Three Important Items found in Citadel Drezen

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 demons and demon worshipers for 24 hours.
Well said, Ms Tirablade.  Our condolences on your recent loss - your promotion to Commander of Drezen must be cold comfort compared to the death of your wife.

Another thing found was the Corruption Forge.  Currently, the Forge is designed to subvert Holy weapons, armor, and other tools to the side of evil.  A team is being assembled in Kenabres to come investigate the Forge - to 'redeem' it and change it's function to allow evil items to become blessed and good, if they can.  Or, to destroy it if it cannot be repurposed.

Finally, Staunton's diary was found.  This book is - horrible.  When read, one gets the sense that it was written at least in part to shock, or even shake the faith, of the reader.  It is a record of Staunton's life, from his early childhood memories up until just before being tortured and turned into Drezen's demonic defender, and is written through the lens of one who has fallen so far that he feels no hope for redemption or anything fine and good.  It is 75 years of a man's life, and is the only legacy Staunton Vhane will have.

This journal records events from Staunton’s life, recited from his childhood in the Five Kings Mountains to his time spent in the First Mendevian Crusade searching for the lost Sky Citadel of Jormurdun, on to his betrayal of Drezen and his time spent serving Deskari and Baphomet alike.

Staunton Vhane joined the Mendevian crusade at the fresh young age of 46, eager to aid in the fight against the Worldwound. While the opportunity to clash with demons was certainly a draw for the headstrong young paladin, the actual reason for joining the crusaders at Drezen was a bit more personal—he’d heard rumors that the lost Sky Citadel of Jormurdun was located somewhere behind enemy lines. Dazzled by dreams of fame and power for finding lost Jormurdun, Staunton hoped for a swift end to the demonic threat so he could explore Sarkoris in relative safety.

But over the next 2 years, the fighting quickly wore on Staunton. With each report of another lost battle or influx of a seemingly endless number of demons, his hopes for a swift resolution to the conflict and the opportunity to find Jormurdun faded, and when the marilith Aponavicius laid siege to the city of Drezen early in 4638 AR, the dwarf knew these fears had become fact. The presence of the Sword of Valor kept the bulk of the demonic armies from harming Drezen, but the city would soon be broken by the smaller groups of skirmishers that continually harried its walls.

Then one day while on a patrol beyond the walls, the crusading company to which Staunton belonged was ambushed by demons, and all but Staunton were slain before the demons suddenly fled, howling in fear as a beautiful elven soldier leading a troop of powerful-looking archers arrived on the scene. The elf pulled Staunton from the grime and introduced herself as Jerribeth, and what she said next resonated with Staunton to the core: “Drezen is protected enough, but the city’s rulers are too cowardly to defeat the demons. While they know they could break the host if they rode out to meet the enemy with the Sword of Valor carried proudly at the vanguard, they fear taking risks. Drezen is strong; it doesn’t need a magic banner to stand fast. But if you bring this banner to me, I will use its power to lead my army against the demons and save us all!”

Staunton already harbored similar beliefs in his soul, and immediately vowed to bring the elven general the Sword of Valor, knowing that by the time anyone noticed it was missing, the demons would have been driven back to the Abyss. Unfortunately, in Staunton’s eagerness to believe, he fell right into the “elf’s” trap—Jerribeth was in fact a glabrezu, and when Staunton delivered the Sword of Valor, she revealed her true nature and made him watch as the demons invaded Drezen. As he watched, something woke within Staunton’s heart. He realized he was glad to see the cowards go, and in awe of the power of the demonic host. His fall from grace was completed when he was brought by Jerribeth into the captured city and pledged his loyalty to the conquering marilith Aponavicius.

And so for the next 75 years, Staunton Vhane served the Worldwound. At first, he played the role of advisor for the marilith, informing her about crusader tactics and advising her on the best ways to battle paladins. In time, he was recruited by the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth and trained to be a double agent. With their aid, he forged himself a powerful weapon, Soulshear, to aid his quest, and in 4658 he returned to Mendev and joined the crusade again as a captain of an all-dwarven mercenary company called the Hammers of Heaven. But this time, Staunton and his mercenaries were in fact hidden disciples of Baphomet.

