Book: Lilith's Diary

In the spring of 6277, the crew of the Drunken Dragon briefly encountered a powerful cambion who was the daughter of the archdevil that rules the Sixth Hell, Fierna, the Queen of Infernal Pleasure. The party got hold of her diary. Cormorant was able to read the Infernal script it was written in and the following are some extracts from it.

*NB: Dash-breaks indicate a jump forward in pages.*

> Mother told me that writing down my thoughts might help. Help me keep track of it all. Help me not get lost in it all. I’m sceptical, of course. But I’ll do as she says.
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> Time is escaping me. At home, few others seem to suffer as I do. Only Isaac and Undine seem to understand. It’s the mortal parts of us then, that’s what I’ve concluded. It stands to reason, of course, that my weakness would stem from the part of me so fragile one needed only wait a while for him to find his end. Us three, and, I presume, those others who share our duality, suffer for our mortal minds trapped in timeless bodies.
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> And so, the writing. I have found myself losing track of time. The differences between seconds and minutes have long left me. Hours I know were longer than both, but so too were days. In a place where the sky changes with time, I remember that a day is one turn of the sun. A week though? A month? It’s hard to care about the differences too, even after I seek out the answers. That should be the real worry, I feel. That I no longer care.
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> I have a new imp now. My last one hadn’t served yet, so they pulled it away from me, changed it, and sent it to Geryon. I had been fond of them. The new one is irritating, but it works hard.
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> I found a cult to the sinner today. Spilled a lot of blood.
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> New imp. Last one was promoted.
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> Why won’t mother love me back? I do everything for her. I live my life for her. I want to be useful. I need to be useful. If I’m useful, she’ll love me one day.
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> New imp? Yes, I think so.
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> Mother saw my notes and she scolded me for not being thorough like I was at the start I don’t want her to be mad so I’ll be thorough now I promise today I killed a human that tried to summon her for his arrogance and also I found out that Bel likes flowers which I think is ridiculous because shouldn’t he care more about doing his job and I also thought that maybe it would be good to stay in Phlegethos for a while and just live like a devil because I’m a devil damn it but then mother said she needed me to go back because there’s just so much sin and we need to work work work
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> I have a new imp now and she’s a fresh one so she’s helping me with time. She’s helping a lot. I like her actually and I think I’ll try and keep her for a while.
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> Some whispers came to me from a group that mother’s keenly waiting for. Performers, if I remember right. She loves performers. They fit in so well at home. Isaac will want this task himself but I’m definitely doing it. Besides, they contacted me, so I’ve the right of it.
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> They’ve cleared out their best room for me. It’s a hovel at the top of their floating dung heap. A sloppy contact ring is etched into the floor and it makes me homesick even though Ivy says we’ve only been here three days. I feel from her tone that that’s not a long time.
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> I’ve been busy getting the counter-charm working, and these jongleurs are useless to a man, having to be walked through every step and always squeamish at the first little drop of blood - as if they aren’t eating the same goat meat in the evenings. Mortals sicken me. Yes, I’ve been busy doing the boring stuff but today I dressed for war and it felt so good. The mortals told me that apparently this contact of theirs (they appear to be frightened of them, hence me) sails a big ship - lots of slaves, lots of ogres, the works. I was disappointed when a regular ship turned up, and even more so when they didn’t want to try killing me. My hand is still itchy from where I didn’t draw my sword.
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> Ivy says I should have written about the coffins before. She’s probably right. The pirate ship came and there was a lot of commotion while I stood around waiting to kill something. They moved sacks of soil aboard the other ship the jongleurs keep things in. Gardening? Undine would be happy. Then they pulled 13 coffins aboard, handling some far more gently than others. Is that interesting? Are ogres dumber than standard mortals? I assume so.
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> The jongleurs keep singing. When they show up in new places, they put on a big act that first night and Ivy says it’s good for me to go. Says that maybe I’ll find some good people for mother if I show my face every so often. I hate it but she likes the shows, so I go.
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> There’s another cambion here.
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> Ivy’s got his imp’s number. She’s killed the thing three times already. It can’t keep up with her. But I’m more interested in the cambion itself. Why are they in this little place? Waiting for me? I can’t remember all of the devils who likely have grudges against mother right now. I think the Second might think we’ve skimped on them? Zariel wouldn’t care about something like that, would she? No. One of her generals then? Or some upstart? Who else? The Seventh? No. They’re busy with the demands of Nessus right now. Oh. Oh! Of course there’s the Fifth. Opportunists. Could be them. I’ll keep alert for the stench of blue-collar workers.
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> Whoever it is, I do hope they want to fight. Playing teacher and bodyguard is oh so dull. I should have let Isaac take this job. I keep hoping someone interesting will run from home to join the carnival. Would that count as a soul I’d won? Mother gets all their souls anyway, I think. I should check. Ivy doesn’t know either.
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