Stegafried swung his mighty spiked tail down on Ciamanthe. The Erinyes’ eyes widened in concern as she deftly brought up her longsword to parry. There was a tremendous clang as bony spikes met infernal steel, and the floorboards creaked dangerously beneath the fiend as the weight of Stegafried’s tail and the force of the strike brought her down to earth momentarily. In the stern chamber, Markosian fired two eldritch blasts , the first one at Varien. Varien managed to get his shield up and deflect the attack. The second eldritch blast arced out over the liondrake and struck Bob, knocking him off of Skraper’s back. The sorcerer tumbled back against a plush violet-upholstered bench that lined the port side of the chamber. “I denounce you, Markosian!” Varien drew himself up to his full height and pointed Fiendsbane accusingly at the warlock as he issued a vow of enmity against him. “You foul, wretched, disgusting being!” He swung his sword with radiant vengeance, striking Markosian squarely. The warlock shuddered as he lost concentration, and the inky black tendril connecting him to Varien dissipated, ending the enervation spell that had been draining the paladin’s life essence. “You are beginning to try my patience, Aether,” Markosian growled. “What’s this, no first name?” Varien replied. “Is our time of friendship over?” Below deck, Alec surveyed his surroundings as his Clockdrive’s Nightvision Goggles calibrated. He stepped over a headless body that had come to rest at the base of the stairs leading above deck. Behind him, there were two sets of doors to the north, and he could smell enticing cooking smells from the chamber beyond – likely a galley. Around him were several hammocks strung up on posts and beams. In the centre of the chamber was a large rectangular hatch that opened to lower decks, that looked large enough to shift cargo through. Smaller hatches in the floor Growls in the semi-darkness indicated that there were several pirates who were not happy to see him. Alec fixed his attention on them and brandished his weapon. He sliced the hapless pirate in two vertically. The bisected man split in two; half of him collapsing into a nearby hammock, while his other half fell down into the open hatch with a wet splat. “Let’s go!” Alec shouted as he cleaved through the corpse and rounded on the second pirate he could see, hacking at him viciously. He stabbed the man through the midsection and then pulled his sword upward, splitting his thorax open. Blood gouted from the dying man, spraying across Alec’s bare chest. As the pirate fell headlong before him, Alec fixed his glare upon the third pirate, who immediately began looking around for an escape route. Alec gave chase with a battle cry. “How dare you knock me off my new friend?” Bob cursed at Markosian as he twinned a guiding bolt, sending one towards the warlock and the other towards Sparky the hellhound. Markosian managed to dodge the guiding bolt , but the second one struck Sparky with a ka-boom . “Get destroyed!” Bob shouted with glee as the bolt struck the hellhound and radiant energy seared, scored, and scarred the fiendish creature. Sparky howled in agony. Bob tapped into his psionic reserves to telekinetically shove Markosian back, but the warlock dug in his heels and withstood the psychic wave. “Varien, please stab him! Skraper, destroy! For your master!” Bob called. Skraper growled at Sparky. “Me. Hate. Dog!” The liondrake barrelled towards Sparky, pouncing on the wounded hellhound. There was a yipe, a whimper and a puff of brimstone as the hellhound disappeared. “I always was more of a cat person,” Bob said with a smile. Skraper looked confused, staring at his paws. “Where dog? Where dog? This unsatisfactory!” “You killed him!” Bob said, taking cover behind the conference table’s high-backed chair. Markosian smiled darkly. “Perhaps it is time for a change of venue,” he said, sweeping his staff before him in a grandiose gesture. “If you are so eager to journey to the depths of the Nine Hells, what kind of host would I be if I did not provide you with a preview of what your future holds?” With that, an aura of conjuration energy rippled across the chamber like an oil slick on the water’s surface, enveloping Varien, Bob, and Skraper before they could react. Darkness fell over them for a moment, and then they were standing knee-deep in the dead. Varien’s nostrils flared. He could smell bilge water. A veritable sea of bones was beneath their feet, stretching out for yards in all directions and shifting with a sickening percussive sound with each wave that struck the ship’s keel. Varien could make out the ribbed frame of the St. Asmod’s Hope’s hull and surmised that they had been teleported to the ship’s lowest decks, where the masts were rooted to the keel. Beyond the bloody boneyard, Markosian stood before them near the forward section of the cargo hold, which had been portioned off into prison cages. Shackled inside the cages were a number of malnourished, brutalized prisoners, some of them wearing the tattered remains of priestly vestments. Standing near the warlock were two female thralls wearing next to nothing, the