Danno rips open a hole in reality and we head in to the Underworld. It is of course a very dark and bleak place. Danno can sense the location of the hub of gates and starts leading us towards them. The landscape seems to instinctively open a path for him. We see all kinds of nasty things hiding in the shadows that would probably be trying to rend our flesh normally but nothing in here was going to attack Death himself. Eventually we make it to an impossibly large cavern with a river dark as the night. As we get closer to the river we can see it seems to be made up of swirling souls and other nasty shit. There is a boat that appears to actually have carved out of the head of an actual dragon. There are three skeletal things waiting for us. They have been awaiting for the return of Death. On the other side of the river is what they call the inner sanctum and they have been barred from it. A group of demons have taken up residence at the gate hub and they are just hanging out and eating the souls as they try to return to their realms. Demons don't really scare us all that much these days, especially with the sword. We take the very long boat ride to the other side and resume the path to the gate hub. Doesn't take long before we run into a group of demons. There is a bigger on in the back that orders the smaller ones to attack. The bigger one kinda freaks out when Taranis pulls out Ragnarök and tries to make a run for it but Ragnarök isn't having any of that and Taranis turns the guy into mush. With the gruesome death of their leader the other try to make a run for it but I loop space and catch a couple, the others are being grappled by the ground itself courtesy of Danno. We dispatch them real quick and Danno forces the bigger into unlife. The demon really doesn't have any good information other than telling us that the guy in charge is named Asmodeus. A quick search through the library says he is the ruler of the Infernal Realm and he has apparently been here a long damn time. We proceed towards the gate hub and have an argument on how we are going to deal with Asmodeus. Taranis of course just wants to destroy him, Danno is thinking of doing the same because he isn't supposed to be here. I on the other hand would rather talk with him and strike a deal. I think the others have forgotten that not everything has to be dealt with force.
We finally make it to the gate hub and there are a shit load of demons hanging around and one right on the platform who is obviously Asmodeus. None of them make a move towards us. Asmodeus knows that Death plus the sword of the heavens being here will not end well for him. Asmodeus is just as curious about us as we are of him so we start trading questions. Donovan was the one who summoned Asmodeus here in the first place. We find out that infernal Demons have to be summoned here by someone so if we banished them all they couldn't come back on their own. We strike a deal with Asmodeus that if he and the other demons leave the Underworld peacefully then we will not hunt him down in his realm. Danno seems ok with it since he really just wants the things gone. Taranis seems neutral but I'm sure Ragnarök is giving him all kinds of shit about it. As Asmodeus is leaving he has a gift for Malcothet. He will strengthen her bond with t he infernal and that should allow Taranis to use his summoning ritual to bypass Donovan's barrier. Taranis gets t he impression that she is in danger and he wants to go take care of that now before we head into the supernal realms. We agree and return to Ahava via the Phoenix Gate.
We aren't sure if Donovan can follow the infernal summon portal but just in case we do the ritual far away from Ahava. I return us to the smoking crater in Afghanistan where Malcothet went thermal nuclear. There is also the possibility that t he sympathy of this place will help in the ritual. Taranis and does his thing and soon there is some fire and smoke and a confused Malcothet is standing before us. Apparently she wasn't actually in any danger. It wasn't a big deal though because now she can use the same method to go back in when she is ready. So we give her the default Kat-scan ™ and bring her back to Ahava. Taranis wants to of course have some alone time but I suggest we get back to our current task and let Malcothet settle in, he agrees begrudgingly. Now that I have a location in the Underworld I use the Phoenix Gate to send us back in. It is easy to sense which gate goes to which tower so I show Danno the gate to Stygia and we follow him in.
Stygia is much as I expected it, depressing and bleak. Oddly enough Danno seems to be some what happy here. It doesn't take long before the mood of this place is just bringing me down and I try to push us towards the tower as quick as possible. We are met by a black feathered guy in armor who looks a bit like an angel, both more like a goth angel. He says his name is Samiel, not the twisted Fae/mongrel that was Janus and Steven but the actual Samiel. He has been waiting for us and we talk a bit. The talk is very depressing and then he finishes it up with a little prophecy that one of us has to die in order to defeat Donovan. Maybe I should take his words to heart but I just can't help but feel he is trying to just depress us. I quickly enter the tower and do my business, any longer in here and I'm gonna turn back into Marvin. I sign my name and teleport back to the exit and try to hurry the others. Other than Danno the rest are feeling a bit like myself and we leave this place.
