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.