Descent into Infernus

## Characters

Arkhan The RedSextus AugurelionNullElstaerLucas
## Prologue

*"The year is 1954 AoD, the holy city of Parascent finds itself at the heart of a rebellion, a collection of mages and religious zealots have risen up against the Draconic Empire, seeking freedom from the empire’s oppression. Once the city’s court mage, Lady Allyria Ralvethan has been given the difficult task of leading the rebels alongside Archbishop Philippe who under the guidance of the Lunar Queen has drawn many of his faithful to the city. Meanwhile, Count Helmut Weindorf of Freyen has amassed an army 20,000 strong with the sole purpose of retaking the city and restoring the peace along the empire’s turbulent eastern front.*

*His armies encircled the city during the first days of the new year, and the siege has persisted through the final months of Winter. Now with Spring on the horizon, Helmut has ordered the attack. His forces easily breach the battered gates cutting down mages and zealots alike along their path towards the castle of High Hall, whilst his artilleries’ constant bombardment shatters the morale of those last defenders still brave enough to man the crumbling walls.*

*As the fighting spreads through the streets, we turn our attention towards the grand cathedral where hundreds of refugees have gathered, drawn by the promise of safety and by the emerald light that rises up into the blood red sky. Here the archbishop has gathered his faithful, holding one final sermon. The refugees look on in fear as he falls onto his knees before the statue of Sarastra, begging her for help…for salvation; his misplaced faith blinding him to the truth. The end is here.*

*However, it is not the imperials who will usher in this end but rather, a force far more ancient, one far more insidious. In the crypts beneath the cathedral, a group of individuals lie in wait preparing for the oncoming bloodshed."*

## The Descent Begins

Deep within the crypts beneath the grand cathedral our protagonists, a squad of hellknights, found themselves awaiting their master's signal. Having been hired by the infernal cambion, Davriel, each one of them was hand picked for this mission, the fall of Parascent and the harvest of hundreds of thousands of souls for the Infernal Legions. All were anxious to some extent, with Null finding herself barely able to control the growing sense of anticipation at the thought of the bloodbath that awaited here. The others were somewhat more taciturn with Elstaer and Lucas finding different ways to occupy their time between observing the chamber within which they now found themselves and preparing their spells. Meanwhile, Arkhan silently sat at the edge of a sarcophagus, his focus squarely set on finishing this one mission and earning Davriel's help, there was no room for error. He glanced towards the raven perched on his shoulder, unseen by all others, his constant guide and companion in his quest for vengeance. And lastly, Sextus stood by the door, a grim expression plastered along his face. He had been chosen to act as centurion for this mission, faced with the difficult task of leading the squad into battle, more than the rest Sextus was not looking forward to the bloody work that needed doing, but it did need doing which is why had to stand resolute in the face of his own misgivings.

They heard the sound of approaching footsteps a few moments into their preparations, as the familiar figure of Davriel entered the chamber to ensure that they were ready. Their main goal during the operation would be to kill Helmut, and doing so with a hellforged weapon, thereby making sure that his soul would be consigned to the hells. Their orders would be expanded upon after the initial phases of their assault, and before that they'd need to deal with the archbishop and the rest of the faithful who had congregated inside the cathedral. He ordered them to finish their final preparations and make their way to the sacristy where they would await his signal and prepare to partake in the slaughter to come. With that he bade them farewell, and left them to their devices.

A few moments later they set forth, traversing the crypts and climbing up to the sacristy where they came across the corpses of two priests who had been quietly killed. Peeking through a small window they saw the figure of Philippe kneeling before the statue of the Lunar Queen, lost in his prayers; begging the goddess for her help. Null and Sextus manoeuvred their way up onto the rafters sneaking through the shadows and noticing a collection of hooded individuals making their way towards the entrances, figures that they recognized to be merregons. As the archbishop's sermon reached an end the emerald light rising up from the statue's grail began to gently pulse and from it emerged an armoured figure, a vision of the emerald knight who gracefully descended towards Philippe, and addressed both him and the crowd, revealed that their salvation was at hand before suddenly turning and stabbing the archbishop in the chest. Dropping the dying priest's body at the base of the desecrated statue, Davriel revealed himself to the stunned crowd proclaiming that their deliverance was truly at hand and that his hand would be the one that guided it. With that he gave the signal, and the massacre began, Arkhan, Lucas, and Null immediately gave themselves to the slaughter, butchering refugees by the dozens, their blood flowing to and pooling at the base of the Lunar Queen's statue. Elstaer and Sextus refused to take part, with Sextus making sure to only kill one of the individuals who managed to slip past the merregons.