Over the following decades, Staunton and the Hammers of Heaven served both sides of the war. He lured his brother Joran to Mendev, and used his connections to the Pathfinder Society to fund his own expeditions deep into the Worldwound to seek Jormurdun when he could, but most of his time was spent fighting in small skirmishes against demons whose defeat wouldn’t matter to the Worldwound while simultaneously sabotaging countless war efforts all along the border.

In one act of treachery, Staunton attempted to use his Hammer Soulshear to attack the Wardstone in Kenabres, but was unable to damage it and found out by Irabeth Tirablade.  In the ensuing fight, Staunton was defeated, and fled north to Drezen on his fiendish giant wasp mount Vrexed. Since his return to Drezen, he’s burned for a chance to face Irabeth, or any paladin, again in battle, but for now he obeys his marilith commander’s orders to hold the city of Drezen for her - most recently, by being tortured to death to become the Ghostly Trap lain for Our Heroes.

Other notes of interest include the following:

• A list of dozens of sacred and holy weapons and armor Staunton and his brother have successfully tainted through the use of the corruption forge.

• A description of the Sword of Valor, including Staunton’s frustration over Aponavicius’s desire to keep it as a mere trophy and not to attempt the banner’s corruption.

• Notes on the shadow demon Eustoyriax, an unusually powerful shadow demon who came to Drezen a few weeks after Staunton fled here from Kenabres. The shadow demon arrived in the possessed body of a crusader named Maranse (a man the diary records as now being long dead after having been turned over to the succubus Kiranda), and bore gifts from a place called the Ivory Sanctum— five elixirs of distilled power brewed from powdered Nahyndrian crystal. The notes explain how Staunton volunteered to take one of the elixirs to test its strength before Aponavicius used one, and of the powers the elixir unlocked in him (drinking the elixir was the antipaladin’s moment of ascension to mythic power). The notes go on to describe the grisly deaths the elixirs inflicted on the dragon and xacarba servants Aponavicius tested them on, and that only the chimera Soltengrebbe survived the transformation. The notes conclude by revealing that the shadow demon Eustoyriax remains here in Drezen, spending its time between the Crypts in the City proper, and the chamber designed to hold the Sword of Valor.

• The Ivory Sanctum is the central stronghold of the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth in the Worldwound, a fortress led by a man named Xanthir Vang who also happens to be the regional leader of the Blackflame Adepts. Staunton records his sole meeting with Xanthir Vang, and indicates he would rather not meet him again—apparently something about the man particularly revolted the antipaladin.

• Finally, Staunton mentions a special prisoner who’s been kept in the Drezen dungeons—a succubus by the name of Aureshalae who was captured by Aponavicius. Staunton knows the succubus is some sort of Abyssal heretic and that the marilith wanted her kept prisoner until a special oubliette in the Rasping Rifts on the Abyss was ready for her. The fact that the succubus escaped not long after Aponavicius left Drezen in Staunton’s hands was a major point of worry for the dwarf.  He’d sent several minions out into the Worldwound to track her, noting that her loss of certain demonic abilities is the one saving grace and hoping her inability to teleport or become ethereal will allow his agents to find her and return her to Drezen before Aponavicius finds out she’d managed to flee into the wilds of the Wounded Lands. The penultimate note in the diary talks of how he hired an annis hag cultist of Sifkesh to track her down as well, and that if this final attempt fails, he intends to seek out Arueshalae himself once “this matter with the so-called heroes of Kenabres is settled.”

The final entry in the Diary is a detailed description of the ritual used to transform Staunton into the form encountered by The Party.  Apparently he had full knowledge of the horrors and suffering he was about to undergo; it concludes with the sentence, "At least it will soon be over - I have been guaranteed the destruction of my soul once the need for my Guardianship has passed."

It's really a miserable read and, if you make it all the way through, you feel tainted, unclean, but on the inside, on your soul - a blight you will never quite be free from.


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