(G626 23/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED18
[This continues the story of Rogier the bard, a warforged called Gravedigger and a goliath paladin known as Uthmar Shatterstone. They are currently beyond the portal they entered in the manor house of the Viers family and exploring the tombs and chambers they have discovered here. Recently they have left the dimension they were in via a portal.]
DAY 21 cont ...
As the swirling energy of the portal snapped shut behind them, the first thing that hit them wasn't the sight, but the sheer, agonizing assault on their senses.
The air was blistering hot and burnt in the lungs, thick with the choking stench of sulphur, rot, and scorched metal. A low, rhythmic thrum-like bass line of a monstrous, cosmic war engine vibrated straight through the soles of their boots, rattling their teeth.
They stood on a jagged precipice of blackened, obsidian rock. Ahead of them, the ruins of a titanic city stretched across a fractured basin. Rivers of liquid fire snaked through shattered plazas of dark stone, casting a sickening, flickering glow over everything. Overlooking the carnage was a colossal, spiked citadel, its jagged spires tearing into a sky choked with ash and bleeding a dark, oppressive orange.
A bloated, blood-red eclipse hung overhead like a dying eye. Massive, rusted iron chains hung from broken towers, their cages swaying creakily in a howling, superheated wind. This was a realm built entirely on suffering, forged in heavy-metal violence, and designed to crush the spirit.
Rogier felt the ambient noise here was an oppressive, discordant drone. The wind whistling through the jagged iron ruins sounded like a choir of screaming voices, and the air was so dry that trying to speak or sing left a bitter taste of copper and ash on his tongue.
Uthmar felt the sheer atmospheric pressure like a physical weight pressing down on his shoulders. The heat radiated off the basalt floor, baking through his armour.
Looking up at the colossal, defiled architecture, the absence of anything holy was a palpable, freezing void against his chest despite the roaring flames.
Gravedigger felt his internal sensors immediately spike, alerting to extreme ambient temperatures. The sulphurous air carried a gritty ash that threatened to gum up his joints and gears, while the aggressive, jagged geometry of the city's architecture felt completely antithetical to natural creation — built purely to trap, torture, and destroy.
Gravedigger tried to take stock of where they were. He had never been on a different plane, but felt that they certainly were on one now. Could it be Avernus? He wasn't sure, even his reasonable knowledge of the Planes had not prepared him for this.
He then lead the way across the iron bridge from the portal they had just come through. The bridge crossed a lake of lava and led towards the city in the distance.
Once they had reached the other end of the bridge two sinister figures stepped out from behind pillars. 'Ah new toys,' smirked one of them.
They were humanoid in size, with an elven look about them, but with an evil edge. They gave the heroes a "hard stare" then attacked. Rogier responded with a Cloud of Daggers and Gravedigger sent in a Spiritual Weapon.
Meanwhile Uthmar sauntered into the fray. One of them slipped past him though and unleashed a devastating attack of several nasty blows that sent Gravedigger to the ground, almost gasping his last breath. Uthmar killed off the one that he had been fighting and Rogier healed Gravedigger. The other one then ran off and it was chased by the Spiritual Weapon which finished him off.
'Welcome to hell boys!' was the last words out of his mouth before he died.
The portal, the bridge and the pillars were all inside a large cave. From the mouth of the cave they could see over the precipice to the ruined city. They decided to rest before leaving the cave and found a shadowy area to camp in.
After they had got themselves back to strength, they headed out, along a dusty path towards the city. They were soon beset by zombies, lead by a Graveyard Revenant.
'I'll do a Glyph of Warding!' whispered Rogier before sneaking up on the undead. But then he had to turn and come back again when he remembered that that spell took an hour to cast. He then cast Shatter instead and Gravedigger got the Spiritual Weapon out again.
There were quite a lot of zombies, so Rogier broke them up a bit by using Hypnotic Pattern which sent four of them into a trance. He then managed to land a Command spell on the Revenant and ordered it to run away.
Uthmar and Gravedigger were able to slay the remaining zombies in a somewhat more
leisurely fashion after that.
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