Session #10 - The Hell Wasp Hoedown

Before resting Almont once again prayed to Kiri-Jolith.  The cleric was never certain how the god would interact with him, but when the ritual was done correctly he always got a response.  So he placed his warhammer down, the head on the ground and shaft sticking up.  His holy symbol medallion was balanced upon it, a gold coin laid in front as an offering.  Almont closed his eyes, curious as to what form his vision would take.

 

Only this time it wasn’t a vision.  Instead it was a voice from directly in front of him.  “What is your question, my son?”

Almont opened his eyes with a start and found himself staring at the medallion.  The skull image blinked.  Then the mouth moved.  “Your question.  Ask it.”

 

The cleric was going to ask about how to best defeat the hell wasps, but at the last moment changed his mind.

 

“How can Lola help us safely return Avernus to the material plane?”

 

It was clear to all of them that Lola had a part to play in all of this beyond just having some familiarity with Avernus.  There was still much they didn’t know about her, and likely even more that she could not remember about herself.

 

The answer, as was often the case, was brief and cryptic.

 

“Lola can open doors that others cannot.”

 

With that the coin disappeared and the skull image on the medallion reverted to its normal shape.  The answer wasn’t helpful in a specific way, but it did point to the important role the hollyphant would potentially play.

 

Almont returned to a room in the back of the building to join his friends.  As he began to explain what he learned, a red cap walked into the room with a large blue metal object that looked to be some kind of tool.  They all turned to look at it.  It placed the item on a shelf, then turned and waked out as if they were not even in the room. 

 

Kent walked over and picked the item up.  Fiddling with it he discovered that turning a metal disc built into the rod caused the hook part at one end to either slide further outward, extending the item, or back inward, making it shorter.  With that he looked back to the group, shrugged his shoulder, and placed the item in the bag of holding.

 

After a rest everyone packed up their gear and returned to the large open area that comprised most of the building.  Loud squawking drew their attention to one of the larger vehicles where the two bird-like creatures appeared to be arguing loudly.

 

The creatures were called kenkus, and this pair were named Cucka and Kronk.  Their language was impossible to comprehend, but judging by the tone and way they were pointing metal objects of unknown purpose at one another they were disagreeing about something.  

 

The party approached.  Katla looked to Lola.  “Can you understand what they’re saying?”

 

“No, but I can try to communicate with them telepathically.”

 

The kenkus stopped arguing and faced the hollyphant.  After a few seconds their disagreement resumed.

 

“I can’t understand them, but it appears that the machine won’t work, and they blame one another.”

 

Kent began poking around, then pulled his hand back quickly.  “Damn, this piece is burning hot!”

 

One of the kenkus pointed to the metal piece that burned Kent’s hand and nodded.  Lola flitted over and closed her eyes.  When she opened them again she looked startled.

 

“Whatever that thing is, it has a demon’s essence held within it.”

 

That gave Almont an idea.  There must be some kind of magic holding the demon within the object, so if he could dispel the warding perhaps the demonic presence would leave it.  Sure enough, when he cast the spell the piece of the machine began to glow bright red, then expelled a gray mist that floated away before cooling rapidly.  

 

The kenkus both nodded and seemed completely unsurprised.  They waved to Almont in thanks and returned to their work.

 

“You’re a handy one to have around, Bonecruncher.”

 

They turned to see Mad Maggie and Mickey approaching.  Mickey’s limp appeared to have worsened.

 

“It’s Bonecrusher.”

 

Maggie cackled.  “Of course, of course.  Don’t be so upset.  It’s only a name.  They call me Mad and you don’t see me getting cranky about it, do you?”

 

“What do you want, witch?”

 

Maggie cackled again, her laugh transitioning into a lung-rattling cough as she hocked up something and spit it on the ground.  Kent was positive he saw whatever it was sprout two small legs and run off.  He shuddered. 

 

“To finalize the terms of our deal, of course.”

