A call went out asking for aid in a small village just south of Folkestone proper. I was among a small, diverse group of adventurers answered the call to defend the villagers from the onslaught of Kobolds. Upon arrival, the pure number of kobolds seemed overwhelming. They were everywhere, and we quickly began to dispatch them. It appeared that they all seemed to have blood money on them, a demonic currency, thus implying they were being paid by demons to attack the village. We also noticed that there were small red gates that the kobolds were embarking from. Being adventurers, we quickly realized the gates were easily destroyed by hitting them a few times by weapons.
Once all the gates were destroyed, we found a larger hellgate nearby, defended (as they often are) by demons. After skirmishing with them briefly, the question was brought up if there was in fact a reason to go through the gate into hell other than the “market” that the demons briefly mentioned. Quinn spoke with Aurora who informed us that while there was an evil in front of us that could be dealt with, there was a greater one that needed to be dealt with beyond. Knowing this, we brought our assault on the gate of hell fully forward. We found a demon there that was clearly more powerful, as well as other trials. We completed the trials of will, lore, and strength (and I believe the more powerful demon was slain as well, but I cannot confirm that.) After we completed these trials, a Demon who only referred to himself as the Majordomo of the domain offered the domain to us as the victors. We could choose to not take the domain, but then any others could take it. 7 adventurers chose to take the power (and while I am not willing to state here that it was where due to potentially putting those people at risk from demons, feel free to talk to me at green and gold or elsewhere if you want to know who are in charge of this domain in hell.) The group was specifically chosen out of those willing so that would make it hard for any consensus to be met, and the power (if any) would be hard to abuse.
Upon conclusion of the seven being chosen, various factions of hell were introduced to us. There was Ranek and Talk of Clan Bloodfeather, Captain Golditha of the four armies, two imps who went by The Alicoshi, The Fisherman, Merisan of the Council of the damned, the coinsmans guild, Peshki, Iaxen, and the sleepwalkers. I only got to know a few of them better, but from what I gathered the Coinman’s guild concerned themselves with the trade in Hell. Iaxen concerned himself controls the Phlegethon, and seemed to mainly want to keep himself alive. The Alicoshi appeared to be imps who were researching magics, or were just trying to gain information from us. There one man who went by the title, The Fisherman. He was an angel who left Elysium to “fish” souls out of hell that need to be rescued.
After...for lack of a better term...socializing with those introduced to us, we went to see the hell market nearby. Enroute to the market, I was informed that the Golden Quill was in Judgement (where souls go to be judged) and was causing havoc there that needed to be resolved. We made our way through a legion of demons throwing lightning bolts to the market where they sold very questionable foods (such as human fingers) and we found a few opportunities to buy objects and free souls and slaves that were present.
When the market closed, The Fisherman guided us around to gather flowers to make tattoos that could protect a few from the effects of Judgement. The flowers grew near the border of fae and hell, and while there we encountered a Feraben, who informed us that the golden quill was in Judgement and wreaking havoc in a way that needed to be solved, and it could be used to protect the new domain in hell. The Fisherman continued to lead us towards judgement, and we were when we were near a location in hell called “the crease”, The Alicoshi and the Sleepwalkers led an attack on us with demons. Their goal was to reclaim the domain in hell by killing the new masters of the domain. Due to our being outnumbered, we made a break for the Fisherman’s safe house. Only a few of us made the trek safely and successfully, but a large number of spells on the behalf of those who made it to safety in addition to those who were left behind but were still alive allowed most people (all except three I believe) to be recovered then. Now, safe in the safe house, we ate and prepared for the night to come.
...
Being fully rested, and with the sun finally hidden, we shared what knowledge we gleaned while eating, and cast spells to replenish our healing. Judgement is where the greater evil in fact was, and Orion had a vision saying there are screams and what we needed to do, was beyond that. Knowing this, we gathered our forces and left. We fought our way through demons, and heard tortured souls nearby. Knowing Orion’s vision, we continued onward, until we reached the barrier to Judgement.
We could not break through it, until we dealt with a demon who was torturing the souls to gain power. Upon entering Judgement, we discovered a demon who went by the name of Kerabim (I believe) presiding over the Judgement of souls. He looked at us while holding the Golden Quill and reality was rewritten such that we sat and listened to his mockery of judgment. He first called Enlon up, and listened to the Advocates on the behalf of Hell and Elysium. After they made their arguments, Kerabim ignored them and sentenced Enlon to Hell. Next, Slade was called up, and was sentenced to Elysium. A figure standing behind Kerabim spoke up and mentioned this was a mockery of what should be happening. The figure who spoke was the same as who presided over the trial of the Shadow King. Regardless of the objections, more people were sentenced. Boom to Elysium, and Larry to Hell (actually, at his wish, seeing as there were other dinosaurs there). Finally, Quinn was called to be judged. Upon his chance to advocate for himself, Quinn rejected the premise, stating his soul belonged to Aurora, and called Aurora in force. It appears that the Quill fled from this news, but regardless of the cause, this allowed those present a chance to stand again.
It was quickly brought to our attention that the scales of Judgement in front of us were broken, and it was our job to rebalance them. In order to do so, when we killed the demons under Kerabim, we got weights we could add to the scale by confessing evil acts to add to one side, and good acts to add to the other.
Once balanced, the previous person in charge of Judgement took stand, and Judged Kerabim. During this, we found out The Golden Quill was a relic of Arioch, and its purpose is to so chaos. The advocates of Hell and Elysium agreed that Kerabim’s fate was to no longer exist for the crimes he committed. Of course, Kerabim objected, and by his right, demanded trial by combat. Several people fought him, and eventually two defeated him (after use of a surprising amount of magic) and he was destroyed for all time. The rightful-judge informed us that the judgements made stand, even though they were not right, so all the souls wrongly sentenced will still go where they were sentences...including those amongst our friends. After this, the rightful judge sent us back to the gate we entered hell from, and it was sealed.