Paragon Protocol Arc 5: Evils Converge

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Overview: As the many enemies of the party converge in the Hells, the party continues on their quest to recover all six runes of the Shattered Mountain and to restart the River Styx. But the Ordained will not let the party's actions go unpunished, and the scheming archdevil Glasya may have her own plans in mind for both the Giants and Ratatrosk. But when the party uncovers a secret that could tear the whole realm apart, all Hell breaks loose.

Malevolence in Malbolge

After fleeing Duumal and saving Elytria from execution, the party capture their breath in Mammon's palace in Minarous. As they rest, the party's infernal cleric Nyrgoth assist Mammon is a vast amount of land purchases across the Hells. But the party knows their enemies won't rest and neither shall they. Mammon teleports them to Malbolge and onto the deck of the Golden Galleon, only to find themselves in a fraught situation. The dragon Barroth the Unredeemable had escalated his war against Philani, now aided by Iron Devils supplied by the Lord of Dis, Dispater. Veyleria, Envoy of the Archduchess, teleports onto the ship once more, telling the party that it is not a good time for them to be in Malbolge, right before a dragon devours her whole.

The party flies the ship to Drossmere, the seat of Barroth's power and where they know the Fire Giant member of the Ordained, Vorgath Embermaul, keeps his forge. Delving into the tunnels beneath Drossmere, the party finds Vorgath packing up his forge, seemingly preparing to leave Malbolge. With few words shared between them, the party battles Vorgath and his forge constructs. As the fight continues, the Black Dragon Greela Venomseer arrives to avenge her murdered brother. In the end both Greela Venomseer and Vorgath Embermaul are slain, and the party retrieves the Fire Rune. Knowing that it wouldn't be long before Barroth discovered that the party had murdered both his smith and his herald, the party quickly board the Golden Galleon and flee to the next layer of the Hells, Maladomini.

The Golden Galleon Falls

The party arrives in Maladomini, a rotting city of feces and filth. As the party travels, they discover that they are being scryed upon, only for it to be to late as the Ordained attacks the ship. The Cloud Giant Stratia Nimbus buffets the ship with hurricane force winds before the Storm Giant leader of the Ordained, Thrya Cloudbreaker, summons a bolt of lightning that causes the ship to explode, sending the party plummeting to the ground. The party crash into the ruined landscape of Maladomini scattered and wounded. They quickly discover that they are being hunted on the ground by the Hill Giant Angrboda and a large force of Goliath Shattered Mountain cultists.

Evading the Cult of the Shattered Mountain, the party regroups with each other, Mammon, and Ratatrosk at a secret pathway between Maladomini and the 8th layer of the Hells, Cania, a structure known as the inverted tower. The Inverted Tower is an upside down structure made of flesh where the gravity of its inhabitants in flipped. The tower's caretaker, a flayed wolf-headed archdevil named Azu the Dog Prince, allows the party passage after Mammon pays him off. The party descends through the towers many floors before reaching the bottom. Beyond the tower's last door is a chain hanging in the open air of Cania, descending into the freezing blizzard below. The party prepares to journey into Cania but Mammon informs them that he will not be joining them, saying he has business in Duumal.

Truths Revealed in the Frozen Hell

The party descends the chain into Cania and quickly begin to freeze to death. Seeking refuge in a cave, the party's druid Dina conjures a grove for them to rest in. After getting some much needed rest, the party finds the grove is disturbed by a trio of outsiders which they discover to be two Ice Devils and the wizard Ranzos, Archmage Apprentice to Mephistopheles, now sporting a leg made of silver to replace the one the party stole from him. The party raises their weapons, expecting a fight, but Ranzos shares that he is not there to steal the runes from them. After his failure in Duumal, he was disciplined by his master and now his master seeks an audience with the party. The party inquires where Mephistopheles is at that moment, and Ranzos shares that the archmage archdevil was currently in the process of battling the wizard giantess Thrya Cloudbreaker, trying to stall her push into Nessus.

