88. Hell in a Cell

* Having left the Sylvan Embassy in Dis well-rested and with direction and purpose, Aerendyl, Clwyd, Pyt, and Wilfred had made use of a cocktail of spells -- Wilfred's *nondetection*, to keep them hidden from all the parties interested in hunting them or learning their location to pass on to Mephistopheles's pursuing forces, Pyt's *invisibility*, and Aerendyl's *wind* *walk*, as well as a *telepathic* *bond* from Wilfred so Clwyd could give them directions while they flew invisibly in wind form -- to travel from the embassy to the Bagrellan Estate unmolested.
* Arriving at the far side of the estate's bridge over a modest lava flow 10-minutes into their spells, the party pressed on. Wilfred led them through the estate's imp holes, which he'd explored before with his *arcane* *eye*, eventually getting them to the prison and in front of the sealed doors he believed was the entrance to Zadimus the vampire's cell -- the vampire whose eye would absolve them of their debt to Red Rona and allow them to move on to the next Hell without having to maim themselves, as per the terms of their agreement.
	+ The large double doors are seamless and feature no keyhole or handles. Wilfred recognises that the pattern on the metal doors is actually another Infernal puzzle, similar to the one he'd solved to open up the contract box before. A nail-biting 7 minutes pass, in which Wilfred works quickly to solve the puzzle's riddle while the rest of the party watch and listen for anyone who might be coming towards the small side hallway where they stood. They hear the heavy, brutal sounds of two chain devils harassing the fire giant woman chained in the prison-forge very near where they were.
	+ Wilfred solves the puzzle and they push the double doors open. Beyond is a large holding cell, torture chamber, and viewing gallery all in one. The walls are lined with many instruments of pain, metal benches rise up from the iron floor at the edges of the room, and in its centre sits a large slab of black stone, rising up to waist height on a human. Zadimus lays atop it, as they had seen when Aerendyl successfully scried on the vampire. 20 separate chains of thick iron links rise seamlessly from the floor, bind his body tight to the stone block, and touch the floor on the far side; they are banded so up the entire length of his body, from ankle to neck, save for small spaces left between where torture devices could still be used to good effect. To the left of Zadimus's slab as they are looking in, a large, solid metal bell jar rests on the floor, a winching chain rising from its top and running to the ceiling. Next to the metal contraption, a dual run of chains runs from floor to ceiling, suggesting they are used in raising and lowering the thing. Finally, at the far side of the room, a hulking fiendish flesh golem stands motionless.
	+ Zadimus calls out cheerfully when he hears the doors open with a 'back so soon, lads?'
	+ Pyt approaches, but is careful to stay out of the vampire's line of sight lest he be charmed. He speaks briefly in Sylvan, saying that they aren't there to hurt Zadimus. The vampire is hesitant to believe what he's hearing at first, but can't pick fault with the Sylvan phrasing. Pyt and Zadimus hash out a hurried agreement: they free him from the block and he travels with them to the end of the fourth Hell; they help each other to escape and Zadimus doesn't harm or charm the party on the way; the party in turn will not harm Zadimus; and, on Zadimus's insistence, they will free the elf Ilphas -- who is being held below the metal bell jar -- and he shall accompany them all on their journey through Dis; finally, once they reach the end of the Fourth Hell, Zadimus shall give them one of his eyes.
* Having sworn the Sylvan Oaths, the party begin to work on a plan to free the vampire. Zadimus tells them they'll need the jailer's key to unlock the chains that bind him. That jailer, as they'd seen through Aerendyl's scrying, is an amnizu -- a powerful fiend that none of them were keen to face. They decide that their best course of action for the time being is to wait for the jailer to show up again, since Zadimus told them he comes every morning to bathe the vampire in sunlight and give instructions for how he is to be tortured that day.
	+ At Zadimus's recommendation, the party opt to kill the fiendish flesh golem before its master shows up and can start giving it orders that would make a fight with an amnizu even more difficult. They are able to kill the golem with relative ease, though Clwyd could offer little to the fight other than repeatedly bind the thing with the rope of entanglement.
	+ Wilfred had cast his *pliable* *summons* during the battle with the golem, and so while the spell lingered he used it to winch up the bell jar. This released 28 blood-sucking stirges into the room. They immediately swarmed the party, only breaking from their relentless blood hunt long enough to occasionally land on Zadimus and forcibly inject the blood they'd stolen into the vampire.
	+ The party are eventually able to deal with all the stirges, but not without injury. Further, Aerendyl learns during the fight that their teleports don't work for some reason and is forced to use the collar of the hellhound once more.
	+ But with the stirges dealt with, the party can look upon the sorry creature that is Ilphas. He's a blue-white winter-wearing eladrin, but he's been blindfolded. Wounds, sores, and legions pockmark all over his fair skin, and he's strapped into a wire-seated executioner's chair. The bands of metal at his wrists and ankles have been welded into place, suggesting there was never any intention of freeing him. He weeps with quiet sobs, and when the party take his blindfold off, his eyes don't focus on them at all. Narrow streams of tears run from them, but they continue to stare only into the middle distance. To Aerendyl, it's like looking into a dark mirror of the worst years of his long life, the centuries he spent alone and immobile in a single room.
	+ Zadimus tells them that Ilphas won't answer them. He certainly hasn't answered the vampire despise his constant efforts to get him to talk. 'It's the Longing,' Zadimus tells them.