In the aftermath of this massacre, the emerald light took on a crimson colour and began to violently surge outwards as the statue drank in the blood of the innocent. The ground shook before the light finally erupted outwards in a wave of heat that brought with it the sulfurous stench of fire and brimstone, alongside the wailing of lost souls. The descent had finally begun.

As Davriel took in the moment, our squad of hellknights gathered to hear their orders, and after a final exhale, the cambion addressed them. Much as he had anticipated, the mass plane shift had thrown the mortal warriors into disarray, especially as the descent had split the city in half, effectively splitting Helmut's forces in two with most of the imperial army scrambling to find some form of leadership. The count had retreated to the mercantile district where he was currently rallying his forces, assaulting his position directly would be a difficult prospect but the party may not need to. His scouts reported that the count's son, Tobias, had been isolated during the initial descent, and was now making a desperate last stand in one of the nearby alleyways. The party could potentially use him to their advantage, although he decided to leave how they dealt with Helmut up to them. In the meantime, he would gather the bulk of his forces and lay siege to the castle of High Hall, where the hellknights would reconnect with his army after dealing with Helmut.

As he finished, two horned devils burst through the stained glass windows bringing with them his mother Qonhar's, regards but expressing her regret at not being able to witness his victory as she had been drawn to an incursion along the frontlines. She had sent the two of them in her stead, with the horned devils swearing to protect him with their lives. With that the party set forth, leaving the cathedral behind them and making their way into the burning city's streets.

## On the Hunt

Led by Sextus the party set off, finding the plaza outside the cathedral filled with the charred remains of imperial soldiers who had been caught in the initial surge of intense heat that accompanied the plane shift, taking in their surroundings, fire rained from the sky as hordes of flying devils patrolled the skies scouting ahead of the infernal soldiers that now prowled the streets. Sextus and Null scouted ahead taking to the rooftops, whilst the remaining three followed their lead through the streets.

Eventually, Sextus was approached by an imp who directed him towards Tobias' current location explaining that a group of infernal soldiers had cornered him and his remaining guard in one of the nearby alleyways. Sextus ordered the imp to ensure that none killed Tobias before their arrival and guided the rest of his squad to his location. Using the battle as cover, the hellknights made it as close as they could before attacking the defenders. They easily cut a bloody swathe through the imperials, as Sextus led the effort to capture the lordling. Along the way he grabbed one of the imperial gunners and commanded him to inform the count that his son was in danger, his forceful presence enough to shatter the man's morale as ran off through the ash covered streets.

Eventually, the hellknights reached their quarry with Null successfully incapacitating him using Tender Kiss, after which Arkhan and Sextus proceeded to beat him into unconsciousness. The devils cleared out the rest of the imperial soldiers, after which Sextus ordered them to continue their rampage through the city. The hellknights then set themselves up to ambush the count, but were surprised when no rescue came, Tobias returned to consciousness a few moments later only to be cut down by Arkhan and an impatient Null in a failed attempt to escape.

With Tobias dead the squad moved out, heading towards Helmut's last known location in the mercantile district, once more Sextus and Null scouted ahead whilst Lucas summoned an owl familiar to search from above. Along the way Sextus was once more approached by an imp who informed him that they had located Helmut in a nearby estate where a group of imperials and rebels had united in the hopes of surviving the calamity. Sextus ordered the imp to rally the infernal forces in the area in order to attack the defenders and the imp immediately set off to do so. As it did, Lucas, through his familiar's eyes saw the devil suddenly disappear in a flash of blue light. Somewhat worried Lucas ordered his familiar to maintain its distance but was unable to escape a large piece of burning debris from the sky that impacted along the side of the estate, killing the familiar and a large number of the defenders. As this happened, Null caught a strange scent on the air, the scent of ozone that was slowly growing.

Using the chaos of the impact to their advantage, the squad rushed into the estate with Null taking on the form of Tobias. The rest spread out whilst she slowly hobbled inside finding an injured Helmut in the smoke-filled courtyard alongside a group of soldiers and an arcanum agent. The agent, named Brynden, was in the process of telling Helmut that some unseen force was at play here and that it would be dangerous to draw upon the weave to cast spells. The discussion was interrupted by the Null's arrival, as still under the guise of an injured Tobias, she stumbled towards Helmut who rushed to embrace her.

