_The Naked Maidens / [[Krynvia]]'s Interrogation Chambers_ --- ## Ragivuh's Trail Goes Cold The session opened with [[Grumthar]] receiving grim news from Davax, the chronicler he had sent into the jungle to find [[Urgan Mossback]], the warrior who once served alongside his grandfather Ragivuh. The man's hidden location had been attacked. His whereabouts are now unknown. Despite the loss, Davax returned [[Grumthar]]'s sword — the weapon he had given him to earn [[Urgan Mossback]]'s trust. When [[Grumthar]] asked how he could reach Davax again, the chronicler produced a red-and-black marble pebble. Hold it out, speak his name, and Davax will come. Before departing, Davax warned the party plainly about [[Krynvia]]: she is the best ally to have, but she collects favors, and crossing her has consequences. He sat back down, stared at the succubus performing on stage, and said quietly that he had chronicled enough to honor Ragivuh's men until they met again. --- ## Descent Into the Chambers [[Seraphina]] led the full party — minus Narzag, who stayed outside with his bird — down through the elegant gambling floors of the Naked Maidens and into a hidden lower level. The deeper they went, the louder the sounds of screaming and distant suffering became. The interrogation chamber was vast and grim: dried blood scraped on walls and floor, implements hanging everywhere, cells lining the walls. A man hung by the neck on the balls of his feet, hands bound behind him, choking in the background throughout the scene. As the party passed the cells, a human girl, sixteen years old, grabbed the bars. Her name was **[[Ewan Kain|Ewan]]**. Her father is **[[Darius Kain]]**. She had been held for six days and insisted she knew nothing — she only overheard her father's dealings. She was terrified and appeared to be telling the truth. [[Cub]]'s Insight confirmed it. He tried to give her a Goodberry. The group pulled him away — they were in anti-magic territory anyway, and this was not their place. [[Ewan Kain|Ewan]] called after each face as they passed, knuckles white on the bars. The party filed into the main chamber. --- ## [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]] in Chains The erinyes devil **[[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]]** was barely recognizable as the fearsome creature they had captured in the Polarian Mountains. Her wings were clipped by hissing metal, the flesh at the tops partially peeled away in strips. She was bound in glowing reddish-purple chains that burned her skin, stripped of everything, held up by her wrists with two succubi stretching the chains on either side. [[Krynvia]] greeted the party with composure and a certain satisfaction. She explained the psychology of devils — how they cling to hierarchy and rank, how the real threat isn't pain, it's the threat of becoming a **lemure**: stripped of status, reduced to nothing, a mere plaything. She had already broken [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]]'s resistance. The party was free to ask what they wished. [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]]'s eyes, once hellfire-red, were now dim. Wet. She was looking at each member of the party — looking for anything. --- ## The Intelligence The information extracted across the interrogation was significant. **Ashkavar's Cut.** A former wayshrine to Elandra, goddess of peace and magic, located in the Polarian Mountains. [[Anam]]'s forces seized it three months ago after the fall of Polaria. They have established a corrupted portal and teleportation circle there and plan to use the temple's hidden tunnels to funnel armies back into Polaria. The site is guarded by a platoon of soldiers working alongside bone devil commanders, led by a commander named **Vthrek**. Citizens of Polaria fled through those tunnels during the fall, heading for the silver city of Noalia. **The Chorus.** When [[Grumthar]] pressed on the ley lines, [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]] — after screaming through another round of the succubi's piercing rods — gave up what may be the most critical information of the session. [[Anam]] has been feeding false timelines to those searching for the corrupted nodes. It is not eight months before the catastrophe. It is **five months. Perhaps less.** Once a threshold of corrupted nodes is reached, they resonate together like tuning forks — the Chorus. At that point, no single node can be destroyed to stop it. The corruption cascades through every ley line in Solare. Magic is subdued. The vines and roots of the [[Sylrathis|Eldertree]] begin to die. All plant life follows. **The Prismatic Forest.