 

After some back and forth it was agreed that if the party took care of the hell wasp problem they would be given one of the transportation machines, which Maggie referred to as a “Tormentor” and was big enough to carry the four of them. They would also receive a soul coin to power the contraption, plus an additional soul coin for every four hell wasp heads they returned with.  

 

“And the machine will function, right witch?  You wouldn’t try to trade us a pile of junk now, would you?” asked Almont.

 

Maggie laughed again.  “A deal is a deal, priest.  The machine will work.  You have an eye for the details in a deal. That will serve you well in Avernus, where the deal is everything.”

 

Maggie told them where to find some of her barges they could take across the Styx, as well as the general direction of the hive.  With that they left the building, strode across the open area, and approached the gate.  The same three red caps they saw when they entered were milling about.  

 

One of the smaller ones looked at them.  “What’s the password?”  

 

The larger one smacked it upside the head, knocking its cap to the ground.  “They’re inside stupid.  Now open the door.”

 

It retrieved its cap and shot a dirty look at the larger one as it skulked to the door.

 

The walk to the Styx did not seem to take nearly as long as the trip in had, perhaps 30 minutes.  Surely some kind of infernal magic was at play.  Regardless, they were all grateful to not have to endure another journey like the one that took them to Fort Knucklebones.

 

They arrived at the section of the river Maggie told them of and as promised found two barges.  The larger one appeared big enough to carry something the size of the Tormentor, while the other was better suited for 8-10 people.  This was a narrow point of the river, a little over a hundred feet across, and given the relatively slow current it likely wouldn’t be too difficult to row across.  

 

As they prepared to board, a commotion arose from the north.  It was painful to the ears.  Looking up river they saw a barge coming toward them much faster than expected given the speed of the Styx.  A gnarled old warlock stood at the front and appeared to be using magic to control the current around the vessel, which explained its rapid pace.  A few dozen dretches milled about as did a number of other creatures of indeterminate nature.  A group of dretches along the left side of the craft bellowed at the party as the barge passed them by.

 

Once the demon craft was out of sight, Almont, Katla and Kent boarded the small barge and Donyxn, whose infernal blood offered him some protection from the waters of the Styx, pushed it from the shore before hopping aboard.  Donyxn took hold of the rear oar and smoothly navigated them to the opposite bank.

 

With his magic goggles Donyxn pinpointed the location of the hell wasp nest a few hundred yards away.  But there was something more.

 

“There’s something moving, maybe a half mile away from the nest.”  He paused to consider what he was looking at.  “I think it might be that wandering emporium we’ve heard about.”

 

“Can we catch up to it?” Katla asked.

 

“No, it’s moving too fast for us to catch it on foot.  Perhaps when we get one of Maggie’s machines we can reach it.”

 

With that they quietly made their way to the wasp nest, Donyxn and Lola scanning the skies to ensure they weren’t caught by a surprise attack.  The nest itself was egg shaped, about forty feet across and another sixty from top to bottom.  It was difficult to tell what it was made from, thought he color was the reddish brown of clay.  There appeared to be two openings, one on either side.

 

Maggie had told them about the hell wasps, so they weren’t surprised by the fact that the nest itself was floating twenty feet in the air, anchored to the ground by four chains.  It turned out that the wasps had an affinity for celestial beings, using the inherent buoyancy of the their celestial prey to allow their nests to rise up off the ground.  With Lola being a celestial the party knew she would be targeted by the wasps.

 

The nest was quiet, with no wasps in sight.  Katla pointed her spider staff at one of the two openings and sprayed it with a thick layer of webbing, effectively closing it off.  That would allow them to concentrate all of their attention on one opening as the wasps inside emerged.  So now the question was how to convince them to come out.  

 

It was Donyxn’s idea to use the holy water.  

 

“There’s no way you’re going to be able to put an arrow with a flask of holy water strapped to it into that opening,” Kent said, half challenging, half teasing.  “I’ll bet you a gold piece this doesn’t work.”

 

The tiefling didn’t look up from his preparations.  “You speak when you should be watching and learning.  But then again, you’re not the sharpest dwarf in the drawer.”

 

Kent didn’t take offense at the jibe.  While quite clever, he knew his limitations.

