The depths of hell

ARTIFICIAL HEART // FIFTH, known by the episode title "the depths of hell", is the eighth episode of ARTIFICIAL HEART, continuing the sector's completion of their fourth official Contract.

### Time (IC)

16:19 (6th of Neverwinter, 2466) to 07:02 (7th of Neverwinter, 2466)

### Welcome to the World of Pain

The session opens with the party having just defeated Merlekka, the anonymous shattered enemy that attacked them. Candlewax lies on the floor with Stitches and Peppermint crouching over his wounded body, as he quickly begins to slip into shock from blood loss. Stitches is able to determine that the shot from Merlekkas weapon tore through his femoral artery, and she knows that if she does nothing for him he has approximately ten seconds before he is beyond savable. Meanwhile, Azat, standing near the door, calls out that a gore ooze has entered the room, and those of the party that are still able to fight rush forward to face it. Stroke throws a grenade at it and Ringer turns on a fire alarm in hopes of distracting it, while Azat begins to shoot at it with his anti-material rifle.

Stitches turns to Diamant and asks her to help her with Candlewaxs leg. She tells her that she needs to perform an immediate emergency amputation, and that she needs Diamant to cauterize the wound. Diamant, shaken, agrees to help in any way she can and hands Stitches a dose of Black Lace to give to Candlewax. Stitches gives it to him and hesitates only a moment before using her Stitches Thread to sever Candlewax’s leg from his body. Peppermint begins to panic as her brother loses consciousness and begins to convulse violently.

The sounds of combat continue as the Gore Ooze advances on Azat, striking him with a mushy pseudopod before making its way over to Ringer and forcing her mind to relive traumatic past experiences. Azat moves away from the ooze and both he and Stroke continue to shoot at it with their weapons, wounding it. While they do this Diamant uses her Cinnamon Fire Burst to cauterize the wound on Candlewax, doing everything in her power to keep him alive. Peppermint stands over her brother watching in horror as he twitches violently before eventually lying still and unmoving. Looking to Stitches for any form of hope she finds her worst fears confirmed in her face, as Stitches doesn’t need to tell her that Erlario wasn’t strong enough to keep himself alive during the operation.

### Tears for the Fallen

Peppermint, shaken by the loss of her brother, gently steps over his corpse to face the enemy. Harnessing her magic she unleashes her rage on it, shooting her magic at it and attacking it with summoned Ice Shards again and again. Peppermint spends all the energy she has left in her attacking the Gore Ooze before collapsing to the ground next to her brother, overcome by nausea and grief. Diamant turns as well to the ooze, aiming one final shot of Cinnamon Fire Burst at it, reducing what’s left of the ooze to ashes. Diamant then turns back to Erlario and demands that Stitches do something to help him. When she doesn’t move, Diamant, in desperation, begins chest compressions, and a silence falls over the party as they all realize what happened to their ally.

The party gathers around their fallen companion. Peppermint sits, crying over the corpse of her brother, and Stitches begins to tend to Auntie, as the wounds she sustained cause her to collapse. Ringer falls extremely silent and quietly composes herself while Stroke helps Stitches look for a makeshift splint. Diamant eventually sees how futile her attempts to revive Erlario are, and steps away from him, holding back tears while Azat closes his eyes. Diamant, seeing the condition of her group, backs away to another corner. Stroke, seeing her do this, follows her to see if she’s alright. Diamant admits to her that she’s in way over her head, and when Stroke asks her if this is her first encounter with death she nods and says and doesn’t want to lead the party for the rest of the day. She asks Stroke if she will lead the group for her, and after a short conversation between the two of them Stroke agrees and heads back to the rest of the group.

The party considers what they need to do for the corpses and Peppermint tells them that she wants to take her brother back to her homelands. There’s a moment's hesitation that goes around the group before Stroke tells Peppermint that going back is a suicide mission, however appropriate it would be for him. Instead she offers that the group cremate him while they rest for a few hours. Peppermint hesitantly agrees to do this and volunteers to carry his ashes. Stroke and Azat together start to help get him ready while Stitches moves to Merlekka to extract his crome. She finds numerous different useful items on his person and the party decides among themselves what they want to do with them. They rest for a moment, Ringer taking a short nap, and the rest of the group finding ways to take care of themselves to the best of their ability before deciding to continue the journey to HELL.

### Welcome to the Shadows

As the party gets ready to leave, Stroke goes ahead of the group to make sure the way is clear. She finds only an unstable collection of catwalks that descend almost straight downwards. She helps the group to descend when they are ready to move forwards, and when the group reaches the bottom they are met with a balcony followed by two metal doors. Stroke, investigating the balcony, is shocked to be the first of the party to lay eyes on the HELL district. She looks out and sees an entire second city spanning everywhere her eyes can see, noticing that this place is alive with people that she didn’t even know existed a few days ago. Looking down from the balcony she notices a ladder that the party can climb down and leads the group over. Before descending fully, Stroke gives Peppermint the helmet that Merlekka was wearing to hide her face from the view of the drow, as they’re likely to become hostile upon seeing  her.

