Siegfried knew that Nishrek was Gruumsh’s realm within Acheron, ostensibly located on one of the gargantuan cubes that spun like gambler’s dice in the astral void of Avalas. It was the home of the Orc pantheon. Varien knew that if there was a hierarchy of targets on Fiendsbane’s blade, Rimmon was second only to Levistus. Fiendsbane had guided Varien through research on this very topic, and from his time in study, he recalled that Rimmon was at one time the Archduke of Cania, one of the Nine Hells of Baator, making him an equal to Levistus as one of the Lords of the Nine, subservient only to Asmodeus himself. Fiendsbane knew that Rimmon had been replaced as Lord of Cania by Mephistopheles, the Cold Lord, who now ruled the Eighth Layer of Hell with a coldwrought iron fist. In compensation for the loss of his realm, Rimmon had been offered a position in Asmodeus’s court as a Duke of Nessus, one of the generals marshalling the army of fiends in the eternal Blood War and securing Asmodeus’s claim on the Nine Hells. He led five companies of gelugons – ice devils – into battle. Now it seemed that he had lost even that position. I care little for infernal politics, Fiendsbane said. I care about stabbing infernal politicians. “Soon, soon,” Varien said, patting his sword’s scabbard. The party had wind walked through a firestorm of antiaircraft fire and looping flying machines as the immense airship cut a swath of destruction across the pockmarked face of a moon-sized battle cubes below it, unleashing cannon blasts from scorpion turrets, rocket fire, and burning beams of destructive energy from its infernal searchlights that harkened back to the Eye of the Coast that the Hand of Nessus had used in the Leaning Lighthouse. Airbursts of flak, magic missiles , and ground-based artillery fire turned the air around the zeppelin into a maelstrom of fire, smoke, and shrapnel that sent more than one winged airship spinning towards the cube’s surface, their fuselages in flames. The great flying machine’s armour, however, allowed it to move impassively through the firestorm. The aerial punishment was meted out on a vast orc formation of infantry marching endlessly across the flat surface of the cube in open terrain, ripe for such a strafing. The closer the party breezed towards the airship, the more difficult it was to maintain their telepathic link. As the party drifted like low-lying fog through the service tubes of the airship, they heard announcements in Infernal over a crackling loudspeaker system. Varien translated: A THING COVETED IS WORTH THE WAIT! FLAWLESS SERVICE GUARANTEES PROMOTION! Varien thought back to what he knew of the hierarchy of devils. Every devil wanted to climb the ladder. Gelugons were rather high up in the ranking, serving as commanders of lower-level devils in battle and were known to tirelessly pursue promotion, and needed to endure 777 years of flawless, perfect service to their master before becoming eligible to ascend to the rank of Pit Fiend. Gelugons were concerned with success and service, so there was a streak of loyalty running through the ice in their veins, because any misstep sets them back in their pursuit. “Devils hate this one weird trick,” Siegfried said. “It’s called true polymorph. ” “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Siegfried,” Varien warned. “Hear me out,” replied Siegfried. “What if we were to pull a surprise inspection?” “One of these days when you become a devil, a devil is going to become you, and I’m going to have to end that,” Varien said. “Varien, I’m far more evil than these devils are already!” Siegfried protested. “I’m better at it.” “Nope, I’m not hearing that,” Varien said. It was true that making out one another’s voices telepathically was nearly impossible within the infernal iron matrix of the airship. “What if…pit fiend…said I was from the union…inspection…” Siegfried’s voice, muffled and glitched out, was continuing the argument. The temperature in the corridors of the airship was very cold, and the ironwork was rimed with frost that seemed to spell out infernal warding runes across every surface. “Gnash, how close can we get to the bridge of this airship?” Siegfried asked. “Oh, uh, I can get you pretty close,” Gnash said through a hissing static headache. “The bridge is going to be well defended but it is accessible. Using the imp tunnels the imps might notice this out-of-place burst of steam or fog or what have you and file an alert with the command deck. They might look into it or request assistance.” “If we’re in walking distance this is as good a place as any,” Siegfried said. “Well, yeah,” Gnash replied. Air-wen started re-materializing in the corridor nearest the imp roost egress point. There was a tense sixty seconds that seemed to pass very slowly, but the party was unmolested during the time taken to become corporeal again. The party