 

“Ready?”  Donyxn asked, looking at his companions as he began to draw back his bowstring.

 

Katla took two steps forward so she would be in front of the line they formed.  She began making intricate movements with her hands and it felt like the temperature dropped sharply as a thin layer of pure white frost began forming on her forearms.  “I have a special surprise in store for these things.”  The sorceress looked to her right.  “Donyxn, if you please.”

 

The ranger nodded and discharged his arrow.  It flew true and disappeared into the opening.

 

Nothing happened right away, time seeming to slowly drag as the amped up party awaited their prey. 

 

Eventually buzzing could be heard from within the nest, quickly intensifying and culminating with the emergence of three hell wasps. 

 

The creatures were about the size of a dwarf, their backs covered with a hard purple carapace that changed to alternating yellow and black stripes on the front.  Their membrane-like wings had a deep pink color that gave the impression of a sunset as they beat rapidly.  Four appendages each ended in spike-like feet and appeared quite deadly, though not as terrifying as the stinger protruding from the bottom of their bodies.

 

The three wasps formed a line about forty feet in the air, hovered there for a few moments, and they began their attack run.  Donyxn with his goggles could see that something had also tried to emerge from the other opening but got stuck in Katla’s web.  “There’s at least one more trying to get out,” he warned.

 

With that, Katla unleashed her surprise.  With a clap of her hands a frozen storm materialized in the sky surrounding the wasps, fist-sized chunks of ice hurtling down upon the unsuspecting insects.  One was on the edge of the storm and able to escape without much damage, while a second was pelted by the massive hail and emerged with holes in its wings, though still airborne.  The third did not fare as well, dozens of frozen missiles battering and penetrating it.  It fell from the sky and was dead before it hit the ground.

 

One of the wasps made a run straight at Lola, stinging the hollyphant before it could be brought down.  Lola went limp and fell to the ground as the wasp attempted to pick her up and fly off.  It found itself assailed from all sides and quickly succumbed to the party’s spells and weapons, as did its partner.  

 

But as they were finishing off the two creatures they heard buzzing from behind them and looked up to see three more wasps rapidly approaching from behind.  As with the first group one went straight for Lola while the other two sought to fly around the party to attack them from behind.  

 

Lola got back to her feet and went into the air just before the wasp arrived to attack, and surprised everyone by letting out a trumpeting sound with her extended trunk.  The volume was disorienting, and Almont shuddered as he thought about how it would feel to be in the path of the blast.  But the even bigger shock was what emerged from her trunk along with the sound, a rainbow-colored cone of sparkles that hit the hell wasp center mass and blew it apart.  

 

The party made quick work of the other two, with Kent finishing off the one still stuck in Katla’s web with a few bolts from his pistol crossbow.

 

On his way back to the group he stopped to pick up the head of the wasp Lola killed.  “Well, you don’t see that every day.  Good thing she didn’t damage the head.”

 

“Oh, I’ve seen something like that before,” Donyxn said as he turned to the dwarf.  “One time I was deep in the woods and saw a unicorn battle a group of owlbears,” he began has he and Kent began collecting the other heads.

 

Katla regarded Lola with a mixture of concern and curiosity.  “Lola, do you have any other abilities you’d like to share with us.”

 

Lola landed on the ground and looked around the battlefield.  “I don’t know how I did that.”

 

Katla considered this and shook her head before turning back to the nest.  “I suppose we should destroy this thing as well so as not to provide a home for others.”  With that she began shooting frost rays at the floating mass.  Each strike caused the area around it to blacken and rot.

 

Then more buzzing came from within the nest.  Katla stopped her frost demolition and a massive hell wasp emerged, this one at least twice the size of the others, its abdomen swollen and distended.

 

“Looks like the queen,” Donyxn observed, notching a pair of arrows.

 

Kent shot him a look.  “Oh really?  You think?”

 

Had the queen been smart it simply would have flown away from the party and looked to establish a new hive elsewhere.  But it wanted revenge for its fallen children and attacked.  Which was good news for the party because they only had seven heads at that point and needed an eighth to get a second soul coin from Mad Maggie.  While the queen was tougher than the others, it was no match for the four seasoned adventurers.  