Descending the Ladder, Stroke asks Diamant to accompany her first, as they will likely be encountering drow that wish to speak with them, and Diamant agrees. The party barely has time to make it fully down the ladder as a group before they are met with two drow citizens of HELL. Both groups hesitate when they see each other, unsure of what the other will do before the two drow curiously ask the group of riots if they’re alright. Confused, Diamant tells them that they’ve been better and concerned for their health, the drow give them directions to a ripperdoc nearby to go address their injuries. Thanking them, Diamant leads the group away from the drow before asking Azat why they were so nice. Azat admits that he’s just as confused as she is, as it’s been a long time since he was down here, and tells her that the group needs to find a place to get some more information about this place. Stroke volunteers to scout ahead, and when Diamant tells her to do what she wants she finds what looks like a bar that would be good for the group to gather information.

As the group cautiously makes their way to the bar Stitches is able to read their sign and notices it says “Ye Old Salt” and assumes it to be the name of the bar. Going inside the party is met with plenty of odd looks, but no hostility and they make their way to the bartender. Ringer immediately orders a drink, and when the drow behind the counter looks helplessly at her Stitches translates for him. Getting her the drink the drow motions to Stitches and the rest of the Group and asks them where they came from to look so devastated. Stitches tells him that they’re looking for some people in the city that may be here and that they took a much more dangerous route to the city than intended. The bartender asks if he can help them in any way and Diamant tells Stitches to ask him about the drow with the snake scar on his face. Asking on her behalf the drow becomes very quiet before asking Stitches to talk with him in a different room. She agrees, telling the party to come looking for her if she isn’t back in five minutes, and follows him to the back room.

### An Unwanted Stranger

As the drow leads Stitches to the back room he tells her not to ask about the drow with the snake scar on his face. He tells her that no one knows who he is, but that he’s a stranger from the South West and he scares the people of HELL. Asking about this man will likely get his attention and will also make the people in the bar fear Stitches herself, thinking she may be working with him. He asks her if the people she’s looking for are kidnapped and Stitches confirms this. Shaking his head the drow tells her that she has the right idea looking into the drow with the scarred face, and tells her that he’s forming a sort of militia in HELL. He’s set up a place called the “Purple Serpent” and has a lot of influence in the city.

Stitches thanks him for all his help and information and the man offers her and the party a place to rest for the night, as his attic isn’t being used. She accepts his offer and tips nim 100 credits before returning to the party. While she rejoins the group and informs them about what she’s learned, Stroke takes Ringer aside and hands her an inhaler, telling her that if she’s having trouble, it’ll help her. Without asking what it is Ringer accepts the inhaler and immediately begins having more violent and traumatic hallucinations. Both Stroke and Ringer begin to panic, as Stroke realizes she made a mistake and Ringer begins to have a breakdown. As the rest of the group make their way to the attic where the drow told them they can go, they stop to make sure the two of them are alright, and Stroke tries to hide what she did to her, admitting only to Stitches that she gave Ringer Sid; LSD. Auntie comforts Ringer and the party goes upstairs to rest for the night.

### Rest and Regret

As the party begins to recover, Stroke locks herself in the bathroom for a while, trying to console herself, and while she does this Diamant corners Stitches and demands to know what is wrong with Diamant. Stitches tells her that she messed up by giving Ringer LSD and to leave her alone. When Stroke finally feels good enough to leave the bathroom she barely makes it out of the door before Diamant pushes her back in and tells her to have a seat on the toilet. Diamant closes the door behind them and there's a moment of silence before Diamant and Stroke begin to have an argument. Diamant tells Stroke that she admires her at least a little bit but finds her excruciating to be around and Stroke tells Diamant that Diamant is saying all these terrible things about herself that aren’t true, and she thinks she’s doing it for attention. The argument goes back and forth for a while before eventually escalating to a point where Diamant tells Stroke that if it would make her happy Diamant will never see Strokes face again once they get Silvers' family, and she storms out of the bathroom.

They don’t talk to each other for the rest of the night, and after sitting with herself in silence, Diamant quietly asks Azat to get the party to safety if she dies in HELL. Azat agrees, but tells Diamant that he does care for her and that he thinks she’s being somewhat childish at the moment. The two sit in silence for a short while while Azat reads a book he brought with him, before eventually Azat asks the group if he should get something for them to eat. Thanking him, the party agrees that food would be good and Azat returns with an earthy soup. He says he was told the recipe was given to the drow by a mind flayer folk hero and the name of the soup translates to something along the lines of “Sadness Soup.” Trying it, the group finds it to be really good before eventually deciding to try to get some rest.