Paragon Protocol Arc 4: Aboard the Golden Galleon

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Overview: The party learns the truth behind the murder of Charon and race to restart the River Styx by hunting down those responsible for destroying it, the Ordained, a band of fanatical giants who seek to resurrect their ancient god, the Shattered Mountain. Along the way they will travel the planes of Minarous, Phlegethos, Stygia, and Malbolge atop Mammon's personal airship, the Golden Gallion, and combat the evils of the dragon Barroth the Unredeemable, and the returning villainy of the Pit Fiend Bel.

Arrival in Minarous

After using the Last Wish of the Efreeti Dalia Embervale to escape Dis, the party arrives in the vast and putrid swamps of Minarous where they find a golden carriage awaiting their arrival. The carriage would take the party through the swamps before they would arrive at the capital city of Minarous, a city of great wealth and greed. Arriving at the city's central palace, the party would be escorted by golden devil's to the realm's ruler, Mammon, Archduke of Greed and ruler of Minarous. Mammon congratulates the party for escaping Dis and opens up his palace and city for them to stay in.

The party gets some much needed rest in the golden hall's of Mammon's palace, but awake to the next morning to discover some horrifying news. Dispater, Lord of the the Second Layer of Hells had begun a full invasion of the Material Plane with his armies of Iron Devils, massacring countless mortals in order to add their souls to his armies. Around this time as well, the party was made aware of the witch Mackrea, a member of the Cloven Coven and coven sister to Grandmother Theresa who had instructed the party to seek out Mackrea in order to learn more about that they were to soon face.

After getting a full night's rest and learning of the invasion of the Material Plane, the party decided to see what they could learn from the newly rescued Last Demon, Ratatrosk. Ratatrosk shares that he is an ancient Demon Lord from the Abyss, and that he was the one responsible for killing the ferryman of the River Styx, Charon. He says he performed the crime on behalf of a group known as the Ordained, the leaders of the Cult of the Shattered Mountain. The giants that the party had already met, including Angrboda, Stratia Nimbus, and Waord were among these Ordained. The party shows Ratatrosk the Stone Rune they took from Waord and Ratatrosk tells them that each member of the Ordained possesses such a rune bestowed upon them by the Shattered Mountain.

Ratatrosk shares that after he killed Charon, he used Charon's oar to stop the flow of the Styx, and the Ordained used these runes to help destroy the oar to make sure no one could undo what they had done. But Ratatrosk believes there may be a way to make a new oar if the party is able to gather each of these runes together in one place. But that would require hunting down and defeating each of the remaining five members of the Ordained who were scattered all across the Hells.

Mackrea, the Creeping Blight

Seeking guidance and for ways to stop the encroaching infernal corruptions on their souls, the party journeys into the dense and rotting swamps of Minarous in search of the witch Mackrea. The party finds her lair in the skull of a long dead titan, full of vines and swarms of bugs. Mackrea reveals herself to the party, showing that she was a horrifying fusion of bug and fiend.

Mackrea allowed each member of the party to make a request of her in return for a heavy cost. After sacrificing things like their privacy, their identity, and their connections, Mackrea shared her knowledge and resources. Notably, the party's druid Dina allowed Mackrea to be able to be privy everything Dina hears, see's and says. To the party she gave baggies of diamond dust, allowing them to fend of the infernal corruption beginning to take over their minds.

To Balaam, she shared the history of his curse, the Curse of the Scapegoat. His curse gave him a direct connection to the Ethereal Plane and to the souls of the damned. Further, she shared that this curse was ancient and originated with the mysterious demise of the lost goddess of the giants, the Shattered Mountain, the first scapegoat.

To Aliria Servine Mackrea shared what she know about the Book of the Dead, the book Aliria had taken of the corpse of Charon. This knowledge from Mackrea allowed Aliria to access even more of the books secrets, yet the first names in the book still eluded her.

