Shireroth

The Angel Guardian was meditating in front of the Shrine to Lumina, within the B0O0/\/\ist Temple in central Shirekeep. Cla'Udi was glad that he hadn't returned to Yardistan - otherwise this might have taken more time than he had. While the new Kaiser had made no comment on the mission to Hell, Cla'Udi did not expect it would remain under his radar for long, and so hoped to ensure everything was in place before that time. And, if it just so happened that the people on the mission were those with the most reason to disobey the Kaiser ... well, even better.

Cla'Udi bowed low. "May I have a word?" he asked.
The Angel Guardian did not look up from his meditation, but said, "Why have you come, little one? You are far from home."
"But not as far as I should like," Cla'Udi replied. He paused, and then asked, "Have you heard about Kaiser Gaelen III?"
"I have heard that he abdicated this morning, yes," the Angel Guardian said. "It is a pity. He was a fiery man, with much promise, but he was not able to carry it through."
"I intend to carry it through for him," Cla'Udi replied. That got a reaction. The Angel Guardian stopped meditating, fell into a more comfortable pose, and gazed intently at Cla'Udi. "Do you, little one. Do you?"
"I do," Cla'Udi repeated. "You know where I come from - you know whom I serve. I bear a message for the High Priest of Sakat, a message from his god; and I would bear it also with an army suited to aid him."
"You seek to do much for him," the Angel Guardian pondered.
"The followers of Sakat do not give up on their High Priest, or the world, so easily," Cla'Udi replied. "But I cannot do it alone. I have run the sanct of Blavatsky - the Piscatores are willing to continue the mission - those that are still alive. The sanct is still ready to sail. The Kaiser has given no order to the contrary ... yet. But I need you to guide us through Hell. Only you can lead us to Gralus."
"You realise that, without the Kaiser, we cannot enter Hell using the Sword of Vengeance?" the Angel Guardian asked. "For any but the true ruler of Shireroth to wield it would be sacrilege worthy of eternal damnation, whatever their purpose may have been."
"I am a historian, not a thief," Cla'Udi replied. "I can get us into Hell; but I need you to lead us through."

The Angel Guardian thought for a moment. "I am not sure I can leave the Russell clan at this time."
"You are most welcome to bring them with, if you desire," Cla'Udi offered. "But I am sure they will not object to you helping Gralus. As I recall, my High Priest and his brother were pivotal in saving Cerune from her own demons. The Russell clan would not want it said they did not repay the favour in my High Priest's hour of need. We all need to make some sacrifices, if the world is to remain free."
The Angel Guardian thought again.

The Angel Guardian, or Aggy as he was known to his friends, sat there in deep thought. He had no idea that Cerune was in trouble. He had sensed nothing from her, and all her calls home had sounded normal. How could he have been so blind? She would never be truly free of her daemon, not until death anyway. Rather then act like he had caught him off guard, he simply nodded and spoke.

“Lumina wishes this done. I will do it.”

"Thankyou," Cla'Udi said, and they were off.

After a short while, they were boarding a private plane Cla'Udi had booked ("Temple funds, they're very generous," Cla'Udi had explained, though Aggy noticed that some of the coins seemed to bear the heads of Kaisers from centuries back). The sun was setting as they landed at the coast, and Cla'Udi had led him to a motor boat bearing the insignia of the Sanct of Blavatsky. They were helped aboard by several grim looking Straylightians, and motored off into the dusk. By the time they reached the Sanct, night had properly fallen. They were helped aboard, and led to private rooms they were informed they could use until the end of the mission. The Sanct had been floating gently in place when they arrived, but as Aggy took the key to his room, he heard the motors start up and felt the Sanct beginning to move under his feet. But before he could ask, Cla'Udi had already closed the door to his room, and seemed to go straight to sleep.