materialized in a technomantic ironclad corridor forged from infernal iron. Beneath their boots were ironshod deckplates, into which was set a pentagram-like rune that was giving off a dark reddish light to illuminate the antechamber. A deep basso thrum reverberated throughout the corridor, perhaps the vibrations of whatever dynamo was helping the airship stay in the air. “What did I tell ya?” Gnash beamed. “We’re golden!” Before them was a heavy bulkhead with a portal that appeared to have a translucent grey film skeined across the open door. “Well, lead the way to the bridge!” Siegfried said to Gnash. “Will do!” There was a slight pop as Gnash climbed through the portal. There was a popping squelch as he passed through the bulkhead. Siegfried followed and immediately felt the scourging of necrotic burn all over his body. There was a sizzling sound as he passed through the portal that ended as he entered the second area. Varien followed and was similarly afflicted by the acidic necrosis. “Siegfried, do you know any beasts associated with the Devil?” Airwen asked Siegfried. “Rams? Goats?” Siegfried replied without hesitation. Varien gave him a suspicious glance. Bob winced as he passed through the portal and was scourged. Airwen drifted through the portal and appeared unaffected by the film over the doorway. He howled triumphantly, which echoed down the corridor. “Nice surprise infiltration we had going there,” Siegfried grumbled. Varien and Airwen noticed that Gnash appeared to have been unaffected by the portal’s scourging security feature. “Gnash, is there something you’re forgetting to tell us?” Airwen growled. “What do you mean? What do you mean?” Gnash replied nervously. “Because forgetting could cost you your life,” Airwen growled again. “Well, you could write a book about the things I’ve forgotten,” Gnash said. “Specifically, did you forget about the anti-mortal aura on this doorway?” Siegfried said. “Oh, that must be a new defence mechanism they put in,” Gnash said. “Why, did you get tagged by something?” He brushed goo from his greatcoat with his long, metal claws. “It’s a bit chilly in here, isn’t it?” He popped his coat’s collar around his goblin-like face. Airwen decided to cast polymorph on Gnash. “H-hey, why are you lookin’ at me like that, Erwen?” Gnash stuttered. “Because you’re a rat,” Airwen replied. “What?” Gnash protested. “I’ve been nothing but straight with you!” Airwen frowned. The spell should have worked, but Gnash did not change shape as expected. “Wait a second,” Gnash said. “I thought we were friends here!” Gnash held up his metal claws in protest. Siegfried cast true seeing and considered Gnash for a moment as his eyes shone bright white. What he saw was not merely the augmented goblin that stood before him with prosthetic arms and legs, but a large, muscular canoid creature, its spine bristling with spikes and a swishing tail. A goblin-wolf hybrid with a jaw full of sharp teeth. Something seemed off about it though, as if the creature was oscillating between goblin and creature form seemingly at random, unable to fully transform. This was a barghest, a fiendish, lupine creature native to Gehenna. Varien cast divine sense . The presence of strong evil all around him stank like rotting flesh in his nose, but he pushed past the background desecration and focused on Gnash, identifying him as not a goblin but rather a fiend. In his most authoritative voice, Siegfried commanded Gnash to “sit!” Airwen sat immediately. Gnash cringed and took a knee. “I SAID SIT!” Siegfried shouted. “Okay, okay!” Gnash said, sitting on the deck. “Shake!” Siegfried barked. Gnash offered his scissorhand in greeting. “Okay, okay, cool.” “Paw!” Siegfried commanded. Gnash shook his head. “I don’t…what?” He raised his other claw. “Roll over!” Siegfried continued. “I’m not into that sort of thing, but fine,” Gnash said, obligingly somersaulting. “Good dog,” Siegfried said. “Heh, well, I do enjoy a good affirmation as much as anybody,” Gnash replied. “Now, stop pretending to be a goblin and tell me who feeds you,” Siegfried commanded. Gnash protested. “What you see is what you get, right?” Varien drew Fiendsbane and pointed it at Gnash’s throat. “That’s one lie.” Still crouching on the deck, Gnash let out a nervous chuckle. “All right, all right, so we’re playing this game, are we? Fellas, fellas. When I say ‘what you see is what you get,’ what I mean is, I am a goblin’s nightmare. All right? But I’m also living a nightmare of my own, in case you cared, because I can no longer be my true self thanks to these abominations,” he clacked his claws together. “But even I know when the jig is up. I am indeed what’s known as a barghest.” “A shapeshifting hellhound who has lost the ability to shapeshift,” Siegfried said. Gnash winced. “I’m temporarily embarrassed, okay?” “Three strikes and you’re out,” Airwen