After dealing with Mackrea, the party returns to Minarous City to speak with Mammon about what they learned. Without asking for anything in return, Mammon offers them transport on his prized airship, the Golden Galleon, a massive airship gilded in gold and captain by one of Mammon's vestiges. The party boards the ship and depart from Minarous City and descend into the fourth layer of the Ten Hells.

Revolution in Phlegethos

The party arrive in the fourth later of the Hells, Phlegethos, a flaming hellscape, and behold the infernal city of Abriymoch. As the party flies above, they see that the city is in chaos as the city's many prisoners and slaves are in the midst of a violent uprising, overthrowing their wardens and executing judges. Steering clear of the city, the Golden Galleon flies to the hunting manor of the Pit Fiend Kordichai, a retired Pit Fiend general and ally of Mammon.

The party lands at Kordichai's Hunting Lodge Manor to find the place packed with archdevils who fled from Abriymoch. Among the devils the party runs into Ranzos, Archdevil Apprentice to Mephistopheles, who the party last encountered at the Veil of Chains in Dis. Ranzos shares that he had encountered the giants Stratia Nimbus and Waord in Dis and tried to battle them with his magic, but he found that they possessed some power that made them immune to the magic and abilities of any archdevil.

Ranzos had been tracking the Ordained and gives the party the following information: Ranzos found that the Hill Giant Angrboda was still present in Duumal and had helped Bel capture Elytria. Elytria's execution was scheduled to be the next day. The Frost Giant Hrothgar Icevein was on the 5th layer of the Hells, Stygia, was was destroying the layer with natural disasters and druidic magic. The Fire Giant Vorgath Embermaul was in the employ of the infernal dragon Barroth the Unredeemable and was on the sixth layer of the Hells, Malbolge, making weapons for the dragon's army. Finally, Ranzos knew that the Ordained's leader, a powerful Storm Giant Wizard, Thrya Cloudbreaker, was the one who incited the revolution in Abriymoch, but had since traveled to the 8th layer of the Hells, Cania.

The party show Ranzos the Stone Rune they had acquired after they slew the Stone Giant Woard, and Ranzos immediately demanded they hand it over to him so he could study it and look for a way for him to defeat the Ordained. The party refused and Ranzos teleported away in a huff.

The revolution spills out of Abriymoch and soon reaches the gates of Kordichai's estate. The party are forced to depart aboard the Golden Galleon as Kordichai's manor grows multiple legs and travels away from the riots. The party reach the pathway between Phlegethos and Stygia, descending into the frozen Hell. As they do, Dina receives a vision from the Archangel Gabriel who questions why Dina and the party are continuing deeper into the Hells even after retrieving the Last Demon Ratatrosk. Gabriel orders Dina to remain in Stygia while he sends his right hand, Aarial, the Sword of the Solar, to retrieve them. But as their conversation continues, Gabriel senses Mackrea's presence listening in and severs the connection.

Storms in Stygia

Arriving in Stygia, the party finds that the entire layer is enveloped in a massive cyclone storm that is quickly destabilizing the realm. Flying into the center of the storm, the party finds its source, the druidic Frost Giant Hrothgar Icevein, who used the powers gifted to him by the Shattered Mountain to wild shape into a massive Ice Kraken. After a tumultuous battle where the Golden Galleon is almost plunged into the frozen seas of Stygia, the party manage to slay Hrothgar Icevein and his ice constructs and retrieve the Frost Rune from his corpse.

Moving on from Stygia, the party then flies to Malbolge, but not before Mammon convinces the party's infernal cleric Nyrgoth to sell his soul to Mammon in return for lucrative employment. Mammon shows Nyrgoth the source of his power, a Ruby Shard and piece of the Ruby Rod, the relic that gives Asmodeus his power over the Hells. At the same time, Aliria Servine is being contacted by her own patron, the Archduchess Glasya who encourages Aliria to travel to Nessus and bring Ratatrosk to her.

