Return to The Paragon Protocol
Overview: The Hellraisers descend into the 10th layer of the Hells, Hellmar, finding a corrupted and twisted mirror of the world they know. Pursued by the archdevil Curia, the third member of the Cloven Coven, the party seek allies in this ruined land and prepare for their finale confrontation with the Ordained.
Arrival in Hellmar
The Hellraisers after traveling through the portal in Malsheem emerge into Hellmarm and into the Hellmar version of Isounhound, a once lush fey continent that had been transformed into a land of twisted briar forests and bleeding earth. Lucky for the party, their druid Endine di Valpadana was a native to this land, and used their druidic magic to transport the party to their former home, a hideout for the druidic family, the Valpadana Rocco. The party arrive to find the remain of a massacre. Dina realizes that an old enemy of his, the archdevil witch Curia had continued her hunt of the Valpadana, and had managed to find her family. Investigating the sight, the party discovered that the surviving Valpadana had managed to flee to a secret haven in southern Isonhound called Pure Springs Grove. But the party also realized that with Dina's return to Hellmar, it wouldnt be long till Curia began to hunt them down. Traveling further, the party found another hideout of another druidic family, the Valpadana Madrasyr who has similarly been hunted down by Curia.
As the party continued their trek through the briar and thorn filled forests of Isonhound, they were suddenly ambushed by Curia and her hunters. As the third sister of the Cloven Coven, Curia wielded incredible arcane powers, and she was flanked by her pack of Hell Hounds as well as devil hunters. Unable to fight back, the party teleported to northern Isonhound and sought refuge in the ruined city of Saltport. When Quelmar was pulled into the Hells, massive infernal sea creatures emerged from the seas and destroyed the once quiet port city. The party was forced to navigate this dangerous landscape and managed to convince a massive horned crab to give them shelter in its lair.
Run As Fast As You Can
Knowing they couldn't hide out in Saltport forever and that they needed allies, the party decided to make the long journey to Pure Spring Grove. Using Dina's druidic magic, they were able to speed up the journey, but again, weren't fast enough to escape Curia and her hounds. The party, now better prepared, squared up to fight the archdevil. As he party battled though, Dina discovered that some of Curia's servants were actually her former friends whom Curia had previously captured, all now twisted and corrupted. After a long fought battle the party managed to subdue Dina's former friends and slay Curia, making sure she could no longer harm the good people of the Valpadana.
Clean Water
No longer hunted, the party were finally able to make it to Pure Spring Grove, a small preserved piece of old Isonhound with green grass, colorful flowers, and clean water, all preserved by a Naiad, a fey water spirit. Here the party meets Dina's adopted mother, Greenkeeper Garda, the former leader of the Valpadana Rocco, who was forced to flee to this grove along with other members of the Valpadana to escape Curia and her hunters. She embraces Dina, glad to see that her daughter is alive, and is introduced to the party. Greenkeeper Garda and Dina quickly get to tending to Dina's former friends, and begin the process of healing Curia's corruption.
The party are finally able to get some real rest, mingling with other survivors and sleeping on soft beds of flowers and grass. Nyrgoth gets scolded for smoking by the Naiad of the spring Ortylia, and the both enter into a friendly debate on if poisoning your body can be pleasurable. When Nyrgoth then goes to attempt to get some sleep, their rest is interrupted by Ratatrosk, who questions Nyr on why they want the Abyss to return.
Aliria Servine attempts to perform a ritual to contact Grandmother Theresa and Mackrea of the Cloven Coven for guidance, but accidentally instead summons the corpse of Curia. To prevent any potential reanimation or resurrections, Dina performs a druid ritual on Curia's corpse to destroy it.
Aivan explores the grove and encounters a Tiefling survivor who introduces themselves as Azrael. Azrael reveals that he was a former member of Asmodeus' court in the citadel of Kashtar-Val, until Asmodeus disappeared after the River Styx dried up. Azrael reveals that after Asmodeus disappeared, he released control over the Ruby Rod, letting it rest above Kashtar-Val like a shining red star. None have yet to be able to claim its power, though many have tried, including Asmodeus' daughter, Glasya. Though Azrael does share that Glasya and the Ordained have managed to claim the citadel of Kashtar-Val itself.
Cloudward
The next day, the party confront another of the survivors, a troll bearing the symbol of the Shattered Mountain. The troll reveals that their name if Grundel, and that they along with many other giants had left the Cult of the Shattered Mountain, including the Cloud Giant member of the Ordained, Stratia Nimbus. Grundel shares that after allying with Glasya, the cults's leader, the Storm Giant Thrya Stormbreaker, stopped hearing the voice of the Shattered Mountain, and as a result her actions became more desperate and manic. Grundel says Stratia and her followers broke away from Thrya, believing that allying with devils like Glasya went against their mission and that their recent actions stood in the face of what the Shattered Mountain represented.
Intrigued, the party inquires where they can find Stratia, and Grundel offers to lead the party to her current hideout. After many goodbyes the party leaves the safety of the grove and journeys back into the forests of Isonhound with Grundel and Azrael as well in tow. Grundel leads them to the shores of eastern Isonhound where he then blows on an old goat horn. the party are then swept up in a torrent of wind and flown into the sky where they are brought to a tower hidden in the clouds.
