# Devil's Table --- ## Arrival in [[Valdrathar]]'s Chamber Picking up where Session 50 ended, the party crossed the final bridge into [[Valdrathar]]'s infernal tower, the lava below blazing on all sides. [[Aria, Goddess of Birth and Death|Aria]]'s Tear still shielded them from the killing heat, though they could feel what it would do to them without it. The chamber was enormous — a throne room of black iron hovering above the flames, caged souls lining the walls. [[Valdrathar]] was waiting. He rose from his throne as they entered, a composed, medium-sized figure with a quiet, satisfied air, and spread his arms wide in welcome. He wasted no time in revealing he already held [[Syllin]]. With a snap of his fingers she materialized before them — solid, flickering, real — and the moment she saw [[Grom]] across the room, she screamed his name. Then [[Valdrathar]] snapped her away again, placidly noting that he keeps such images for his own entertainment. He opened a portal behind his desk and the group watched the Shriver: millions of souls chained, lowering slowly into flame, burning, healing, lowering again. The camera of the portal zeroed in — and there was [[Syllin]], wrists bound, screaming and begging as the fire took her legs. Then she was pulled up. Then it began again. [[Valdrathar]] watched the party's faces while the Shriver ran. "Are you sure you want to continue with this? This could be you and your friends, [[Grom]]." [[Grom]] had to roll a DC 17 Wisdom save to hold his composure. He rolled a 16 — one short — and the hells reached into his mind. The sight of [[Syllin]]'s suffering mixed with a creeping dread: _Am I really prepared? Will the others suffer this because of me?_ [[Grom]] fumbled in his bag with trembling hands. [[Grumthar]], watching from beside him, put a firm hand on the back of his armor, pulled him upright, and said simply: "Get yourself together. This impacts all of us now." --- ## The Opening Exchange [[Grom]] steadied himself and invoked his rights under infernal law, declaring himself a formal petitioner concerning the soul of [[Syllin|Syllin Elanari]]. [[Valdrathar]] acknowledged the claim immediately — narrow, but valid. He confirmed he had been watching [[Grom]] for months and admitted the minotaur had learned the infernal law better than most who come before him. What [[Grom]] was challenging, [[Valdrathar]] explained, was not the contract's validity but whether the co-signatory clause created a right of redemption. [[Valdrathar]]'s position was that it did not — it created only a right of contest. He would hear the argument and render judgment. Then [[Syllin]] screamed again from somewhere inside the machine, and [[Valdrathar]] looked at [[Grom]] and said, simply: "She says that often." Before the formal contest could begin, [[Valdrathar]] turned his full attention to [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]. He laid out a new dynamic: the entire party was now inside his domain, and he was running a race — first one to come to him and ask to go home won their freedom, at the cost of damning the others. He spoke directly to [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]: a [[Serpari]] supreme, here in the hells, bargaining at the feet of lesser races for the sake of an elf child he had never met. Why would [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] stay? The [[Serpari]] were the ones who bound devils — why be bound by one? Those who truly considered themselves supreme, [[Valdrathar]] noted with a soft private laugh, had never needed to be in this room at all. The party watched [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]. The guilt was visible on his face, barely masked. [[Grom]], relieved for a moment that the pressure had shifted, turned to watch too. [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] then did something unexpected: he came clean. He admitted he had joined the Bazgoth with ill intentions, that he had seen them as easy marks and a convenient shield, and that he was not fully sure, even now, why he was still here. But he said it plainly — he was willing to put his lot in with them. If this was the end, he would stand by them for it. [[Grumthar]], who had begun reaching for his weapon, eased his grip. [[Cub]], rolling a 26 insight, caught what the others missed — a brief but unmistakable clench in [[Valdrathar]]'s jaw, a flicker of anger through the mask, before it sealed shut again. The devil had expected [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] to break. He had not. --- ## The Offers [[Valdrathar]] moved on to [[Tarnik]], identifying him as a paladin of [[Gonosh]] who had taken an oath of vengeance sealed in divine record — an oath bound to the deaths of his clan at elven hands. He gestured toward the pit where [[Syllin]] burned and rose and burned again. An elf. A member of Bazgoth. Was [[Tarnik]] not betraying his god by standing here? [[Tarnik]] answered with a raw honesty: his path had been clouded since the day his clan was slaughtered. If it weren't, he wouldn't be in the hells