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By Jamey Martin
Harmoth's Misfortune
1370DR
As luck would have it however, it came to pass that a demoness beloved by a powerful fiend named Gangrallor was peeking in on the mortal realm and took a fancy to lustful Harmoth. This inspired great jealously when the feral beast learned of it, and so he ordered his minions to abduct the mortal. Thus, it was that the band had to venture into the Abyss itself to save their friend.
With the aid of Mellisinder and his friends, the band eventually made their way to a vast plain of cracked and broken obsidian, at the centre of which stood a great peak called the Mountain of Anguish, set against a murky, red sky. Hector's locate person spell twisted in a unique way due to the inherent chaos of the plane, such that he knew Harmoth was being held in a fetid cave at the foot of the mountain. He also knew exactly how to get there. And so the band set out across the blackened plain.
The journey was difficult as the region reeked heavily of infection, filth, and vomit, and often would they come across rivers of blood streaked and infectious mucus, alive with flies and human headed worms that giggled endlessly and maniacally at the vile obscenities they would utter without end. They had to follow one such river for a long while, until at length it fell up into a great black hole that was opened in the sky. Some amount of time after leaving the mucus falls behind, the band came upon a great gorge some 500' across and an easy 200' down, and perhaps miles long, with a frail looking rope bridge strung between the two opposing sides. As the band was about half way across, a great rumbling began and the crevice floor opened to reveal row upon endless row of wicked and jagged teeth. An unholy stench arose from the depths of the crevice, along with a chorus of anguished cries and screams, as though from a million distant throats. As the band neared the other side, they saw three winged demons fly up out of the pit, each carrying a shrieking soul.
As they grew ever closer to their destination, it also came to pass that a great storm cloud began to roll in. It was ridden by a great, fat, red skinned demon bearing a great pitchfork. He would use this to stab into the cloud, with quite a bit of zeal at times, and this apparently produced the thunder. As the cloud grew closer however, the band realized that it was not thunder they heard, but rather more cries of agony. Likewise, the rain was not water, but blood and gore, and the cloud itself was made up of millions of dark, twisted souls.
At long last, the band penetrated the cavern containing Harmoth. Defeating the fly like demons that guard him (until Gangrallor himself could arrive), the band liberated their friend and then used a magical item provided by Mellisinder to escape back to the mortal world.
Arriving back in the Burning Hand, Azuth's temple in Innarlith, the band quickly learned that much had changed since their departure. For one thing, nearly a year had passed. In that time, a coup had taken place in which Pristolep the Purple deposed the former Ransar of Innarlith, Aubrin, and set himself up as the new ruler. During the course of this coup, a number of councilmen, almost all supporters of Aubrin, Mellisinder amongst them, were killed via either assassination or in violent street battles.
With the help of one of the lesser priests of Azuth, the band escaped Innarlith before anything ill could befall them, and began their journey north through Sespech to the Chondathan capital of Arrabar and thence onward to Sembia.
During the course of their journey home, it was noticed that Drexle's mark had at some point disappeared from the azure tattoo on their arms.
The content of And Dragons Shall Rule is the property and copyright of Jamey Martin, and is not to be published or redistributed without permission.