Following Celeste’s demise in the Library at the end of chapter 1, focus now shifts to a house in Dolmvay in north Osugbo. The house belongs to Aaron Duscalla, curator of historical artifacts.
As Aaron wakes up and begins his daily morning routine, the camera lingers briefly on a picture of his wife and daughter before centering on a desk in his office with a list of artifacts for a new collection. Foremost on the list is something called Karavox, of which very little is known.
At the appearance of the name, the camera careens backwards in time to the era of dragons: a tumultuous point in history during the Infernal Emergence, made even more dangerous after Tiamat was released. Theories run rampant—specifically the idea that getting rid of the “Man In Black”, the devil closest to the pit that’s responsible for all others roaming the land, will end the reign of terror. The problem is, no one’s been able to get close enough to him to test that theory.
There’s also rumor of a weapon that can not only wound a devil, but the one who controls it. However, the location of such a weapon remains a mystery.
Four adventurers have set camp in a ruined temple to Pelor: the Aarakocra Ranger, Rooney; the Ursin Barbarian, Chonnnk (emphasis on the “k”); the Human Paladin, Domus; and the Human Sorcerer, Kyuri. Having been hired by Syr Lokord to search for archaeologists that went missing at the temple, the group had decided to sleep indoors to avoid the elements.
Rooney and Kyuri are alerted to movement outside the room they’re in, and they quickly wake the other two. As the group prepares for a fight, Rooney searches for another exit. His hand runs along the wall, and for a moment brushes against a soft, malleable metal rather than the stone he was expecting. He tries to find the spot again, but fails. Chonnnk uses the time to pull out a book and begin reading in the corner.
There’s a knock on the door, and Domus invites them in. The party is met by a fiendish crocodile-like creature with several mouths lining its body, who speaks in a primordial tongue that only Rooney understands. It tells them its master, the “General” is waiting to speak with them outside the chamber.
Once in the hallway, the group sees hooded cultists lining the passages, and Domus discovers a small creature that’s seemingly a mouth with appendages attached. From the other end of the hallway, a massive demon approaches them.
The crocodile tells Rooney the demon is “General Arzarox”, its master. Domus recalls this type of demon is a fulad-zereh—a large, horned creature that commands armies of lesser demons—and that this particular fulad-zereh serves a demon known as a Marileth.
The name doesn’t appear in any history or other textbooks…which then prompts Domus wonder why he’d have “textbook knowledge” when he doesn’t know what a textbook is. Shaking himself from the reverie, he comes to the realization the demon before him doesn’t serve any devil that’s pouring through the Underdark.
Arzarox speaks to them telepathically, asking why they’re at the ruined temple. Domus skirts the issue, claiming it was only to get out of the rain, but fails to deceive the general. Rooney inches closer to the truth, admitting the group is seeking “lost people”. When further pressed for details, Kyuri adds “the living kind,” to which Arzarox gestures to the cultists and responds there are many living people around to choose from. Domus finally specifies they’re seeking archaeologists, and the general says he put them to work for him after he found them wandering around “his project”.
Domus asks for terms to negotiate the release of the archeologists, but Arzarox insists when their task is complete he’ll return “what’s left of them.” The paladin tries to persuade the demon to let the party see the archaeologists, but the general refuses.
Reluctantly the group agrees to leave, but not before Domus telepathically asks Arzarox about its boss “M”. He is immediately lifted into the air as the fulad-zereh demands the human spill what he knows. Domus admits he knows *of* Marileth, but nothing more than that. Arzarox drops him to the ground and growls at the party to get out.
On their way to the entrance, Rooney spots a cultist that appears different from the others, an earth genasi that’s trying very hard not to be noticed. Their sleeve is pushed up their arm, and they’re currently gouging their own skin. Confused, he moves on.
They exit the temple and immediately begin plotting a way back in, which Domus calls a heist. Chonnnk suggests asking really nicely for the archaeologists’ return, which the others agree wouldn’t work. Plans are bantered back and forth between sneaking back in and digging under the temple. Rooney again mentions the wall with the strange texture, and Kyuri thinks sneaking into the room may uncover more clues.
Finally Domus suggests he and Chonnnk provide a diversion while the ranger and sorcerer sneak in, but the Ursin is confused by the plan and asks several questions. As he and Domus get caught up in semantics, Rooney casts Pass Without A Trace on the lot, and Kyuri walks into the temple followed by the others—except Chonnnk, who has now lost sight of the party.
Inside the temple, the arguing over what to do continues in hushed tones until Rooney and Kyuri notice Arzarox moving down the hallway towards them. Panicked, Kyuri casts a spell that floods the area with radiant light; the general resists it, and immediately sets his sights on the sorcerer. Chonnnk rolls into his path, blocking further movement. In the ensuing battle the Ursin manages to fell the general with Domus’ help. Rooney soars past and follows the reptilian creature to a set of stairs leading down, killing another cultist in the process.
The big barbarian bear then attacks the earth genasi, who responds in kind. It quickly becomes apparent she doesn’t act as the other cultists do, and seems far more powerful. She issues Chonnnk a clear warning not to interfere as she goes back to carving into her arm. Not understanding the situation, the Ursin attacks again.
As they’re fighting, Chonnnk briefly gains the perception that nothing beyond himself and the genasi in front of him are real. The feeling lasts only a moment as his opponent lunges forward to attack again. Domus tries to help his ally, ultimately compelling the genasi to fight him instead so the heavily injured barbarian can slip away.
The genasi approaches the paladin and grabs him, warning him not to lose too much of himself inside this temple before leaving.
Rooney descends the stairs to find a large dimly-lit room with stairs ascending to a platform with a block on it. The crocodile-like fiend and two cultists are also there, holding the archaeologists hostage. Seeing this, Rooney immediately draws an arrow and aims for the cultists; the reptilian responds by clamping its jaws down on the hostage in front of it.
Veering back to Aaron’s house, the camera pulls away from the ledger that bore the strange name and moves to the dining room. Aaron eats breakfast alone, sitting across the table from a picture depicting a young girl with coppery braids and dusky skin.