brand of Asmodeus seared into their upper chests. From somewhere in the darkness came a driving, devilish drumbeat, and somehow Varien and Bob knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the skins of those drums were of human origin. “You will fall prone before the might of Asmodeus!” Markosian shouted, sweeping his scepter in a grandiose gesture. He turned to his thralls. “Nephthyn, Joelle…” He nodded at the jail cells. Nephthyn and Joelle drew long, curved daggers from their belts. The prisoners shrank away vainly. Without hesitation or remorse, the thralls plunged their daggers into the nearest shackled hostages, slashing and slicing throats. The blood that sprayed from the victims began to drift through the air in horrible gobbets, drawn towards Markosian by some vile invisible intent. Markosian absorbed the blood, his wounds closing. He barked a mind sliver spell at Bob in Infernal. “No, you!” Bob shouted, counterspelling the mind sliver . Markosian began to pace among the jail cells, the prisoners cringing away from him as far as their manacles would allow. Theryn smiled at the pirates who had him hooked in place. “Breathe deeply, my friends, breathe deeply.” He released another cloud of gas from Master Milltall’s Ethereal Venomizer. One of the pirates stiffened and fell prone, paralyzed, joining his frozen companion on the deck. His companion doubled over, coughing. Smiling, Theryn prepared to make himself very difficult to hit. On the top deck, the battle raged. Berrick hit the drow with a fusillade of bolts from his repeating crossbow. Yeemik continued to hack at his target, slashing fiercely. Gulliper Blackwater threw a javelin at another sniper, but missed. The drow snipers returned fire. Yeemik took two musket butts to the head, while the others fired their weapons at the Tide-Runner’s crew. Captain Ironclaw took a round in the side, cursing. The pirate standing before Alec turned and ran, climbing down an open hatch in an effort to make a break for it. Theryn dodged the attacks of his harpoon-holding enemy. Ciamanthe slashed violently at Stegafried, landing a critical strike that staggered the stegosaurus. Her second strike knocked Siegfried out of wildshape. Erwen was holding on to Siegfried’s shoulders for dear life. “Did you miss me that much?” Siegfried said through a smile of bloodied teeth. Ciamanthe returned his smile with a dark one of her own. “I haven’t missed you at all,” she said, stabbing at Siegfried. The half-orc deftly parried her attack, leaned forward, and kissed the startled Erinyes on the forehead. “You’re so cute when you’re trying to murder me,” he purred. Ciamanthe glared back at Siegfried with murder in her eyes. Varic called down lightning on the drow sniper who had targeted Captain Ironclaw. There was a blast of lightning energy and a blast of splinters as the lightning struck home, but the drow deftly dodged the worst of the attack. Erwen used his animal shapes spell to turn Siegfried back into a stegosaurus. The Halfling backed away from the Erinyes as Siegfried’s body blurred into a new shape, hiding behind the sauropod’s stout legs and massive tail. The Halfling then scampered up the wildshaped half-orc’s tail. Markosian cast another spell. Varien counterspelled the necromantic attack, chopping the spell out of the air. Stegafried swung his tail at Ciamanthe, who ducked easily. The spiked tail struck the king-sized bed in the centre of the room, obliterating a number of pillows. Varien moved to intercept Markosian and cast spirit guardians . His glittering guardians winked into existence in a protective aura, whirling around him. They ripped into one of Markosian’s thralls, flaying her with radiant, swirling golden flames. She screamed. “Yes, Varien, that’s it,” Markosian beckoned. “Come… closer .” “Well, I can’t beat the shit out of you without doing that!” Varien replied. Alec pursued the fleeing pirate. Reaching the hatch, he aimed his sword down and jumped after the pirate. He impaled the pirate as he tumbled down the hatchway, suddenly entangled with the unfortunate swabbie as they fell together into the cargo hold, landing hard in a pile of broken shards of bones. Alec swung his sword again, killing the pirate. Alec stood, shards of bones falling from his shoulders. Bob twin-cast heal , reinvigorating his brother and Varien alike. Both men felt their strength returning. He then used his telekinetic shove to propel his brother towards Varien. Markosian snapped his fingers and his acolytes performed another gruesome sacrifice from among the prisoners. “Two can play that game,” he growled as he gained strength from the dying victims. The bones beneath their feet began to shift ominously. “Me no like this,” said Skraper. Bones suddenly flew around the cargo hold in a tearing tornado, blasting Bob, Alec, and Skraper. The liondrake yowled. “Do not want!” he said, letting out a magical roar that reverberated through the ship. A wave of exhaustion struck Alec and Theryn. On the crew deck, the galley door cracked open and a wizened crone with blue-green skin stuck her head out the door. “Skraper!” she shouted. “Shut up, dammit!” Then