House Telphousila

## Overview

   An infernal household responsible for producing hellfire in Mephistar, the Fifth Hell. Additionally, they dabble in manufacturing hellfire engines, typically working on only one at a time rather than the vast quantities that some of the specialised households of Mephistar produce. Furthermore, like all devils, the household is responsible for the torment and punishment of a number of mortals.

The household is headed by the erinys Telphousila. She has spawned a number of powerful cambions who further her goals among mortals, the chief of which concerns recruiting warlocks to nurture hellfire during their lives and then bolster Telphousila's ranks in their afterlife.

## The Estate

The grounds of the household are a dark, shiny obsidian. Many leafless trees of glass decorate it. It features a number of prominent locations:

### The Lakes

The grounds of the Telphlousila estate feature three lakes of the River Styx. Mortal souls bound to the household emerge from them when their times comes to serve Telphousila.

### The Pleasure Gardens

The pleasure gardens feature many creeping vines and glass roses, dyed in scarlet, crimson, and black by the mulch of lemures that they are nurtured with. Gentle walking paths snake around a large collection of statues - living people who have been encased in glass, trapped in expressions of anguish and pain.

### The Maze

Obsidian hedge walls form an intricate, complex maze at one end of the pleasure gardens. Raised seating allows spectators to look down on and observe all the happenings inside. The floor of the maze is raised and bumped with knife-like shards of glass to cut the runners' bare feet to ribbons. They desperately try to make it to the centre, where, if they can ever reach, they have been told their freedom from years of maze running awaits them. But with the household's beasts chasing behind them, few if any ever reach the goal.

Lady Telphousila uses the maze to exercise her hell hounds, and many of the household's residents come to watch these daily shows. Occasionally, Telphousila entertains important guests with the maze runs.

### The Workshops

The sites where imps and spined devils work feverishly to put together the household's latest hellfire engine and other magical projects.

### The Kennels

Lady Telphousila owns 12 hell hounds and 3 howlers, kept near the main palace of the estate.

## Members of the Household

### Lady Telphousila

An erinys, and the head of the household.

### Cambions

#### - Nix

The child of Lady Telphousila, Nix is a cambion with red-feathered wings.

#### - Erys

A pearlescent cambion with leathery wings and a cheery demeanour.

#### - Erebus

The child of Pyt and Lilova, a cambion with leathery wings.

### Succubi

#### - Lilova

During the party's first stay in the estate, Pyt conceived a child with Lilova while he was searching for ways to reclaim his lost memories. Then, during the group's one year stay in the household, Lilova birthed the child, the cambion Erebus. She did not allow Pyt the chance to speak with the child.

### Chain Devils

- Ku-sarr, the household's chief torturer.

### Warlocks

#### - Badger

After being abandoned by Driscoll on Tortuga, Nix offered Badger a deal: the cambion would get him off the island, via House Telphousila, provided Badger join the household. The deal did not include any of Badger's crew.

Badger agreed, on the condition that Nix help him get revenge against Driscoll for leaving him to die.

#### - Clwyd

She became Nix's ward in a deal that included getting the party off Tortuga and away from the threat of Nogg the Dread Drake. Clwyd took the deal, seeing it as an opportunity to have her cake and eat it; the party wanted off the turtle, but she herself had long been searching for routes to power and, ultimately, her revenge.

#### - Pyt

When a True Vampire loyal to Shandy had Pyt under charm and had him attempting to kill the rest of the party alongside two Vampire Spawn, Nix saved Pyt (and some of the others in the group) by transporting the bard to House Telphousila.

During his overnight stay, Pyt, ashamed of what he'd done, acquiesced to Nix's constant offers to take up some hellfire and join the household.

### Tortured Mortals

#### - Vigri

A dwarf, though his ethnic origin was unknown to Cormorant or his companions. He gained a reprieve from his maze running when Cormorant requested someone teach him field surgery during the party's year spent in the estate.

Vigri does not speak Common, so the first few months of instruction involved a lot of gesturing and guess-work, with one hour stints where Wilfred's *Tongues* spell allowed them actual communication. The dwarf's Infernal came along to the point where he could eventually express to Cormorant that he hopes the man goes on and does some good with the knowledge Vigri was giving him, and perhaps in doing so, he'll make up for Vigri's misdeeds in the past.