Hellbound
Hellbound was created and run by Tim Wiley for the World of Sarrata, played during 2011 + as part of a continued story arc that included heroes from Cradle of Souls and Glory Seekers of Gildale. It drags the players outside the comforts of Saratta and into the hell of the Burning Eternities to assist the Devil Asptricollette who was freed from the prime material only the become imprisoned once again at his throne in Hell. The campaign continues the trend created during Cradle of Souls that focuses on internal weakness and the easy path to power. If they succeed in their trials the adventurers may escape with their souls intact, but if they should fail an unwanted Eternity awaits.
The pocket of Hell the group finds themselves in is known as Midskaarn, a lava filled desert surrounded by Abyssal mountains.
Contents
Characters
Player Characters
Villains
Notable Non-Player Characters
Asptricollette - A Devil of unknown power, seemingly weak. When the players arrived in Midskaarn they find Asptricollette bound once more, this time to the Alabaster Throne, the place where the devil once consolidated the realms power. He quickly learns that the group is being kept in Hell by binding magic and that hunting the devil who holds the 'leash' should release them. He suggests a deal to the group - if they can return vessels of his power back to him he will unbind them and return them home. The group (especially the Gildaleans) are at odds as to whether the devil can be trusted.
Hellbound Teaser
You open your eyes to find only darkness. Slowly objects begin to take form in your field of vision, but you find it difficult to focus and a mist seems to settle at the edge of your eyes. You can hear a man speaking, his voice is carries soft tones and bored drawl. A thick Transylvanian accent is fused into his speech. As he talks the space around you transforms, replaced by visions of other places and realms you have only imagined in dreams.
For age I have been trapped. A king forced from his throne, made to endure an endless waiting within the depths of a necropolis.
A stone seat stands before you. Rusted iron chains dangle from the arm rests and at the base of the seat. Upon the end of each chain is a manacle, darkened by deterioration over the ages. A vertical line of fresh blood glistens along each manacle catching illumination from a hazy red light that originates from somewhere above you. The light is strong enough to reveal decrepit structures lying at the edge of the darkness surrounding you.
Those responsible for my incarceration are dead an gone. I watched as their kingdom crumbled around them in a rain of stone. They now reside in my kingdom, justice for their own misgivings; and once more I am free.
The scene around you transforms, the darkness whirls about, a great spinning typhoon of shadows that rises into the air and vanishes. You find yourself suspended above a grand city of golden spires. Warm, gentle sunlight cascades down upon green hills, dotted with trees that sway gently in the breeze. Trails of black smoke rise from the ground beneath you, marring an otherwise beautiful scene. Conflict fills the streets below, the clang of metal upon metal and cries of pain reaches your ears.
The sky grows puce, clouds rolling in from all directions. The land below splits and heaves. The earth lifts up from the surrounding landscape and is hurled into there air. It topples back down toward the ground, crushing much of the city beneath it. The few things that were spared catch flame and are consumed. The fires begin to fill your vision.
But in my realm, freedom simply means a new prison. My throne is now a seat without power, my shrine a tomb. Still, I know something that my latest captors do not...
When the flames subside you find the landscape changed once more. A desert of crimson sand stretches as far as the eye can see, mixed with pools of jet black water and gnarled, leafless forests. Mountains formed from blood colored stone stretch up toward a star-filled sky. Atop one of the larger mountains is a white domed building. Cracks run across the its surface.
A time is coming, very soon now.
Flames bubble out of the desert sand, coursing across the land like a sidewinder snake, burning everything it touches. Devilish figures complete with horns and hooves stalk fleeing souls across the dead lands with blood covered instruments of torture. Screams of anguish and terror rattle the skies and raise the hairs on your neck. In the sky a thousand eyes open appearing out of the air as though they had always been there. One turns toward you, drawing your vision into its orange glow. You feel layers of flesh being stripped away until only your bones remain. Every secret and fear you have kept become anchors, driving you toward the ground and onto your knees. The eye becomes a maw of silver fangs. Saliva drips from each tooth and dribbles to the ground, moving away the sand, changing it into a pile of bones. The disembodied maw lungs forward to consume you.
I shall reclaim my throne and reforge the metals of my kingdom without impurities. I shall banish all doubt that the Alabaster Throne has lost its glory. Soon my seat shall burn with the Justice of the Eternities! For soon, my salvation shall be
- HellBound