she slammed the door again. One of Markosian’s acolytes began to cast a spell. Bob cast counterspell and stopped the spell in its tracks. Her counterpart smiled darkly and cast the identical spell. A cone of cold blasted out from the spellcaster. “That’s what you come at me with?” Varien asked, raising his shield. “A cold breeze?” “Not today, Joelle!” Nephthyn cursed, her breath fogging, as she too was caught up in the blast of cold magic. Markosian’s eyes narrowed. “Ah, newcomers have joined the party! Unless I miss my guess, the two of you are brothers, is that right?” “That we are,” Bob said. “I’ve heard tell of strangers from a faraway land, poking their noses into others’ business,” Markosian said. “My nose belongs in many businesses,” Bob said. “So, far traveller,” Markosian said. “It’s a pity you travelled all this way across Faerun itself, only to end up in a cage.” He cast forcecage . Skraper ran full-tilt into the cage’s invisible bar. “What this?” he roared. “Me trapped!” Bob and Alec had heard how slavers in Kirkwall’s history used magic to trap unsuspecting victims. Theryn snapped the harpoon like a twig and pulled the tip out, casting it aside. He charged up his stormbow and backpedaled towards the nearest hatch. Yeemik hacked at the drow on the bowsprit. “Why won’t you die?” He growled as he hacked the dark elf twice, unleashing a smite. The drow’s knees gave out and he fell overboard to be run over by the ship’s prow, disappearing beneath the waves. Berrick reloaded his repeating crossbow. The remaining drow snipers fired at the sailors. Loud Laurel took a round to the shoulder and cursed a blue streak. Varic called down another bolt of lightning to blast another sniper. Ciamanthe slashed at the stegosaurus with her longsword, opening long wounds on his thick hide. Then the Erinyes wised up and targeted the Halfling atop the dinosaur’s back, hitting Erwen with her sword. She missed with her third swing. Herc McGurk and Gully threw their javelins at another drow sniper. Blood began to spatter down onto the deck from above. Erwen ducked down between Stegafried’s spine plates. The wildshaped half-orc stomped forward, shredding carpet beneath his feet and tried to catch Ciamanthe with his tail, but missed with a wild swing. Nephthyn stabbed at Varien as he ran past, but he cast shield to ward off the blow. His spirit guardians blasted the acolyte and Markosian alike as the paladin ran his quarry down. He struck the warlock with Fiendsbane , unleashing a radiant burst of magical energy, and shoved Markosian, knocking him prone. The warlock propped himself up on his elbows. His lips curled and his eyes turned black. He barked a blasphemous word, “ malfaraak! ” Varien stood his ground, unmoved by Markosian’s blasphemy. “It’s only fair that I let you have your last words,” he said. For the first time, Markosian looked unsure of himself. Alec frowned as he tried to free himself, but the invisible cage offered no avenue of escape. His sword clanged uselessly against the invisible bars. Skraper grew more agitated at every turn, beating itself against the barrier desperately. Alec cast dragon breath on himself and blew a cone of fire through the invisible bars, catching up Nephthyn in the blaze. The acolyte screamed as she was roasted in the magical flames, her body turning to cinders. Bob knew that extricating himself from the forcecage was going to be a complicated project. He decided to first cast a mass healing word on his allies. Magical darkness began to flood the cargo hold, but Varien’s mantle of flame and the light given off by Fiendsbane continued to illuminate sections of the ship. Varien turned to Markosian and grinned. “You cannot hide from my light, Markosian!” Skraper roared yet again, and a wave of weakening energy spread out throughout the lower decks. Joelle and Alec both sagged with weariness. Joelle recovered and began to chant a spell. A smell of sulphur pervaded the room as she blasted a fireball into the forecage . Markosian laughed darkly above the sound of the pounding drums as the flames washed over Bob, Skraper, and Alec. “You fools. You should have known better than to come on board ship, disrupt my plans, and cause no end of irritation. It’s time to finish this!” He strode forward through the dissipating flames. His eyes began to cloud over into deep black orbs imbued by dread power. “No, you!” Bob shouted as he cast counterspell . Markosian laughed as his magical power overwhelmed Bob’s efforts. He turned to fix his necromantic gaze on Varien. “It’s twilight time, Varien Aether. As the cold unnatural darkness obscures the Frozenfar as we speak, so shall it claim you.” Varien returned Markosian’s baleful glare with one of his own, imbued with all the righteous fury of a Sunnite paladin. “The holy light of Sune illuminates all darkness, and the Phoenix’s flames will cleanse this world of your wickedness.” Markosian’s eyes widened in confusion as Varien resisted the effects of the eyebite incantation. “Huh, that usually has more of an effect,” he mused. “Nevertheless, your fate, and that of your meddling friends above and below decks, is sealed.”