted correspondence designed to distract us from our goal and seemed to think that there was no conclusive proof that Bahamut had been captured. He told me he was too busy clearing the city, preparing for his wedding, and planning the next offensive, to go on a wild goose chase. Naturally the other captains followed his lead and wanted to be where the glory of battle would be. Even the other paladins began to dismiss the letters when Garn would not show his support.

“But I cannot see how they would plant such information and my faith in Bahamut demands that I discover if the rumor is true and mount a rescue mission if necessary. So, I pulled in a few favors and borrowed a ship that would let me contact the Order to see if they would help me. As they were already headed to see you, your Ladyship, I decided to come with them. I ask you know, are the rumors of Lord Bahamut’s capture true?”

Erathis nodded her head in a slow, sad manner. “Alas, it is true. Bahamut was one of the first gods to disappear. I had heard that Tiamat had caught Bahamut unaware, but my informants were unable to uncover where he had been kept. That she would hold him in a sleep makes much sense.

“Chernoggar is a nightmarish place indeed. I know little about it first hand, but I have some information from a successful rescue attempt several centuries ago. It details a secret passage into the fortress near and acid drain that empties into the River of Despair. There are also notes about the maze of passages inside the Iron Fortress. Take these tools, which may be helpful in defeating any defenses that might have been put in place since my agents were there last.” The goddess held out a set of thieves’ tools, lockpicks and the like with Yvala stepped forward to take graciously. Even I could tell that they were of the finest craft, much better than the set our rogue currently owned.

“Your grace, is there an expedient way to travel to Chernoggar?” asked Kalena.

“I will have the Wizards in the Swan Tower prepare Ioun's personal teleportation circle. While it cannot teleport you directly inside the Iron Fortress of Chernoggar, with skill and a little luck you should be able to get relatively close. I wish I had soldiers to spare that I could send in your place, but it is not to be at this time. Good luck, brave adventurers.” Erathis rose from her throne and gave us a short bow of respect, our cue that she had no more questions, or advice, for us.

Rhegar wanted to leave immediately for Chernoggar saying, “Now that I know the truth, I cannot be delayed further.”

The rest of us weren’t so inclined to depart so soon, especially Yvala. “Why you arrogant, impulsive, zealous dragonborn! You want to leave tonight?! We fought pirates, broke through the demons at the harbor, ran wildly through the city, and have just spent the last four hours having a goddess pick our brains! And now you want us to crawl through a fortress?! There are beds here! Comfy, comfy beds!”

At this point I felt it was necessary to restrain Yvala, who was going for two or the many daggers stashed about her body with a very murderous gleam in her eyes. “Easy there, Yvala.” I told her. “We’ll be spending the night and you’ll get your very own bed.” This seemed to calm her down a bit. With a pointed look at the dragonborn I added, “Rhegar isn’t stupid enough to insist that we attempt to break into a place called the Iron Fortress without catching up on the sleep we’ve missed in the last day and a half.”

At this point, Kalena popped in with a bit of logic. “One night isn’t going to matter to a god who’s been trapped for close to a century. That same night matters much more to us, especially after the gauntlet we came through to get here.”

“With a full night’s sleep, we’ll be better prepared to get through the traps Chernoggar has waiting for us. Think it through Rhegar. You’re much less useful to your god by being captured yourself than you are completing the rescue,” added Vixi.

Grumbling, Rhegar acquiesced that it would be better to leave in the morning. We trundled off to the dormitories, with me leading Yvala as far away from Rhegar as possible.