Demons and Sins

One item found is the Sword of Valor - a banner, which... well, but let us let Irabeth Tirablade describe it in her own words: The Inheritor herself carried this crimson banner into battle during the Shining Crusade. An army commander who carries the Sword of Valor increases the DV and OM of her army by 4 against armies of undead or evil outsiders. Yet the Sword of Valor’s greatest power lies not in offense but in defense. Mounted firmly upon an interior wall in a visible, public place, the Sword of Valor creates a 10-mile-radius area that bars demons and those who worship demons from using teleportation spells and effects and imparts on such creatures a –4 penalty to Armor Class and on all saving throws. Once per month while the banner is mounted on a wall, a worshiper of Iomedae within 30 feet of the banner can use it to summon a planetar to protect the banner and its surroundings for 1 day. Any nonevil creature that sleeps within a 1-mile radius becomes immune to fear effects from...

We rejoin Our Party in the caverns under Drezen, which are a horrible place.  A whispering maddening susurration of half-heard voices distracts The Heroes, making it difficult to concentrate, and a pervasive evil lingers on the soul like smoke on the clothes after a bonfire.  The Party is weary and has used a fair portion of their magics and their Mythical powers, and considers resting in the blessed cell, when Antwon is buffeted by a... a soul, it seems.  Antwon feels the last thought of one of the Crusaders: "I thought I could forget it, forget the murder, but now Sarenrae will judge me, at last.  Forgive me, Maria." The Army outside is beginning to die, beginning to succumb to the ravages of the Abyssally-charged disease.  The Party decides to press on, except for Kand, who takes some time to sort and classify his new library of planar and demonic knowledge. In one of the dorm rooms near the cell block we find a secret door, which leads to a platform over...

The seven adventurers: Antwon the Cavalier, Kand the Wizard, Torvan the rogue, and Vig the Ninja/Paladin, with their friend Kendra, and new friends Jestak the Barbarian and Joran the Wizard, descend into the tunnels carved underneath the Citadel Drezen.  Joran explains that while the stairs had been dug out and plans found for caverns and mines, the crusaders never got around to completing the lower levels of the Citadel, but the demons with their cheap labor were able to carve an intricate series of chambers, used for nefarious purposes. One of those nefarious purposes was the imprisonment and torture of various Crusaders; the stairs lead down into such chambers.  In the basement an oppressive feeling of chaos and evil suffuses and surrounds Our Heroes - it will be harder to cast spells of goodness and order here.  There is a low susurration of maddening whispers, too low to make out details but enough to distract The Heroes from their task, and to sap a certain measur...

The note reads:  "... imbibed survived with ease, tell me that Minagho's serpentine scum and her insane scientist have finally perfected the recipe.  I look forward to the next shipment from the Fane, and hope to be able to join you soon to aid you in recruiting more of the Lords and Ladies of Midnight to our cause." "And in regard to the Drezen situation, you need not fear.  I am in the process of..."

One of the prison cells under Citadel Drezen in free of the horrible Abyssal energies; you could sleep there if you wanted, and if you were unconcerned with the abyssal sickness that is killing the Army outside. The walls are covered in carved butterflies, and one wall is this prayer:

The party wakes the next morning feeling energized, well-rested, and generally pretty good.  As much of any of those as one can feel in the World Wound, of course - an hour before dawn a pack of ravens landed on several tents as screamed while they turned inside-out, then flew away.  Yikes. Kand and his team finish constructing the Trebuchet near mid-day, on the other side of the bridge across from the main gate of the wall around Citadel Drezen.  With three well-placed shots the gates come down - an an army of Paladins and Crusaders rushes in!  Our Heroes join in the fracas - and are quickly victorious over the cultists and minor demons in the courtyard around the Citadel proper. Aron Kir drew the party a map, before his troubles with the Demonsblood Drug: When the party is inside the walls, they see a pinkish-purplish glow surrounding the Citadel.  The paladins cannot enter, and it's impervious to the kind of dispelling magic Our Heroes have at thei...

Our Heroes, and the army, arrive at Drezen mid-afternoon of the next day.  Being late winter, normally this would be a cold and dry time of year, but the vagaries and chaos of the World Wound play into The Party's favor, and it's a balmy, almost pleasant day. Except for the orange sky with streaks of purple.  It's a bit hard to look at, and adds a note of insanity to what otherwise might be pleasant - welcome to the World Wound, if you brought any sanity we'll make sure to relive you of it at some point. Irabeth sends the scouts ahead - at this point, with the command team's membership halved, that's her wife Anevia, the rogue Torvan, and the ninja/paladin Vig.  They see the Citadel of Drezen is mostly intact; there's signs of ghouls in the cemetary (and a crypt that oozes black smoke like a lanced boil).  In the city proper there's what appears to be a prison on the hill, and a couple of buildings south of the citadel that might be stores of some so...