Aggy got up early the next morning. Looking out, he found that the Sanct was in the middle of the open sea - though judging by the birds and the temperature, they had headed south. As he walked around, he came across Cla'Udi, who had been sitting on a rug and watching the clouds. He moved over and made space for the Angel Guardian to sit down, and he did so. There was a moment of silence, and then "Where are we going, Cla'Udi?"
"Hell."
"I know that. I meant which entrance."
Cla'Udi sighed, and turned to face the Angel Guardian. "Look at those clouds," he said. "A week ago they were predicting a terrible, fated event. Now they speak of the great celebrations in Shirekeep at the reign of a new Kaiser. Look at the way it twists there, indicating excess smoke from too many fireworks. Look at how ..."
"I can tell when I'm being fobbed off," the Angel Guardian replied, smiling.
"Of course," Cla'Udi said, smiling too. "If you must know, I would prefer not to tell you exactly which entrance until we get there. The walls have ears, and on the off chance we don't make it there - get turned around or something - I'd prefer there weren't another hundred mortals who knew just how easy it is to get into Hell."
"I'm not a mortal," Aggy observed.
"No, which is why you know you can trust my judgement on this matter," Cla'Udi replied, still smiling. "The ship's captain isn't as sure, but the Arx-Piscatores got him to agree to sail to the coordinates I specified, to get further instructions when we arrive."

"How many are aboard this ship?" Aggy asked. His mind was returning to the thoughts of how many people he would be guiding through Hell. He would have to spend most of this day meditating and getting attuned to the ship and the life forces on it; in order to make the journey quick and effective.
"We have about a hundred Straylightian crewmen - I gather that's the minimum needed to run a Sanct this size," Cla'Udi told him. "In addition, we have five hundred Piscatores - they decided it was safer aboard the ship than in Elwynn or Brookshire, with the new Kaiser - and another fourteen hundred Shirithian soldiers who volunteered for the mission, back when Gaelen III proposed it. About two thousand souls in all."
"Two thousand?" Aggy said, surprised. He had not expected so many mortals to dare the journey.
"Well, we need an army," Cla'Udi replied. "And the way Gaelen put it, it's going to be an amazing adventure. I expect few wanted to miss the chance to get their names in the book of History. At least, the publicly recorded versions."
Aggy nodded. "Well, warn me when we're close, if you won't tell me beforehand."
"Of course," Cla'Udi replied. "We've been sailing most of the night - we'll sail all of today and all of tonight as well. We should reach our destination by dawn tomorrow."
"And then?"
"And then it gets interesting ..."

As the first rays of the new sun broke over the horizon, the Angel Guardian found Cla'Udi standing at the bows of the ship, looking out. The dawn light illuminated the world around, revealing, as far as the eye could see ... the sea. They were still in the middle of the sea. Aggy was starting to wonder exactly how Cla'Udi intended to get them into Hell ... and whether he would be getting wet in the process.

Evidently he was not the only one with that view. A straylightian crewman came up to Cla'Udi before Aggy could great him, and said, "The Head Navigator says to say that we've reached the coordinates you specified, and he'd like to know if you now have further coordinates."
"I do," Cla'Udi said, smiling. He had worried the Kaiser may try to radio to the sanct to stop them, but the journey had been uneventful thus far. "Continue south for another twenty nautical miles."
"But sir," said the crewman, taking out a sea chart, "that would take us within Istvanistani territorial waters. We haven't got diplomatic permission to move an army within their territory."
"Technically, no," Cla'Udi said, pulling out an official looking document. "They're currently no longer recognised as a nation, though I gather such a step has managed to rouse them from their slumber, if only long enough to protest that they're not sleeping, before they sleep again. But at the present time, their protestations have been unsuccessful, and so we are not violating their sovereignty. That aside, if the last thousand years show anything, its that Isvanistan are unlikely to protest if we spend a morning within their waters. If they do, bureaucracy being what it is, we won't have to deal with until our succesful return; and then I think Shireroth will have much bigger diplomatic matters to concern themselves with."
The crewman swallowed, and thought about this. "I shall do as you have asked, then," he replied, finally, and went off to inform the Head Navigator.