In the meantime, Arkhan, who had snuck around the outskirts of the courtyard finally saw Helmut, seeing his raven perched on the count's shoulders. In that instant, a memory came to him unbidden, a memory of the night which had set him on this path. He remembered his father, on his side, his body broken and bloodied as an armoured man towered above him, an armoured man wielding a war hammer, an armoured man who he recognized was Helmut. In that moment, realizing that Helmut was responsible for his father's death, Arkhan took his shot attacking the count and forsaking any subtlety.

The rest of the hellknights followed suit, with Null taking advantage of the count's confusion to stab him in the side, whilst Lucas summoned a powerful maelstrom in the middle of the defenders. Helmut was caught in the maelstrom whilst Brynden managed to escape using a mixture of spells to attack the party whilst protecting Helmut. Brynden managed to nullify Lucas' spells successfully breaking his concentration and giving Helmut a chance to channel his divine power and summon Rubikus' ire. It was all for naught however, as Elstaer dealt a fatal blow to Brynden whilst Arkhan mortally wounded the count. However, before he could deliver the finishing blow, a half-elven woman suddenly appeared behind him, and in that moment stabbed the count in the back, killing him and engulfing his body in blue flame.

Realizing that they had failed their mission thanks to this newcomer, Sextus decided that capturing her would be the next best thing, a plan of action that she was less than keen on as blue wings suddenly sprouted from her back and she took off into the skies. Sextus downed a potion of flight, taking off after her whilst Arkhan and Elstaer did their best to shoot her down. Sextus and the figure engaged in a brief duel in the air above the courtyard that ended when she knocked him unconscious and flew off in the direction of High Hall.

## The Unseen Enemy

Having failed their objective, the hellknights took a moment to collect themselves and plot out their next move, from the courtyard they could see the towering alabaster towers of High Hall, flashes of arcana swirling above and inside it, a clear indication of the ongoing siege. Apart from that however, Null could still detect the pungent smell of ozone that was growing more and more pronounced, to the point where it was beginning to overtake the smell of fire and sulfur.

In the meantime, Arkhan stood over the ashen remains of Helmut, looking over the count's surviving gear and finally choosing to take his war hammer. As Sextus went over the plan and how they could salvage it, they heard footsteps from the main entrance, turning to see a humanoid creature stumble into the courtyard. A grotesque creature, its upper half heavily mutated; bloated and covered in pustules that flashed iridescent light. Elstaer wasted no time and immediately put the creature down, black ichor and swirling lights seeping out from its rotting wounds. Thanks to his particular expertise Lucas was able to infer that this individual was a maleficarum, a form of demonkin that arises from a mage possessed by a demon.

This event was enough to push Sextus to make a decision, deciding that they should reconnect with Davriel's forces and help the cambion eradicate the demonic threat. With that the party set off through the city, coming across sites of battle along their journey; with more and more maleficari littered throughout, the demonkins' corpses releasing flashes of arcane light. Once more summoning his familiar, Lucas sent his owl to scout ahead, seeing flashes of light lashing outwards from atop High Hall. One such flash of light surged towards the owl, and in a split second suddenly warped to form a toothy maw that consumed the familiar whole. His familiar dead, Lucas shared his discovery with the rest of the squad, and furthermore reached the conclusion that this was most likely the work of the demon lord Camazaath. A powerful demon lord who was known as being a master arcanist and schemer; known for fashioning convoluted plots that span centuries, and after a bit more thought, Lucas came to the conclusion that it would make sense for the demon to take a personal interest in Davriel's scheme if it had been made aware of it.

The fact that really caught Arkhan's attention was that the demon's most common symbol was that of a raven, leading him to glance at his raven that now looked back at him with three pairs of eyes. Doubts began to fester within him, and worried that the creature might be manipulating him, he dismissed it, to which the bird flew away towards High Hall. Scouting from the rooftops, Sextus saw a group of devils setting up a defensive line at the base of the hill leading up to the keep. A final imperial offensive was approaching the line, but apart from that he noticed other forms in the distance, as he saw a pack of barlguras led by a larger one leaping from building to building heading towards the keep. Electing to waste no more time, the hellknights reached the devils' line, the merregon making way for them and guiding them to their bone devil centurion who informed the squad that they had been ordered by Davriel to hold the line whilst waiting for the hellknights to arrive. They had since lost contact with the cambion, and were hoping that the hellknights would find their lost master whilst they held back any attempt to assault the keep.

