Elaryan returns to consciousness slowly, surrounded by darkness. His mythically enhanced eyes pierce the gloom, revealing that he is a lone in small irregilar cell. The walls of the cell are made of masses of bones that appear to be partially melted and then formed into solid sheets of ivory. The doorway is blocked by a wall of force . Elaryan himself is dressed in a simple shift; all of his equipment is missing. He attempts to summon his Staff of Groetus , but some force blocks his connection to it— possibly a dimensional lock of some kind. Shrugging, the sorcerer pulls arcane energy from the air around him and fashions it into a disentegrate ray, which he aims at the door. The wall of force is immediately neutralized; clearly this prison was not made to hold mythic heroes. Elaryan exits his cell and begins to explore. As one would expect, the interior of the Ineluctable Prison is a tangled maze. The vast bulk of this maze consists of seemingly endless winding hallways periodically interrupted by cellblocks containing eight to 12 prison cells. Most of these are empty, but after wandering for over an hour, Elaryan finds one that is occupied by a halfling. In the gloom, he believes that he has found Nor, but once the halfling speaks, it is clear that this is a stranger. The halfling introduces himself as Loki, and explains that he has been trapped in this cell for many days, perhaps even for a year. Originally from the Prime Material Plane, he was exploring the Abyss when he was captured by demons and placed the Ineluctable Prison. Some magic quality of the cell has kept him alive without food or water. He begs to be released. Elaryan frees Loki, and the two continue to explore the prison. As in the Ivory Labyrinth, the heroes get a distinct impression that the layout of the maze is constantly shifting. Wails of pain, maniacal laughter, demonic roars, desperate begging, forlorn sobbing, and more constantly echo along the hallways. The only lights comes from the occasional statue; each is fashioned in the form of Baphomet, with a glowing torch upon its head that gives off a sickly illumination. Loki decides to investigate one of the statues. The moment he touches it, the torch is extinguished, and a Abyssal energy floods into his small body. The halfling falls to the ground, nearly dead. He and Elaryan resolve to touch no more statues. Eventually, the two companions discover Malak in another cell and free him. The half-dragon is initially suspicious of Loki, but after some intense questioning, decides that he is mostly harmless. He reveals that he is unable to summon Ashbringer , just as Elaryan was unable to summon his staff. The party continues to wander. Shortly after freeing Malak, they encounter a pair of demodand sentries. Lithe and toothy, the guards have jet-black skin that looks like living tar, and ooze drips from the claws that cap their long arms. Each wields a pair of wicked-looking short swords. The heroes leap into action. Malak assumes dragon form, while Loki grows long, demonic claws. The scuffle only takes a few seconds; the demodands fight fierecly, but are no match for the adventurers. Collectiing a few of the swords, the party presses on. Over the next few hours, the heroes free two more prisoners, both of whom share important information. The first is a halfling priestess named Waxberry. Waxberry explains that she was a member of Crusaders of Talism, worshippers of Iomedae that have been fighting against demons in Talism City. In one battle, the crusaders’ commander had just summoned the Herald of Iomedae to aid in the fight, when a 12-armed, two-headed, demonic snakewoman appeared. Waxberry was near the herald at the time, and she was swept up with him by the demon. The next thing the cleric knew, she was huddled in a great cavern of bones, watching from a ledge overlooking a lake of boiling tar. The herald was standing on a circulardisc floating in the tar, and for what felt like years, Waxberry was powerless to do anything but watch as the herald was tortured by something she couldn’t quite bear to look directly upon... a horrible beast with carrion bird wings, hoofed feet, a crown of fire, and a bleeding pentagram on its brow. In the end, the shape tore out the herald’s heart and gave it over to the snakewoman— and here, Waxberry breaks down for a bit. Through sobs, she explains how the herald finally submitted, pledged its loyalty to the darkness, and became corrupted. The second prisoner that the heroes free is an unlikely ally. He is a puragaus named Suurlahetas, an ambassador from Dis who sought to hire a legion of labyrinth minotaurs and ally briefly with Baphomet against a mutual foe. This alliance was logical and well planned, but alas, the immolation devil overestimated his own diplomatic prowess and underestimated the power of Baphomet’s hatred of devils, and has been imprisoned here ever since. Suurlahetas has been well-briefed on the features of the Ineluctable Prison, and offers to share that knowledge in return for being released. Figuring that the enemy of an enemy is a friend, the heroes comply. The puragaus is as good as his word, explaining the purpose of the Baphomet statues (they heal followers of Baphomet but harm everyone else) and describing certain teleportation pentagrams that are scattered throughout the maze. These pentagrams are used by the demodand sentries to move quickly through the prison, but the more secure areas can only be reached by someone holding at least three of the five keys needed to unlock the Groaning Gate. Having kept his side of the bargain, Suurlahetas plane shifts back to Dis, and the party continues exploring. Shortly thereafter, they find one of the pentagrams described by the puragaus. They attempt to use it, but having no firm destination in mind, they are all simply shunted back into cells. It takes several hours for Elaryan, Malak, and Loki to regroup. They are searching for Waxberry when they come across a large pair of locked doors. Loki disables the lock, and Malak flings them open, revealing the chamber beyond. A gut-wrenching assortment of torture implements grimly decorates the room—- iron maidens, barbed cages, racks, vivisection tables, and more. Blood and decay infuse the air and stain the floors, and the sense of misery is almost palpable. In the center of the chamber, two demodands are tormenting a strange woman. These demodands are more muscular than the earlier sentries, with froglike heads and slimy skin. Their victim is an upasunda, a six-armed woman with three fanged faces. As the party enters the room, the demodands release their prisoner and attack. This battle does not go as well as the previous one, particularly once the slimy demodands are joined by their commander, a shaggy demodand named Plorig-Stagul who serves as the prison's underwarden. Both Malak and Loki manage to slay the lesser demodands, but are both wounded grievously. Eventually, the battle comes down to Elaryan and Plorig-Stagul. The sorcerer invests as much as his mythic energy into spells as he can muster, and manages to destroy the underwarden before she can beat him to death with her magic warhammer. Elaryan revives his companions, and they search the chamber. In addition to the various implements of torture, they discover a strongbox full of treasure. More importantly, in an adjoining office, they find notes on the layout of the prison and on some of its more important prisoners. Everyone who played gains 50,000 XP
