Firemonth the 9th. The group went through plans to come and the anticipation that we would be facing Jubilex tomorrow. Haztez, the Black Warrior was keen on it and Hiawatha was happy to be a part of it. Glooskap, the Skinwalker, would handle whatever large slime the Faceless Lord threw our way. The rest of us would react accordingly and allow the heavy hitters to do their attacks on Jubilex. We had a few surprises of our own, including 4 Thunderbird Arrows when the time comes.
We walked around, bottled up some water, and arranged a night’s rest. We slept well and awoke the next day anxious to get engaged. Prayers and spells were revisited. We climbed the buildings and talked about fighting from within. Did not want to move the shutters, did not want to get the party cut off from one another, did not want to set us up to fail. We drew up line in front of the dwarven stronghold and after making sure of a good place to piss off Jubilex; Haztez summoned a line of flame and set fire to a large 60’ swath of assorted slimes, lichen, mushrooms, and fetid pools.
The smell was horrible and as it popped and smoked and filled the air, we heard a large “BONG” from the Maw above; where the 23 cables all ran together. A faint glow appeared followed by another “BONG”. And then another. And finally a huge slimy mass extricated itself from the hole, slid over, and grabbed a part of the ceiling. It then seemed to retract and from the hole…emerged Jubliex.
18’ tall, a mass of frightening eyes and snarling toothy maws, it shuddered and dripped and roiled in a sickening display of shifting colors. It brachiated across the ceiling until it finally drew close to the platform where its movements sped up and it became stronger and then some 80’ or so from our front line; it dropped the 70’ from the ceiling and landed with a wet splash here before towering over all of the party.
Haztez whistled, grabbing his cudgel tighter. Hiawatha readied his spear and the group tightened their grip on weapons and spells…and then Jubilex roared and charged us screaming with a dozen ragged mouths.
It flung a large slime out from a waving hand and it hit the ground and slithered towards the group. A Thunderbird Arrow was readied and then…fired. The struck the Faceless Lord who absorbed most of its power but still was burned for his efforts. More followed and Bless spells echoed out. Our lines grew closer and it ripped a hole in space, and a damned vampire spooled out and flew towards us, a cloud of bats surrounding its head.
Shim shot off a magic missile and the vampire was hit and it turned in the air, heading from the gnome. Connal raced to intercept and Hiawatha and Haztez smashed weapons into Jubilex. It rocked back and smashed out, flattening Haztez and then hurled another wave of slime out, and a 15’ square gelatinous cube slapped down right by Eoghan and Wilhelm. “I’ve got this one!” Glooskap ran to interfere, her hands outstretched into long talons and she plunged them deep into the cube, making it shudder as it tried to dissolve her enchanted skin and she tried to devour it.
Another Thunderbird Arrow flew out and Jubliex rocked from the blow. Connal was fast and the bats tried to blind him but the monk leapt and jumped and knocked them aside. The undead menace made to grab him and he managed to avoid the touch, instead using his enchanted bracers to deliver powerful blows against the vampire.
Getting hurt, Jubilex tore open a hole in space and had it consume Haztez, dimension dooring him half a mile away to land in the waters…where Sargonnas swims. Damn it! He them smashed Hiawatha, the hero taking 40 points of damage from that single blow! He shoved himself up and ran back to the fight. More spells were flung and then Jubilex hurled a few slimes to land near the ranger and druid, causing them to run back and avoid being consumed.
Connal and the Vampire were ripping into one another and Shim called, “Haztez! I call for your aid!” and the once a day answer came forth and Haztez appeared! Soaking wet and nursing a few bruised ribs he laughed and thanks the group for the call. He let his fire surround him, drying him off and giving him a barrier and he rejoined the fight. Glooskap had the Cube mostly devoured, the center of it hollowed out as she swelled larger and larger. A Vrock was summoned, the vulture demon coming in hot and causing Wilhelm and Eoghan to abandon shooting the Faceless Lord and hit the new threat.
It was the snake faced demon that came through next that had the group look for anything to end the fight before it got too large for us to handle.
Shim took out the Lightning Bottle he had been carrying for some time, raw lighting harvest from a Gnomish Skyship some time in the past. He pointed it at the Faceless Lord and yelled at everyone to get clear. He then ripped open the cover and let all 4 lightning bolts rip out. They cleared the 55’ feet between the sorcerer and the Demon Lord, and each one buried itself deep inside its nightmare body. Huge chunks of slimy material blew out from the scorching impact craters as it roared in agony and fell over and teetered slowly before finally beaten and then it dropped down.