Sextus agreed and the squad immediately set off towards the keep, stepping over dozens of infernal corpses as they passed through the keep's battered gates. High Hall's interior was filled with signs of demonic corruption as the air felt heavy, suffused with the pungent smell of ozone; and malignant growths covered the walls forming unblinking eyes that followed the squad whilst toothy maws opened and closed at their passing. Hallucinations began to plague the group, especially Arkhan, Elstaer, and Null, as voices filled their minds trying to sow the seeds of doubt and discord.

The demonic presence took a perverse interest in Arkhan and Null above the rest, trying to push the latter into succumbing to her urges for violence and kill the rest of the party. A notion that was altogether tempting to the changeling, although she maintained her composure knowing that a demon's promise was always a risky proposition. Arkhan meanwhile was told the "truth", as the demon revealed that his father was never a chivalrous knight but rather one of its many servants, a champion known as the Enchanter. A champion who had been struck down by Helmut who spared Arkhan's life, that act of mercy ultimately dooming the count. And now with Arkhan here, the time had come for him to claim his destiny and succeed his father.

And with that, the hellknights reached the inner halls where reality itself had been ripped asunder as the physical world gave way to a void at the edge of which loomed a rift that led straight into a storm of magic. The air was thick with latent arcana, corrupted by the pervasive influence of the abyss. They also saw the injured form of Davriel kneeling at the room's entrance, flanked by his horned devils and faced by a group of demons and maleficari who were being led by an elderly mage who was clearly possessed.

The hellknights wasted no time as Sextus and Null rushed past the lesser demons towards the mage, whilst the rest dealt with the demons. The elderly mage begged the duo to kill him, claiming that he could feel the demon writhing inside him; the duo were more than willing to oblige. They attacked him and in retaliation he unleashed a blast of magic that stunned them and had Sextus lose his footing, falling off the edge and being pulled towards the rift. Davriel was quick to respond and used a *levitate* spell to help the monk who immediately used this to his advantage and leapt back onto solid ground and struck down the mage.

In that moment, Arkhan once more heard the disembodied voice urge him to claim his destiny but the knight rejected its offer, claiming that he would defeat it and claim its power for himself. This statement elicited an uproarious laugh from the demon which welcomed to try before finally manifesting in its true form, that of a powerful arcane balor known as the Master Arcane. Sextus and Null redirected their offensive towards it whilst Arkhan and Elstaer shot it from afar. All the while, Lucas directed his magic to heal them as needed whilst the devils kept the demons off the hellknight.

The Master Arcane called upon powerful magic, summoning illusory copies and bending reality to its will; it also bent the weave to its will transforming the latent arcana in the air into destructive bolts of change, one of which incinerated Davriel. With their master dead, the hellknights began to realize just how desperate their situation was becoming and redoubled their efforts but it was all for naught, as Sextus and Null were the first to fall. The duo were executed through the use of a *magic missile* spell as the demon taunted them about the futility of their resistance. After this, one of the Master Arcane's illusory copies approached Arkhan stating that it was disappointed by his rejection but that its master might yet find some small use for him. And with that it used a *plane shift* spell to teleport him away, with the knight reappearing inside a crystalline cage in the heart of the abyss, swarms of vrocks circling around him.

Elstaer and Lucas were the last two left standing, with the duo putting forth a commendable effort. Lucas was the first to fall, as the demon channelled a large amount of magic into his body, forcing it to change. In his final moments, the druid felt the malignant spirits in the air turn against him, bringing with them mutation as his skin bubbled and melted away, leaving behind a warped and mindless monstrosity. Elstaer did his best to strike down the Master Arcane, and to his credit he almost succeeded, but in the end he was defeated by the narrowest of margins, as the heavily injured demon called forth a *shield* spell and blocked the mercenary's last attack before unleashing an arcane barrage and incinerating his body.

With that, the battle came to an end, our squad of hellknights drawn together by the machinations of an infernal cambion were defeated. Parascent, once a holy city of the Duchies and home to the Holy Grail now found itself in the first layer of Infernus its descent complete. To the east of the great city, Qonhar readied her legions to face the demonic incursion that threatened the Gates of Hell at the moment ignorant of the enemy within her lands, an enemy that would cost her dearly. For now however, her focus was set solely on the amassing horde, their arrival punctuated by the distant sound of chanting and a radiant golden light that was surging towards her.