 

Their eighth head secured, they used their magic weapons to destroy the chains anchoring the now rotting hive to the ground.  When the last chain was broken it floated upwards and followed the winds as it rose out of sight.  

 

The group headed back to the barge and made it across the Styx without any trouble other than insults hurled at them by one of the seemingly endless supply of demon barges floating down the river.  Once on the other side they tied their vessel up and turned to begin the walk back to Fort Knucklebones.

 

They hadn’t take more than a half dozen steps when an imp materialized in front of them, hovering five feet above the ground on it’s furiously beating wings.  Weapons were immediately drawn, but the imp wasn’t here looking for a fight.

 

“I come bearing greetings from my master.”

 

All four remained on guard but didn’t make any moves to strike the creature.

 

“The great warlock David applauds your efforts.”

 

David.

 

Kent’s brow lowered, his eyes shrinking to slits.  Almont thought he could hear the dwarf’s grip tighten on the handle of his scimitar.

 

“David resides in a watchtower to the north, past the bend in the river Styx.  He wishes for you to dine with him when you have the time.”

 

“Oh, I’ll do more than just dine with him,” Kent said quietly, his voice gravelly and full of bile.  “I’ll make a necklace of his bones.”

 

The imp looked at Kent and considered this.  “Perhaps.”  With that it became invisible once again.

 

Donyxn put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, and with that they began the trek back to Fort Knucklebones.  Kent did not speak a word during the journey.  None of them did as the contemplated this new twist.

 

When they arrived at the fort they were once again greeted by a hail from red caps in the guard tower.  “What’s the password?”

 

Almont shook his head.  “This is ridiculous,” he muttered, reaching into the bag of holding and pulling out the head of the hell wasp queen.

 

“This is the password.  Now open that damn gate and tell Maggie we’re here.”

 

The eyes of all four red caps bulged when they caught sight of the head and they excitedly climbed down and opened the gate.

 

Maggie and Mickey stood in one of the openings of the large building in the center of the compound.  Almont unceremoniously tossed each of the eight hell wasp heads at her feet one at a time, ending with the queen.  Her eyes got wide and she clapped her hands at the sight of it.  

 

“A fine specimen!  And what of the nest?”

 

“Destroyed with frost and cut loose to sail the winds,” Katla replied.

 

“Excellent!”  Maggie exclaimed.  She reached into one of the endless pouches on her belt and withdrew three soul coins, handing them to the elf.  “A deal is a deal!  Now, please dine with me tonight and we can discuss some other deals that may interest you.”

 

“I doubt you have anything else of interest to us, witch,” Almont said levelly.

 

“Oh but I do, priest.  I do.”

 

 

The party arrived outside of Maggie’s quarters and instructed, and an angry looking red cap led them inside, its hand never leaving its sickle.  They were brought to a dining room of sorts.  Maggie sat at the end of table comprised of random metal parts, none of which matched, with Mickey crouching near her in the corner.  Five places were set at the table.  A small group of red caps milled around a smaller table at the other end of the room.

 

As they sat down two more angry red caps entered carrying trays covered with cloth and placed them on the table.  The cover of one of the trays was clearly moving.

 

Everyone’s expectations for the meal were low, but even so the weren’t prepared for what was uncovered.  One tray contained a ham-sized piece of rotting meat infested with maggots, which apparently were the cause of the movement and in fact looked more appetizing than the meat.  The other looked to hold six red cap legs, all of which were missing the feet.  Even more disturbingly they looked very fresh.

 

“Normally the red caps disappear when killed,” Maggie advised.  “So in order to have the legs for our meal I had to make sure their owners didn’t die when they were removed.  You should see them hopping around one leg!”  The witch cackled as she slapped the table repeatedly with her hand.

 

Katla’s hand covered her mouth as she desperately tried not to vomit.  