Ranzos brings the party to his wizard tower in the underground and heated city of Mephistar. The party explores Ranzos' tower and discovers many diffrent things. Aivan Factorovich finds a broken Iron Devil that Ranzos had begun to dissect along with Ranzos' observations on the war between Dispater and Mt. Celestia. Aivan learns tat the war had spread from the Material Plane to the Feywilds, the Shadowfell, and even the first two layers of the Hells. As Aivan investigates the destroyed Iron Devil, they discover that due to their similar makers, the Iron Devil is able to tap into the frequencies of Mechanus. Tapping into this frequency himself, Aivan overhears a communication between Mechanus and the Inevitable. Mechanus had learned of the Inevitable's crimes and was now giving the directive to hunt down the Ordained directly. Aivan knows that while this would take the Ordained of the board, it would mean that their runes would be lost, and that it would be impossible to recreate the River Styx.

At the same time, Aliria Servine discovers a mirror that Ranzos was using to trap spirits. before they could accidentally lead themselves to be possessed by the spirit of Mephistopheles' former apprentice who was killed by Ranzos and trapped in the mirror, Aliria is stopped by the Stranger who had returned once again. The Stranger had learned more about their history and Aliria had finally deduced the stranger's true identity, they were the spirit of Charon, lingering after death. Aliria records Charon's name in the Book of the Dead and brings the first ferryman's spirit to peace.

Balaam, the party's cursed barbarian receives a vision from the Ordained's leader, Thrya Cloudbreaker. She shares that she managed to defeat Mephistopheles in combat and had moved onto Nessus, but she offers Balaam the chance to join her and her siblings in the Cult of the Shattered Mountain. She believes they are kindred spirits and knows the same magic that curses him also curses her god. But knowing what evils the Ordained have perpetrated, Balaam refuses her offer.

Eventually the party are called by Ranzos to the heart of Mephistar and to the sanctum of the archduke archmage, Mephistopheles, beaten and bruised after their battle with Thrya Cloudbreaker. Mephistopheles shares with the party that he had a burden, a great secret he had to relieve himself of, and so shares with them the true history of the Hells and the Shattered Mountain.

The Shattered Mountain used to be one of the creator deities of Quelmar, though their name and existence has since been erased from history. They were the creator of the giants and a goddess of elements and calamity. With her help the creator deities sealed away the primordial titans and slew Sardior the Ruby Dragon. The death of Sardior had the consequences of creating the River Styx and opening the way for the Abyss and Demons to access Quelmar.

he gods mourned the destruction of their creation at the hands of demonkind as everything they created was destroyed. But it was the Archangel of Patience Asmodeus who came up with a solution, the creation of mortal souls. These souls would allow a mortal to remain after death and join their creators in the afterlife, and those souls that were wicked could be used to fight back the demons. But such a creation would require an immense source of magic, magic that could only be taken from the gods themselves. With a heavy heart, the creator deities turned on their sister the Shattered Mountain and gave Asmodeus to invade her realm of Thalmyr with an army of angels in return for Asmodeus getting to lead the armies of evil souls and to hold a seat beside the gods as an equal.

And so Asmodeus invaded Thalmyr with his two angelic attendants Mammon and Mephistopheles, all three falling from celestials and becoming fiends as they scorched Thalmyr and slew the Shattered Mountain. The Shattered Mountain's heart was wrenched from her chest and Asmodeus used it to create two things: the first was the cycle of souls, and the second was the Ruby Rod, an artifact that gave him the powers of a god and ultimate control over the realm of Thalmyr which he renamed to Baator. What remained of the Shattered Mountain Asmodeus sealed beneath Baator and bound in the River Styx. Afterwards, Asmodeus would marry one of the Shattered Mountains servants who helped him slay the goddess, the former celestial giant Azhazni, who would later go onto to mother Glasya and then mysteriously perish.

Mephistopheles warns the party that this secret origin of the Hells which the gods had gone to great lengths to hide will make them the target of both devils and angels. Mephistopheles wallowed in his misery and his longing for Asmodeus who had disappeared after the River Styx dried up. He implored the party to travel to Hellmar and find the infernal king so that Asmodeus could put a stop to all the chaos.