right now. [[Valdrathar]]'s jaw tightened again. Then he moved on. He put an arm around [[Grom]] — [[Grom]] offered no resistance, only kept staring at the devil — and began making offers. He named Bakorda. He summoned her image to the right of the throne: the half-orc lyrist, [[Grom]]'s closest companion from his gypsy days, beheaded by bandits on a road years ago. Her soul had wandered until it landed in the hells. [[Valdrathar]] offered to give her back, along with the dream [[Grom]] had always carried — a unified currency across Solare, minted coins bearing his face, the name [[Grom]] known in every settlement. A gold empire, built and real. Then he looked at [[Grumthar]] and snapped his fingers again. On the other side of the throne, [[Sela]]'s image appeared — flickering, unmistakable. [[Valdrathar]] explained that her soul had been sitting uncollected after the curse broke, the releasing deed never formally filed, held by a lower broker two holdings over. A word from him, and she would be free. He offered both souls alongside the gold dream — everything [[Grom]] had ever wanted — in exchange for one signature. [[Syllin]] stays. The co-signatory claim is retired. The party walks out with Bakorda and [[Sela]] and the dream made real. [[Grumthar]] reached toward [[Sela]]'s image. "Just [[Sela]]," he said quietly. Then he steadied himself and said, louder: "I told you, [[Grom]] — we should leave the dead where they belong. You dragged us to this hell. Put me in this position." [[Valdrathar]] watched this exchange with patient interest. [[Grom]] was allowed to read the contract. An Investigation check confirmed the terms were genuine under infernal law — but buried in the fine print was something more: [[Syllin]]'s soul carried a divine essence, not yet awakened, that was feeding the Shriver in a way no ordinary soul could. That was the real price. That was why he wanted her to stay. [[Grom]] ducked out from under [[Valdrathar]]'s arm. Something shifted in him — the old boldness returning, the Jafar-like grin spreading as he began to move. He told [[Valdrathar]] plainly: if [[Syllin]] were cheap, he would have had guards drag them out rather than pay them to stop looking. That kind of move told [[Grom]] everything. His reply was that he would not accept power in place of a soul he had lawful cause to reclaim. If [[Valdrathar]] wanted the matter concluded, he should propose terms that ended with [[Syllin]] leaving his custody. [[Grom]] rolled a 29 insight immediately after — and caught [[Valdrathar]]'s eyes flicker with genuine rage for a single instant before the mask came back down. --- ## The Renegotiation [[Valdrathar]] settled the souls and moved to trial. He offered two choices: a contest of wit — [[Grom]] alone, no aid from the party in any form — or combat, where the full group would fight a designated devil champion. Any party member who fell in combat would have their soul claimed permanently, regardless of whether the group ultimately won. The fallen would not be returned. [[Grom]] invoked the divine co-signatory claim and compelled renegotiation before trial, demanding [[Valdrathar]] name a price for [[Syllin]]'s release. [[Valdrathar]] named equivalence — a soul of divine-touched quality. He gestured at the Bazgoth as a collective: god-blessed souls, together forming some rough balance. [[Grom]] offered himself — his own soul, [[Grom]] Izek formerly of the Black Horns, as a one-for-one substitution, with a formal legal declaration protecting every other member of the party from any implied claim or secondary covenant. [[Valdrathar]] laughed. Genuinely laughed, for the first time — not with cruelty but with something approaching real amusement. He called [[Grom]] a comedic broker and declined. A minotaur bard would last hours in the Shriver compared to what [[Syllin]] offered. Then [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] moved forward and made two offers of his own. First: the Pit and all [[Serpari]] who called it home, delivered to [[Valdrathar]]'s ledger, plus [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] himself in the bargain. Second, if that wasn't enough: [[Anam|the Withered One]] — [[Anam]] — in exchange for [[Syllin]]'s release. [[Valdrathar]]'s poker face cracked for a moment — stone hitting his expression. He acknowledged that [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] had standing to offer his own soul, but not the souls of the living [[Serpari]]. However, the Pit itself represented something worth considering. What he proposed instead was a promissory contract sealed in blood that night: upon the death of any party member on Solare, no resurrection would be possible — their soul would transfer directly to him. But the contract would be voided if the party secured the [[Serpari]] Pit's transfer to his ledger, moving those tens of thousands of souls from [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]'s line to [[Valdrathar]]'s domain. [[Grom]], rolling a 34 insight while [[Valdrathar]] negotiated with [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]], understood what was in play: the co-signatory contract with [[Aria, Goddess of Birth and Death|Aria]] still gave her a residual claim on [[Syllin]]'s soul. If the party could use [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]'s offer to buy leverage, [[Grom]] could invoke a thirty-day suspension window — thirty days in which [[Syllin]] would leave [[Valdrathar]]'s custody as a provisional transfer while [[Aria, Goddess of Birth and Death|Aria]] took the contract to a divine review council. If the divine review succeeded and the contract was voided on the grounds that it had been obtained through epistemological fraud, both the original contract and any promissory oath the party had signed would be null. The thirty-day window was the entire play. --- ## The Vote [[Grom]] explained the shape of it to the group. [[Grumthar]] said what he was going to say before [[Grom]] finished: "Today is a good day to die." Combat. [[Tarnik]] agreed. [[Volza Redhand|Volza]] said she only understood the blade and had already given her answer. [[Cub]], deeply conflicted — watching [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] offer his own people to a devil stirring painful memories of what he had done to his druidic circle — ultimately landed on combat. He would rather stand against one devil than watch that. Narzag pointed out that killing a devil in the hells unmakes it permanently, and voted accordingly. [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] voted for the deal. [[Grom]] turned to [[Grumthar]], acknowledged the vote, and said plainly: [[Grumthar]] was the leader. Whatever path he chose, [[Grom]] would commit to it. [[Grumthar]] looked at each of them in turn, held [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]'s gaze for a long moment, and stepped forward. "Your sacrifice is noted, friend. It is a great offer. Today is a good day to die. We step into battle and free [[Syllin]] for whoever lives. Take us to your champion, devil." [[Valdrathar]] blinked. Then smiled — genuinely, warmly, like a collector encountering something rare. "All this talk of contracts. And in the end, it is always about the battle. I love your group." He snapped his fingers. His composed humanoid form dropped. The wings came out, then the tail with its stinger, then the full enormous frame of the infernal champion filling the chamber as [[Valdrathar]] retreated to his throne to watch. --- ## Combat Begins The party scrambled. [[Tarnik]] cast Haste on [[Grumthar]]. [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]] polymorphed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. [[Grom]] cast Mirror Image. Initiative was rolled and the devil came in at 18. On its first turn, it went straight for [[Grom]] — three attacks, claw and stinger, each deflected in sequence by Mirror Image, with [[Grom]] burning a Luck point on a natural 20 to save the final image. All three duplicates were destroyed by the end of the devil's opening assault. [[Tarnik]] and Shiv moved in, landing two solid hits with Divine Favor adding radiant damage. [[Cub]] dropped a Moonbeam directly onto the devil — it rolled a 32 Constitution save, halving the damage, but it still landed. On its Legendary Action, the devil turned its gaze on [[Grom]] for a DC 24 Wisdom save; [[Grom]] used Countercharm and [[Tarnik]]'s aura bonus to roll with advantage and hit exactly 24, shaking it off. [[Volza Redhand|Volza]] moved but found the ambient hellfire too bright for her shadow-dependent abilities. [[Saszotah Sseth'kaar (Sasz)|Sasz]]'s Tyrannosaurus stomped across the room and flanked, landing a bite and tail attack for significant damage. [[Grumthar]] used his Haste-boosted 80 feet of movement to charge around the field, launch off the T-Rex's head, and bring six attacks down — two connecting for 33 total damage. Narzag's eagle missed on its flyby, but Narzag himself landed two magical arrows for 33 combined piercing damage. The devil responded. It grappled and restrained [[Cub]] with a critical hit — 41 slashing — then attacked him twice more while he was held. [[Cub]] burned his Staff of Defense reaction to survive one stinger, but still absorbed 54 total slashing damage in a single turn while grappled. The devil then used a Legendary Action: Infernal Body Explosion, a 30-foot radius blast of fire. Everyone inside failed or barely survived. [[Cub]], with zero movement and disadvantage on the save, used his once-per-long-rest Moment of Clarity ability to roll with advantage — and still failed. The bird, with only 30 HP remaining, survived on half damage with 8 HP left. [[Cub]] dropped to zero hit points. On death saves, he rolled his first — and passed. The session ended there, mid-combat, with [[Cub]] unconscious and grappled, the devil eyeing the field for its next move, and the Bazgoth standing between him and everyone else still breathing. --- _Next Session: The battle continues. The devil has already shown it will target healers. [[Cub]] needs to be freed — or the field may change very quickly._