Next we head into the Primal Wild. Hector is very excited. We are barely there for a min before Hector turns into a wolf and starts howling. It was odd but we could all feel it and soon we all turned into our respective wold forms and joined in t he howl. And it just felt right. We ran as a pack to the tower and began our climb upwards. The thorns were drawing blood but yet the pain felt right. At t he top of the tower was a cave and we were met by an extremely large wolf with the whitest fur. He just looked us and nodded. We all took our turns writing our names in this giant stone book with the blood from our wounds. Hector was getting a little crazy and I'm not sure he was going to leave on his own accord. Thw hite wold then spoke and said we should leave now but in the future we should return and join the hunt. I definitely need to bring Kat back here. We run back as wolves to the exit and leave begrudgingly.
Now we are left with only two, Mastigos and Obrimos. The opposite ends of the spectrum and the homes of my soul and Taranis'. Taranis says we should visit Pandemonium first and I don't waste any time arguing. As soon as I enter the portal I start marching with purpose towards the tower. I just know exactly where it is. I unleash my nimbus and Fae mane and aura of Conquest. I let everyone here know that Cygin has returned and he will not be fucked with. I walk into the tower like I owned the place. I find where I already signed the tower and I add , Conquest to it. The guardian of this tower appears to be a doppleganger of ourselves and in true Mastigos fashion it is trying extremely hard to sway us with power and keep us here. I merely laugh at mine and I finally notice my Goetic self has been following me. I will not be swayed here. I am Conquest, I am Lord here. The others are ready to leave but I am finding it difficult. To actually stand in the tower that owns a piece of my soul is incredible. Every mage from the moment they sign their tower has this urge to return. Their soul is always pulling toward that tower and here I am standing in it. I finally tell Hector to forcibly remove me and we leave.
Last is the realm of Aether, abode of Angels. Can't say I was looking forward to this place, the denizens of this place were not going to be happy with me. We also realized we may have an issue with Danno. This was the realm of light and at the center was a big ass sun. We came up with a plan for this. Taranis would go in first and get ready, Danno would come in next. If Danno started burning Taranis would shove him back through the portal where I would be waiting with fire suppression. Danno did start burning but he was then surrounded by wings that blocked the sun. It seems the Lady Abigail is still watching over us. I didn't get any wings when I stepped through though. I got a gaggle of angry angels who were not happy with me being here. I wasn't going to back down though, I unleashed all my auras and drew my dagger. We were about to fight when a booming voice told us to shop. Soon Kraven himself appeared. He was appointed the job of Guardian of Aether. I still wanted to kick some feathery ass but I have a lot of respect for Kraven and this is the realm of the Lady Abigail and I was going to respect that. The angels backed down and we eventually continued on to the tower of the golden key. Taranis was having a good time of course and I couldn't fault him, this was his tower. I wasn't feeling very comfortable and still kinda filled with rage. I walked into that tower but instead of writing my name I just wrote "Mastigos was here". I didn't get struck down by lightning so it was all good. With that we headed back to Ahava. Still feeling a bit overwhelmed but the fact we just visited all five supernal towers and attuned our souls to them.
Cygin
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Well this was day of days. Sitting in the tower of the Iron Gauntlet was the most incredible experience I have ever had. I could have stayed there for a long time. But even though my soul had been drawn to the tower I was feeling drawn back to the Fallen World. There was a larger piece of my soul waiting for me back in Ahava. The Realm of the Aether did inspire some kind of hope. Regardless of what Samiel told us, regardless of anything that has happened thus far. I felt hope. Sitting here in the spires feeling a connection to all the towers and I begin to see something else on the horizon, a deeper understanding of the mysteries is within my grasp.
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