** The first corrupted node — and likely the most powerful — is somewhere within the Prismatic Forest. To stop the Chorus, the nodes must be cleansed in the order they were corrupted, starting there. The method is not brute force. It requires **divine power** — someone deeply connected to the land, capable of unmaking what [[Anam]] has corrupted. The nodes would act like a map once the first is found; the signatures lead from one to the next. **The [[Sylrathis|Eldertree]].** [[Cub]] asked directly. [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]] confirmed that the [[Sylrathis|Eldertree]] itself is already a target. [[Anam]] sent a Behemoth after it — four of [[The Seven Brides of Dracon|the Brides]] intervened and brought it down. But [[Anam]] is not done. He intends to corrupt the [[Sylrathis|Eldertree]] using a specific signature that would prevent it from fighting back. [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]] claimed not to know what that signature is. --- ## [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] and the [[Serpari]] Compact While the rest of the party stepped out with [[Krynvia]], [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] remained behind with [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]]. What followed was brutal and deliberate. [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] tore off [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]]'s arm and consumed it in front of her, leaving her dangling by her right arm. The tactic worked. [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]] broke on the [[Serpari]] question. The compact is real. The [[Serpari]] made a deal directly with the devils — in exchange for military support, the [[Serpari]] would gain dominion over conquered lands. The demons would take their portion. The devils would take a third of the world. Each faction would leave the others alone. The [[Serpari]]'s goal: to destroy and enslave every other race in Solare, with the devils as silent partners in the division of the world. [[Anam]] is the architect playing all sides — knowing the demons are chaos-driven and will eventually be dealt with, and that the [[Serpari]] serve his larger design. [[Krynvia]] returned to find [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] mid-interrogation. She observed with something resembling professional admiration, then instructed Cassia to raise her own efforts accordingly. As the party left, the sounds of screaming and whip cracks echoed behind them. --- ## [[Ewan Kain|Ewan]], Again Passing the cells on the way out, [[Ewan Kain|Ewan]] reached for them again. [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]], still carrying the evidence of what had just happened, approached her. She flinched back — then steadied herself and begged again. Find her father. Tell him where she is. She knows nothing. The party took the name — **[[Darius Kain]]** — and moved on. --- ## [[Krynvia]]'s Offer Back on the main floor, [[Seraphina]] delivered [[Krynvia]]'s ask. The succubus queen wants the portal at Ashkavar's Cut dealt with. Devils re-entering Polaria through that temple is something she cannot allow. In exchange: items the party needs, a device that will reverse the teleportation circle's corruption, the correct sigils to realign it, and teleportation scrolls. Once the temple is clear, she will coordinate with the city guilds and — eventually — the Queen to have it guarded permanently. The warning that came with it: once that portal falls, [[Anam]] will know who is responsible. The party will finally have the full attention of [[Anam|the Withered One]]. --- ## The Crossroads Volza voiced what many were thinking. She had seen torture before — she had performed it efficiently, cleanly, as a profession. What she witnessed in that chamber was something else. She pushed back on the idea of remaining in [[Krynvia]]'s debt, noting that the succubus queen collects favors the way other people collect weapons. The party settled into their next move. Three objectives are now in play: - **Ashkavar's Cut** — the portal in the Polarian Mountains, [[Krynvia]]'s priority, a direct blow against [[Anam]]'s supply lines back into Polaria. - **The Prismatic Forest** — the first corrupted ley line node, the starting point for dismantling the Chorus before the five-month window closes. - **The [[Sylrathis|Eldertree]]** — in North Angoria, a longer journey, tied directly to [[Cub]]'s recovered memories and Zotia's guidance. [[Grumthar]] indicated the party would first consult [[Cub]]'s divine resources — appealing to Zotia for an artifact or amplifier of divine power, given [[Ravika - Erinyes Commander of Hidden Legions|Ravika]]'s insistence that raw force alone cannot cleanse a node. After that, The [[The Talismanic Nine|Talismanic Nine]]. Then a decision. --- _End of Session 49_