Unmoving and dead.
The rest of the fights went easy well as the demonics did their best to re-gate home and the group could devote their efforts to unite and take down the last of the enemies. Exhausted and hurt, we finished them off and then looked over the very dead Jubilex. As his body melted away, a brass plate appeared in the mass of bubbling ooze and filth. Dizzy stepped forward, the one he was carrying burning as he got closer. The thought was to combine the two and then use its latent power to force the portal open back to the Happy Hunting Grounds. Sending all the denizens here home.
And when he touched it he felt an inrushing of demonic power. His skin grew red and his eyes yellowed. But when he tried to force a beam of power UNDER the water and into the gate, it burbled out and then time seemed to stop.
Everything stopped and the air grew still and stepping out of nothing, was a 6’4” tall red skinned man in a bespoke suit, handsome face, and a welcoming smile. “Just what do you think you are doing?”
“I was going to open that portal and send everyone here back. They don’t belong here.”
The figure looked around and nodded. “You are right, they don’t. But that portal. That portal? That’s not yours to open. That specific portal is deeded to a Ralstrom Thermun Gorok.” He pulled out a rolled up scroll and read it over. “Yep, signed it right there, see?” He showed it to dizzy and it was some infernal contract. “Signed right there by his own hand. And the other signature is mine.” He pointed to a different scrawl. “Name is Asmodeus. Duke of Hell. And I have a contract that says you cannot open that up.”
Feeling the power of the Abyssal Tablets within him, Dizzy looked down at his fingers. “I have the strength to open up that portal.”
“I don’t deny you have the strength to open…A…portal. A. Portal.” He pointed east, “Not THAT portal. Not unless your name is Ralstrom…or you have a contract addendum that he authorizes you to open THAT portal.”
Dizzy frowned. “What if I just do it?”
Asmodeus smiled. “You would open a portal, and it would go somewhere. There are over a thousand other layers of outer planes out there past the Astral void. Over 600 of them lead to the Abyss. You want to open a random hole from this plane to another and hope you manage to get to the RIGHT plane where every divine being in here not nailed down gets sucked into and spat out,” he leaned over and smiled, “Then go right ahead. Let’s see if you get 772. Anything else, and it’ll be entertaining.”
Dizzy was very uncomfortable dealing with the Hellish Duke, but did latch on to one thing. “So if I get Ralstrom’s signature, I can open THAT portal?”
Asmodeus nodded. “Yep. His soul is eventually mine, but he is still alive and kicking. One of the last Axiom’s he adhered to was “Forever Alive”. It doesn’t mean what he thinks it does, but it applies to him and his situation at least for now.” He rummaged into his briefcase and pulled out a small scroll. He spent a minute penning on it and then held it out to Dizzy. “There. I don’t need your signature on it, but Get Ralstrom Gorok to sign off on this that he knowingly and of his own free will gives you proxy to operate the opening and closing 1 time of the portal specifically Donnegarten Stronghold number 23 between the Prime Material Plane and the Happy Hunting Grounds and then you can come back here and do what you need to do.”
“No tricks?”
Asmodeus nodded. “No tricks. Getting the old Duke of Razors to sign it is your issue. As for this place, I sort of forgot about it. The divine leak here is a no go so we are going to just,” he squinted and there was a strange squeal coming from the maw, “shut that down. There.” The feeble lights seemed to die off a bit and the bodies of Haztez, Glooskap, and Hiawatha all slumped further down, their bodies unmoving and their color seemingly muted.
He looked Dizzy over. “Two tablets. You are growing in power. I wonder what kind of Abyssal Lord you’ll end up being.”
“Excuse me?”
The Duke smiled. “That kind of power stains a person. When you die, and all mortals do, you will go like a comet to the Abyss where with luck, you’ll end up on a layer that is lightly guarded where you can let the powers of the tablets roar through you and do what you can to run the place. Mind you, Jubilex and Zuggtmoy might eventually get wind of you, but that’s a problem for the future you.” He looked at his wrist and smiled. “Time flies and I’ve got to go. Good luck, Idela Dizrea.” And then he stepped between worlds and was gone.
The group had not been able to move but heard all of it. Ok, we have to go to Gorok and soon. And while there, maybe get some more information from Ralstrom as to what the goal was to be here. And who the hell is Donnegarten? It was Firemonth the 10th, about 9:30 AM, and we had a long way to go to get out of this place and we did not have the help of Hiawatha of Haztez this time. And what of the Lolthian Spiders? Where they still here somewhere or where they now dormant too?