After their meeting with Mephistopheles, the party depart to the gateway between Cania and Nessus, a massive frozen whirlpool called the "Ice Plunge." after descending into its freezing waters and almost freezing to death, the party emerge in the 9th layer of the Hells, Nessus.

In the Court of the Queen of Lies

The party arrive in Nessus in the shadow of the ruined tower of Tabjari, a large copper tower patrolled by Asmodeus' servants where the Hell's most valuable documents and contracts are stored. In the ruins surrounding the tower the party find a partially destroyed and run down Mammart run by one of Mammon's vestiges. Mammon shares that due to some of his underhanded deals, he was not on the best terms with Glasya. even more, due to a past failure of Glasya regarding her handling of Malbolge, Asmodeus had punished her by scorching Nessus and turning many of the realms inhabitants to stone and ash.

The party question Mammon about what they learned from Mephistopheles and Mammon confirms that much of its is true. But mammon prefaces this by also sharing that Mephistopheles is a deeply obsessive being and is fanatical in his devotion in Asmodeus. Mammon believes that this obsession has been tested over the past few years since Asmodeus created the realm of Hellmar and "mellowed out" as Mammon put it. Mammon said he wouldn't put it past Mephistopheles to cause chaos to bring the "old" Asmodeus back.

The party inquire how to reach Hellmar, and Mammon shares that the only way into Hellmar is through Malsheem, a massive flaming fortress ruled by Aliria Servine's patron, Glasya, who sought to acquire the demon Ratatrosk for herself. Before they depart, the party attempts to scry on the Hill Giant Angrboda, finding her and a number of Goliath warriors waiting in a small room in what appeared to be some kind of castle.

The party make the long treck to Malsheem and arrive at its gates, guarded by seven large animated statues known as the Ashen Kings. Here the party finds themselves greeted by, Aliria? After some confusion, the party discovers that this fake Aliria is actually a Mirror Devil wearing Aliria's reflection, a reflection that was provided by Glasya's advisor and newly appointed viscountess, the Rakshasha Kharima who the party last met in Duumal. Kharima shares that after the fall on the Sinners League she came down to Nessus and offered her services to Glasya.

The party are invited inside Malsheem and are brought to a feast held by Glasya in their honor. Glasya thanks the party for bringing the demon Ratatrosk to her and demands Aliria to give her the key to the demon's collar. After much hesitation, Glasya's insistence breaks Aliria's resolve and she gives the key to her patron. Glasya thanks Aliria for her obedience and reveals that she had allied herself with the Ordained. As Glasya says this, Angrboda and her fellow Shattered mountain cultists enter the room. Glasya shares their plan to revive the Shattered Mountain and for her to take full control of the Hells by overthrowing her father.

Realizing the enormity of what they had done, the party attempts to cast Banishment on Ratatrosk which fails due to the celestial collar he is wearing. This initiates a fight in which the parties are greatly outmatched. During the melee the party's rogue Sylphine Nightfall manages to slay Angrboda as well as steal the key from Glasya. But the party fails to retrieve Angrboda's Hill Rune before they are forced to teleport and flee to Minarous. But during the fight, the party's barbarian Balaam perished at the hands of Glasya. It is only through the use of the Book of the Dead that Aliria Servine manages to revive him from the brink of death and pure infernal corruption.

Fool's Gold

Beaten, broken, and on the brink of death the party lands in the putrid swamps on Minarous. The party's druid Dina realizes they are near the domain of the swamp witch Mackrea the Creeping Blight and so the party makes the journey to her hut. Inside they are surprised to find both Mackrea and Grandmother Theresa, both being sisters of the same coven. In addition, the two witches had invited the infernal engineer of the Blisterworks, Belphagor, who owed the coven for help they had given him in the past.

The witches share that the situation in Hell has only continued to worsen. The war between the Hells and Mt. Celestia was causing the Ethereal Plane to overflow with lost souls and that it would be only a matter of time before the ethereal veil burst and all the planes were flooded with angry spirits. They confirm that Glasya has solidified her alliance with the Ordained and also confirm the connection between the Cult of the Shattered Mountain and the cult that cursed Balaam when they were young.