growled. “Whoa, okay,” Gnash said. “Erwen, remember you like dogs,” Siegfried said. “I like dogs,” Erwen repeated. “He’s a dog,” Siegfried said. “He’s a bad dog,” Erwen said. “Well, uh…” Gnash’s face fell. “There are no bad dogs,” Siegfried said. “There are dogs who have had bad masters.” “One more mistake and he’s dead,” Erwen growled. Gnash snapped his fingers with a metallic spark. “You know what? I think this is the perfect time to come clean with you guys. I’m really glad we’re having this conversation, though I wish it were elsewhere and under better circumstances, all right. Let’s speedrun this, okay? I am a barghest, like others of my kind I was created by the will of the General of Gehenna, and it is my sworn duty and living impulse to consume the souls of seventeen goblinoids who I have killed. When I do that, these souls are prevented from joining Magubliyet’s forces here on Acheron. Now, you may ask, ‘why seventeen? Why seventeen, Gnash?’ Well, let me tell you why. Because, uh, Magubliyet and the General of Gehenna they had an agreement and made several oaths, and Magubliyet broke seventeen of those oaths in his contract with the General. So the General of Gehenna says, ‘alright, I’m going to create this nightmare creature to terrorize goblin, hobgoblin, and bugbear alike and prevent you, o god of the goblins, from getting full use of their souls here on Acheron. All right? So, I was doing my job, quite well actually, but before I could get to my seventeenth soul, to placate the General, I was tricked, summoned, pulled back to Gehenna, without those souls in my possession. And usually when that happens, a barghest under those circumstances, becomes enslaved by yugoloths, or worse, annihilated, whatever, it’s awful. But, good ol’ Gnash here, he is an enterprising barghest, he is an entrepreneur, he’s consumed with self-preservation I think, moreso than others of his kind, so I skipped. Out of Gehenna. And now I’m trying to get to my quota through what I think is a pretty ingenious activity. You see, more than a few ambitious bugbears and hobgoblins, have made deals with devils like Rimmon, to avoid serving in Magubliyet’s armies here on Acheron, so what I like to do is, I’m trying to find their contracts and I’m trying to find their soul coins, and give back to the General of Gehenna what these devils have legally stolen. So, uh, that’s kinda what I do, you guys kinda surprised me there at the tower, while I was trying to close one of those deals, and I had to do what I had to do so you didn’t wipe me out along with the rest of those poor saps in the tower, alright? Now you know why I want to get into Rimmon’s private reserve, you know?” “So, you were made by a god,” Siegfried said. “As an orc, I can sympathize. You were made by a higher being’s tiny dick insecurities.” “I’m not sure that’s how the General would put it,” Gnash said. “It’s how I say it!” Siegfried said. “You were created to answer for another being’s insults, and that’s not fair.” Gnash’s eyes widened. “Hey, yeah! All right!” “That’s actually why I’m hear, to talk about the raw deal the orcs have been given. Did you know that we are built to be angry? To lose our temper? Just because an elf god named Corellion poked Gruumsh’s eye out?” “Yeah, I’ve heard the legends, believe you me,” Gnash said. “Yes, we’ve both had failures as creators,” Siegfried said. “And they should answer for that.” “You know, you need to talk to my current patron,” Gnash said. “You might have heard of him. Obould Many-Arrows?” “Get out of here!” Siegfried exclaimed. I just usurped the throne of the heir of Many Arrows!” “Well then, he might find that a very interesting story!” Gnash replied. “We should definitely talk to him on the way to Gruumsh,” Siegfried said. “Keep ol’ Gnash alive and Gnash will deliver you an audience!” Gnash said. “I think the two of you might hit it off.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “I’ll tell you right now one of my side jobs is fomenting rebellion and revolution in the hobgoblin ranks in their strongholds here on Acheron. I do what I can, sowing dissention in the enlisted ranks, trying to turn the tide, because already I’m not in favour of hobgoblins gaining the upper hand in this endless war. So Obould has been very good to me, very good indeed.” “And we could liberate the goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears from Magubliyet as well!” Siegfried continued. “Harrumph!” Gnash harrumphed. “Well, now that we understand each other, let me show you the way to the Man himself!” “Yes, and a little bit of warning for anything that might harm us mortals along the way, if you please,” Siegfried said. “Sure, you’ve seen what this portal can do, I mean, you might have to deal with some ioun stone turrets and wandering security patrols. I don’t think the demon detectors are going to get you, though.”