 

“Perhaps, Maggie, you would allow me to provide the food for our meal.  We know supplies are meager here in Avernus, so let us share our food with you.” Almont moved the trays to the far end of the table.  He noticed out of the corner of his eye that the group of red caps looked at the meat, even the legs of the brethren, with undisguised avarice.  

 

Almont closed his eyes and made the appropriate incantation.  Foodstuffs of all descriptions appeared, covering the entire table and spilling over onto the floor.  Maggie clapped her hands like a child.  “Oh, I haven’t seen a meal like this in centuries!”  The red caps grew still, their eyes wide under their bushy eyebrows, their mouths agape with wonder.

 

The cleric then placed two bottles of elvish one on the table.  Maggie squealed like a piglet, picking up one of the bottles and turning it over in her hands.  “You are a handy one to have around, priest.”

 

Some of the red caps approached the edge of the table eyeing the food Almont created.  Without looking up Maggie snapped her fingers and Mickey lurched forward with a roar that startled the party.  The red caps had clearly experienced this before, leaping back and pulling their weapons.

 

“Enough,” Maggie said forcefully, the pitch of her voice tinged with magical undertones that caused the red caps to cover their ears.  “You may have the two trays that were brought in, but none of the priest’s food.  Now take your meat and go.”

 

They took the two trays and headed for the door.  The largest of the group stared at the table bitterly for a few extra seconds before turning to Almont and making a throat-slitting gesture.  It then turned and departed, following the others.

 

Maggie told her story, about how she followed her two sisters to Avernus.  The sisters both made pacts with devils in an effort to gain power.  And they did… at least until they were killed in battle and discovered that they were eternally indebted to their masters, fated to be reborn again and again, each time with less and less power, dying more and more frequently as they became no more than front-line soldiers in the never-ending battle with the demons of the Abyss. 

 

Shrewdly Maggie relied on her own abilities, which grew over time as she learned to channel the environment of Avernus.  Over the course of decades she established herself as a sort of arms dealer, refusing offers to be bound to the more powerful denizens of the plane and instead sticking to transactional trades.

 

“Will you deal with anyone who has something you want?”  Katla was clearly guiding the conversation somewhere specific.

 

“No,” said Maggie, shaking her head.  “It’s not about morals or scruples, you understand.  I could care less.  But there are some beings that wield their power a bit too loosely for Maggie’s taste.”  A thoughtful look came over her face and she nodded, then ravenously returned to the meal.  “These meatballs are exquisite.”

 

Almont and Kent almost choked at the comment.  Donyxn looked at them both, annoyance flashing in his silvery eyes.

 

“Indeed they are,” agreed Katla, taking a dainty bite of one of the tasteless meatballs.  “For example, do you have any dealings with the warlock David?”

 

Maggie paused mid-chew and looked up at Katla.  “David.  No.  I don’t deal with David.  How do you know of him?”  She looked intently at the elf.

 

Katla continued to nibble at her meatball as if she was oblivious to Maggie’s reaction.  It was a skill her friends had seen her use many times in the past.  The sorceress had a way of making people feel she was naïve and that they were extracting valuable information from her, when in fact the complete opposite was happening.

 

“Oh, didn’t we tell you?  He sent an imp to invite us to dinner.”

 

“David.  Sent an imp.  To invite you to dinner?”

 

Katla nodded as she patted at the corners of her mouth with a cloth she pulled from within her robe.  She turned to look at Maggie.  “How rude of me.  Would you like to join us when we visit him?”

 

Maggie looked very serious.  “David is not to be trusted, which is why I don’t deal with him.  He is always trying to buy my machines, but I won’t take his soul coins.  He lives in a watchtower to the north, past the bend in the Styx.  I would be careful when dealing with that one.”  With that she went back to her meal and the conversation turned to Maggie’s machines and some of her more notable deals.

 

With the meal ended they stood from the table to take their rest.  Maggie remained seated.

 

“I have a few other things that need doing around here if you’d like to earn some more soul coins.  It will be another day or two before your vehicle is ready.  Perhaps we can make a deal.”

 

Katla looked at Maggie and smiled.  “Perhaps.”