But even worse, the witches share that the Inevitable sent by Mechanus has been carving a path of bloody justice through the Hells and has gotten close to reaching the Ordained. If the Inevitable reaches the giants before the party does, all hopes of restoring the River Styx would be lost. To this point, the witches called upon Belphagor, the creator of Aivan Factorovich, who had spent many years in Mechanus in disguise learning from their designs. Belphagor offers his assistance but informs the party that it may cost them greatly.

Dina inquires with their hags about their third sister, Curia, the Ashen White, who had been hunting her and her friends back in Hellmar where she grew up. The two witches share that while Curia is a member of their coven, they had not spoken to her in a long time. When Hellmar was created, Curia's lust for power took her and she traveled to Hellmar, fracturing the coven. They tell Dina that Curia has been hunting the remaining members of the Valpadana, the druidic circle which had raised Dina, and that if Dina returned to Hellmar, Curia would hunt Dina relentlessly. In addition, they tell Sylphine Nightfall that the man who attacked her village was a former member of the Valpadana and was a dwarf who went by the name of Darius Hollow. They share that Darius had become an abyssal occultist who was working for the Ordained and had been the one to connect the Ordained with Ratatrosk in the first place.

After learning this information, Sylphine was approached by the last demon Ratatrosk since Sylphine was now in possession of the key that bound his collar. After much begging, Sylphine agreed to free Ratatrosk from his celestial binds on the condition and understanding that Ratatrosk would help them recover the remaining runes of the Shattered Mountain.

After defying Glasya, Aliria Servine lost the powers Glasya had gifted her. Grandmother Theresa joined Aliria, comforting her. Grandmother Theresa believed it had gone to long for Aliria to not know the truth about her past, and show shared the history of Aliria's mother and father. Aliria's mother Viviria Servine used to be a warlock of Glasya, and like Aliria, had served as Glasya's courier. But on one specific job, Viviria was set to guard a demon lord that had been summoned to the material realm and trapped in a summoning circle. This demon lord was the Dark Prince of Pain and Pleasure, Graz'zt. Both demon and warlock fell for one another and they conceived a child, Aliria. Graz'zt helped hide his partner and daughter in the city of Dolmvay and helped Viviria sever her pact with Glasya. But in the end, Glasya was able to find them, convincing Aliria to become her new courier and secretly kidnapping Viviria.

Now with a newfound resolve, Aliria knew sacrifices would need to be made to stop the Ordained and bring balance to the realms and the lost spirits in the ethereal plane. Sacrificing her chance at a happy future and her mortality, Aliria performed a ritual with the help of the coven to bind her to the Book of the Dead and become its true keeper. With this sacrifice, Aliria was finally able to read the first names in the book, including Sardior, and the true name of the Shattered Mountain, Othea.

After resting up at Mackrea's hut, the party traveled to Minarous City to speak with Mammon only to find it in chaos, under attack from both Iron Devils and Shattered Mountain Cultists. In his palace, they found Mammon bound in chains before both Dispater and Glasya, who had taken the powers of the Hill Rune for herself. With few words shared between them, the two archdukes teleported away with Mammon, leaving the words "Murderer and Traitor" burned into the wall behind them.

Investigating why Dispater and Glasya would capture Mammon, the party investigated Mammon's desk and discovered a treasure trove in incriminating information. Mammon, despite his opulence and bravado, was near broke. For years he had been making payments to purchase land all across the Hells, and had only increased his frequency of payments since the River Styx dried up. At the same time, Mammon was making payments to devils all across the Hell, including Bel, Dispater, the Sinners League, Barroth, and many more devilish powers which were causing chaos and bringing down the price of the land, allowing Mammon to buy it up for cheap. To sustain these practices, Mammon had become an inside informant for the Archangel Gabriel, giving Gabriel information about the Hells and its Archdevils in return for Celestial gold. Even more, it was Mammon who released Barroth into Malbolge, having captured the dragon's spirit years prior. It all compounded to at the moment, Mammon owning nearly 43% of the land in Hell. The party also found an empty gun case with the name, "The Vaulkner" engraved into it.

Returning to Mackrea's hut, the party decided that their first priority would be stopping the Inevitable, and so joined Belphagor in returning to the Iron City of Dis.