The party are then brought before Stratia, who is revealed to have been the one who created this tower. She reiterates what Grundel shared on how and why she broke away from the Ordained. After the death of her fellow comrades, Stratia lost hope in their mission, and Thrya's actions pushed her over the edge. Knowing that she had to redeem herself for her sins, Stratia gave the party her Cloud Rune, but refused to attack Thrya herself, seeing Thrya still as her sister. But the party would not be leaving alone, as they would be joined by one of Stratia's acolytes, a goliath warrior named Atlas.
The Doors of Doom
Departing from Stratia's tower, the party flies to the doorways to Kashtar-Val, the citadel of Asmodeus now occupied by Glasya, Thrya Stormbreaker, and their servants. From the citadel's base the party can see the growing storm of spirits gathering at Kashtar-Val's peak, and know that it is only a mater of time before the ritual to revive the Shattered Mountain is completed.
At the doorways to Kashtar-Val, the party is greeted by two figures who reveal themselves to be the left and right hand advisors of Asmodeus, Old Father Groal, and High Vizier Xortaa. The demanded to know the purpose of the party's visit, to which the party shared that they were their to expell the cultists and stop their ritual. The advisors of Asmodeus in turn shared that they did not care for the Cultists of the Shattered Mountain and were awaiting Asmodeus' return. They told the party as well that even though Glasya was able to claim the citadel, she was denied claim over the Ruby Rod left at its peak.
The party were able to convince the advisors to let them pass and promised to leave Kashtar-Val as soon as they finished. Then journeying up Kashtar-Val's many levels the party battled through hordes of devils and cultists until they reached the highest floor of the citadel, and ascended the stairway into the storm.
Eye of the Storm
At the peak of Kashtar-Val, the storm summoned by Thrya Stormbreaker and the lost spirits from the Ethereal Plane had begun to tear the tower apart into floating chunks of rock. The cultists of the Shattered Mountain had gathered around three ritual circles, each centered around one of the three Ruby Hearts that the cult had in their possession. Nearby as well bound in ruby chains, was Mammn, and Aliria Servine's mother, Viviria Servine. Overseeing the ritual was Thrya Stormbreaker, the rakshasha Karima, and the archdevil herself, Glasya.
As the Hellraisers engaged their adversaries, the storm of spirits raged around them with lost spirits reaching out to drain the life of anyone who got to close and shredding apart those who fell into the storm. Kharima was the first to fall as she was jettisoned into the storm and torn to pieces by the wrathful spirits within. But as the battle continued, so did the ritual. As the cultists chanted, they began to open a gateway into the ethereal plane and call through their goddess. A massive skeletal divine arm clad in golden armor burst through the ground and began to swing wildly, looking for any handhold it could find to pull through the rest of its body.
The party managed to free both Viviria and Mammon, but they were fighting on their last legs, drained of spell slots and tired from the battle. But when things seemed their bleakest, the combined efforts of Dina and Aliria were able to sunder the archduchess of Nessus, Glasya, with her body torn apart in the storm and her spirit pulled into the Book of the Dead. But even with this great victory triumphing over a foe who had tormented them for so long, the Hellraisers were to late. With a another eruption, the second arm of Othea breaked through the rift, carrying a massive golden war hammer. With both arms free, the forgotten goddess, or what was left of her, pulled herself into the realm once more.
Othea's form dwarfed the land it stood above. Her body once golden and radiant was tarnished with dark scorch marks and the clawing grasp of spirits. Dark ethereal energy swirled amongst her exposed bones, contrasting her golden armor and flaming hair. But her eyes betrayed what she really was. behind the empty sockets of her skull were empty pools of anger and hatred. This thing was no longer the goddess it once was, but instead now a broken and beaten animal eager to lash out at the world who had banished it. it was the product of the god's creation and hubris, and would be the harbinger of the calamity that they so long ago they hoped to avert.
Thrya, unable to recognize that the thing before her was not her goddess anymore rejoiced, until her entire body was sundered by fire and lighting as it was struck by Othea's hammer. The storm of spirits swirled around the risen goddess, feeding and empowering her further. The party watched on in horror as they scrambled to find safety and recover the two remaining runes. But here was one who did not run, and instead looked upon the goddess with absolute wonder and adoration, not for who she was, but for who she was now.
Ratatrosk. The Demon Lord that was always the first rat of the sinking ship beheld the pure embodiment of chaos and destruction before it and was struck with awe. He could see just from looking at her what calamity she would wrought upon the world and cackled with pure glee. He was the party's friend sure, but he was still a demon. The Ordained had wronged him, but now they were dead and gone, and he was a survivor, and he would make sure he was on the winning side. As Ratatrosk moved to join Othea, he was stopped by Aivan who begged him to stay. As Ratatrosk hesitated, Aivan then attempted to banish the demon back into the Abyss, and failed. With a quick slash from Ratatrosk's blade Aivan was sent flying back, and with a few simple words, Ratatrosk offered himself up to Othea.