	+ Aerendyl frees the eladrin by quickly *polymorphing* him into a lizard and then releasing the spell again. But Ilphas doesn't even stand under his own strength. He wails suddenly and collapses to the floor, then again his sobs grow quiet and weak.
	+ Zadimus tells them to bring Ilphas where they can look each other in the eyes. Aerendyl does so, manhandling the other eladrin until he holds his face before the vampire. Then Zadimus uses his charm ability on Ilphas, after a few attempts and a grumbling mention that elves always were a pain. After that, Zadimus is able to instruct Ilphas to stand up and help the party in their fighting to come; despite whatever ails the elf's body and mind, he follows the compulsion of the vampire's instructions.
* After killing the powerful flesh golem and freeing Ilphas, the party wait around in Zadimus's cell for a while. A half hour passes before they grow restless and consider other options. Wilfred attempts to *dispel* whatever it is that is blocking their attempts to teleport. Some magic dissolves from the walls, but he finds that he still can't cast a teleportation spell. Then the party decides Wilfred should try casting *knock* on the bonds that hold Zadimus. The gnome does so, the loud noise the spell produces sounds out, and a link in one of the twenty bands of chain pops open, complying with the spell. Only nineteen more to go!
	+ But a chain devil comes to investigate the noise. The party are able to hurt it soundly, but it successfully flees before they can kill it.
	+ Now they panic.
	+ Pyt casts Jackson into Cormorant's false eye and has him stand outside the door looking down the corridor approach.
	+ They sweep all the corpses up by Ilphas's old chair and then lower the metal bell jar to cover them all. Many castings of prestedigitation later and the room is clean of blood once more. Their plan then is to gaslight the chain devil when it returns.
* But when a force does arrive a few minutes later, Pyt sees through the Jackson-eye that its not a chain devil but a massive, winged horned devil accompanied by ten merregons! The party think they should use *windwalk* and flee but their isn't enough time to assume their wind forms! Hurriedly, they get into position to launch a devastating surprise attack on the approaching devils.
	+ The doors open.
	+ Pyt unleashes a *lightning* *bolt* spell from his recently upgraded magical viol.
	+ Aerendyl and Ilphas both release a *cone* *of* *cold* spell from the flanks, catching the horned devil and the merregons at the front of their ranks.
	+ Pyt is also able to get off a *circle* *of* *death* spell, again from the viol, before the devils can separate too much.
	+ Then the fight begins in earnest.
	+ The merregons pour into the room, each a slab of solid muscle and metal armour with a featureless mask bolted atop their faces. They appear all too willing to fight to the death, and they prove lethal with their halberds.
	+ Clwyd, seeing that their current situation is quite all-or-nothing, plays the trump card she'd been keeping close to her chest. With the fox skull in hand, she draws heavily from the power of the witch spirit sealed within as well as her own life force, her hair turns white, her skin wrinkles, her nails grow sharp and hard like stone, and her eyes darken. With so much of the witch Phigalia's power in her, Clwyd is able to contribute to the fighting once more, despite her recent mundanity. Again and again, she causes the bedrock beneath the room's iron floor to burst up under the devils' feet.
	+ And amidst the chaos of the merregons' assault and the party and Ilphas slinging spells and magical effects everywhere to fight them off, the horned devil proves itself to be both very fast and deadly strong. Initially it is content to zip in and out the room, harrying them with hurled balls of flame, but Wilfred eventually seals it in the room with his *pliable* *summons*. Then the horned devil moves into melee, and while its claws are sharp, its tail proves to be its most lethal weapon of all.
	+ Aerendyl is stuck badly by the tail, and the wound it leaves bleeds profusely. The elf falls to the floor soon after and the wound keeps bleeding freely all the while.
	+ By the time Pyt can try to *healing* *word* the elf, Aerendyl is already dead.
	+ Wilfred eventually kills the horned devil with a devastating casting of *mental* *prison*. The creature panics and tries to fly away, and is immediately struck down by the psychic assault of the spell.
* Aerendyl finds himself in a curious darkness. He can see his own body but nothing else. The air is stale and the feeling of claustrophobia is heavy on him. Then a voice sounds out in the darkness, loud and sourceless, the voice of Dispater, Lord of the Fourth.
	+ 'You who would perish in my realm, would you not choose life instead if given the chance?' says the archdevil. 'I ask for this only that you complete a simple task, you who would travel to the Umbral Market, that ancient burr in my side. Go to them, infiltrate them, then tell me where they shall be. What will you choose, little elf. And speak quickly now, for I have a great many others that demand my attentions.'
	+ Aerendyl says that he would choose to live.
	+ A candle lights in the dark, revealing a writing desk. A contract, a quill, and ink are already there.
	+ 'Then sign,' says Dispater. And Aerendyl does so.
* The horned devil's head snaps back as Wilfred's *mental* *prison* spell does its grizzly work. The large fiend hits the floor with a heavy, wet thump. The party collect themselves. The room's been trashed in the chaos. Clwyd's witch mode has ended and she's again back to being a largely powerless goblin. The group have no idea what to do now. But Pyt is going towards Aerendyl, knowing that if his healing spell didn't work it can only mean the elf is truly dead. The others don't even know yet. But then the elf coughs a few times and rolls to his side. Aerendyl lives. Somehow, Aerendyl lives.