Session 17-A: Building Bridges

Key Plot Developments
Lolimut finishes making a map of the Upper Underdark for Trix, who prepares to leave the Long Salt Tavern behind in search of his family. Before he can, the inn's flumphs once again react fearfully to a new traveler: a tall, crimson-skinned, bespectacled, fiendish woman. The lady sniffs around the bar before greeting Trix. She claims to be a devil and familiar with Ichabod; she applauds Trix when she hears about how he led to Ichabod's destruction. Trix is reluctant to trust her, but she promises that she's a devil of her word--as all devils are, she says--and that she'd be happy to be his traveling partner for a time. He wants to go to Gracklstugh to find Glyn, who claims to be en route. She wants to go there, she says, to investigate and root out demonic corruption in the city. She introduces Trix to the concept of the Blood War, a millennia-long conflict between order-oriented devils and chaotic, wild demons. Her name is Misupheles, or Misu for short.

Misupheles speaks with Master Oakenborn and his orcish companion in private; she initiates the conversation by using a password ("It's always so dark down here. What time is it on the surface?"; they replied with "Twilight, I presume.") After exchanging information, she convinces Trix and Shuushar (who is skeptical; she doesn't look like a full devil to him, and he suspects she's being dishonest about her power) to journey with her to the city of dwarves.

As they exit the inn, they see Misu's traveling companion: a large, mechanical panther named Bezekira (Beze for short), who silently and dutifully follows her commands. Trix rides on Beze as they head off to the midway point between the inn and Gracklstugh. They intend to reach a duergar settlement named Forgehome.

They reach the same area Pyrite recently died in; the same chasm prevents them from easily crossing. Unlike Pyrite, Misu is methodical in her approach; she scrutinizes the area and discovers large bones in a lower level of the cave. She explains her prowess as an artificer; she can use the bones as a bridge.

The party cautiously lowers themselves towards the bones. A swarm of insects, having picked the flesh off the bones, emerges to attack them. Misu sends several carefully calculated spells their way while Beze tears them apart with force-empowered rending. Trix fires at them from a distance with guiding bolts.

The pair destroys the insects. Misu creates a bridge.

They walk across the chasm that killed Pyrite, unknowingly treading on the bones Pyrite and her Hook Horror left behind.