"So the entrance to Hell is near Istvanistan?" Aggy said, interested.
"Not near - within," Cla'Udi replied. "Have you never read 'The Journey to Ifreann' by Halrek the Rather Foolhardy?"
"Can't say I have," Aggy replied.
"Well, it details the journey of a Tapferite prince to explore the Treesian hell, whose entrance happens to be located within Mount Dagora, 'the great jutting peak that sweats molten rock into the orifices of the damned'. Not only does such an entrance have the advantage that we don't need to commit sacrilege to enter it; the Hell contained within has a number of concentric circles, each containing different classes of the damned, with the greater sinner the further in. This means we should only need to enter a small way in to be in 'Hell', and then be in little danger while you do your dimension jumping things and get us to our eventual destination."
"My 'dimension jumping things'?" Aggy said, amused at the description.
"I missed that meeting, remember?" Cla'Udi replied. "I thought it more important to get a message from Sakat. That was how Willow described the scenario. Anyway, I trust you know what you're doing?"
Aggy nodded. He had thought about little more for the past week.
"One question, though," he said. "You have realised that we're on what is essentially a large boat?"
"Indeed," Cla'Udi replied. "You wish to know how it is a boat, in the ocean, will get into a volcano, on the land?"
"Exactly," Aggy replied.
"Well, that's the fun part," Cla'Udi answered; but refused to say anything more on the topic.

They talked about other things for a while, until, finally, the island of Istvanistan appeared over the horizon, and they could see Mount Dagora jutting forth, a red glow illuminating its rim.
Cla'Udi looked at this watch. "I give it another minute," he said, cryptically. And then, to Aggy's surprise, he turned around and began to look at the sea they'd already been through.
"Cla'Udi?" Aggy asked, concerned about his friend's sanity.
"50 seconds," Cla'Udi replied.
"Excuse me."
The straylightian crewman who had greeted them before had returned. "Do you want us to land at Istvanistan?" he asked.
"40 seconds," Cla'Udi replied.
"40 seconds to what?" the straylightian asked.
"He won't say," Aggy replied.
"30 seconds," Cla'Udi said, and then looked up at the straylightian. "Landing won't be necessary. Just make sure the motors continue running, including while we're in Hell - I'm not entirely sure what we'll encounter on the other side, but I want to be able to make a quick getaway just in case." He looked down at his watch again. "15 seconds."
"Getaway?" Aggy asked; but the straylightian crewman hurried off to inform the Head Navigator of this.
"10 seconds," Cla'Udi replied, smiling. "Ready to lead us through Hell?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Aggy replied.
"Good," Cla'Udi said. "He should be here ... now."

There was the sound of something big breaking the water, off behind them. Cla'Udi was smiling, calmly. Aggy turned to see what he was looking at. Out of the water about a mile back stood a huge tentacle, as if from a giant squid. Aggy could faintly recognise the divine aura around it. "Sakat," he whispered. "But what?"
The tentacle continued to rise for a moment, and a head became visible nearby, a single, massive eye looking out at them. The tentacle hovered in the air for a moment, poised. Then the eye winked, and the tentacle slammed down into the water, making a massive splash and sending a wave racing towards them.
"No way," Aggy said, as he realised what was happening. "Greg will be sad he missed this."
The divine wave grew as it approached the sanct. Several people began to scream, as the wave reached them and picked up the sanct. Cla'Udi and Aggy turned around to look ahead as the wave continued to grow, lifting the sanct up above sea level. There was the sound of unsecured things in cabins beginning to roll around, as the wave tilted them slightly. White froth was beginning to show on the edges, but it still hadn't peaked. The wave crossed the beach and, against all laws of nature, continued on, still growing. The wave continued to grow and push them on, until they could look down into the mouth of Mount Dagora. Then it peaked and crashed down, sending them plummetting into Hell as the mighty hiss of steam on lava shot up all around them.