Under the Dragon's Nose

The Golden Galleon arrives in the scorched skies of Malbolge just in time to witness a battle between the infernal dragons Barroth the Unredeemable and Delphyne, consort to the realm's ruler Philani. As the fight ends in a draw, their ship is suddenly boarded by Veyleria, Envoy of the Archduchess, who suddenly teleports onto the ship. She chastises the ship for entering Philani's realm unannounced and asks them why they have come to Malbolge. The party pay a toll of Soul Coins to Veyleria after they manage to convince her that they are not allies of Barroth whose dragons have been ravaging Malbolge. Before she departs, Veyleria informs the party that Barroth had stolen an ancient relic from Philani, a set of golden scales, and that the party would be greatly rewarded if these scales were to be returned.

The party regroup and weigh their options. They know that another member of the Ordained Vorgath Embermaul, resided on this layer serving Barroth and that they would need to retrieve his rune to bring back the Styx. But the party are also aware of the impending execution of Elytria in Duumal and know that Bel rising to power would only bring them more hardship. The party decides to put Vorgath on the backburner and draft a plan to use the portal rift of Glasya's Folly to travel to Duumal and save Elytria. The only issue is that this portal is currently in the possession of Barroth and his army, the Fingers of Barroth. As they fly, the party's modron clockwork sorcerer Aivan Factorovich receives a message from their friend and now-hunter, Roberta. Roberta begs Aivan to turn himself in and shares that the plane of Mechanus would be sending an Inevitable, a construct of pure law, to do an audit of the Hells.

Flying over Malbolge, the party comes within sight of Drossmere, a massive keep that had been built by Philani designed to oversee the portal of Glasya's Folly. But ever since being claimed by Barroth, the fort had been repurposed into a temple to the dragon goddess Tiamat and the tunnels beneath it were being used to house Barroth's armies. The party don disguises, depart from the Golden galleon, and manage to sneak into Barroth's camp outside Drossmere. After a close run in with the Black Dragon Greela Venomseer and Vorgath Embermaul, the party gain passage through Glasya's Folly and emerge into the red dunes of Duumal.

The Execution of Elytria

The party arrives in Duumal and rush to the Bronze Citadel just in time to witness the last moments before Elytria's execution at the hands of Bel and the Hill Giant member of the Ordained, Angrboda. The party engage Bel and his militia in battle with the help of the Beast of the Badlands and the remaining members of the Sinners League. But just before they thought it couldn't get worst, a number of separate factions come to crash the party.

The first is a platoon of Iron Devils called in by Bel to assist in in fighting the party, sent by the Lord of the Second hell, Dispater. The next is a military unit of modrons led by Roberta arriving to arrest Aivan, and they are joined by the Inevitable sent to perform the audit of the Hells. The next are angelic warriors from Mt. Celestia led by Aarial there to retrieve the last demon Ratatrosk and begin their invasion of the Hells. The last is Ranzos with a small team of infernal mages arriving to retrieve the Stone and Frost runes from the party.

As the fight turns south, Angrboda decides to cut her losses and betrays Bel, taking Elytria's Ruby Shard, the item that gives her power over Duumal and makes her an Archduchess. As she does, a massive storm cloud forms above Duumal and for the first time the party sees the image of Thrya Cloudbreaker in the storm who whisks Angrboda far away. Bel rages at this betrayl and blames the party for not accepting his initial offer, since he only allied with Angrboda after they refused to ally with him. But in the end Bel was no match for the party and was destroyed.

During the fight Aarial threatens Dina that her potential for a miracle and the life she always wanted will be revoked if Dina does not assist them. But knowing that there are bigger issues at stake, Dina willingly tosses away her chance at a celestial miracle to help her friends try to save the realms.

Ranzos calls upon his greatest magics and levels the battlefield with a devastating meteor swarm and attempts to kill Aliria and take her Frost Rune. Trying to look for a way out, the party contacts Mammon who send in his local vestige from the Mammart in the Bronze Citadel. The party manage to buy a teleport from Mammon by giving him a lot of their gold, soul coins, and even Ranzos' leg. With the payment in hand, Mammon teleports the party back to his palace in Minarous.

The party now knows that their enemies are closer to whatever goals they seek, and that the realms have now officially fallen into war.