With a bit of searching, the group is able scrounge up some driftwood and broken boats. It’s not enough to keep anyone out of the water, but combined with the high salinity of the water and its wriggling occupants, it will be enough to carry your gear and keep them dry.<br/><br/>Calliope, however, doesn’t go. The Gnome woman is quaking in her boots, despite her planer origins.<br/><br/>“I can’t do this. I can’t swim through that lake with the souls of the damned. There must be another chance, another way of making it through.”<br/><br/>Arath, who has been uncomfortably staring at the lake, turns to the woman with a look of sympathy.<br/><br/>“If you don’t want to take this crossing, I’ll make sure you’re not alone at least. We can part ways here and seek another road off this infernal place.”<br/><br/>With that, goodbyes are said and you are off through the water. It is foul and salty, with the constant smell of decay penetrating your noses. The constant crawling sensation of the maggots sends shivers through your skin. You can feel the also corporal tough of the the souls bound to the water and they grab and pull at you, seeking a way out, seek to pull you, or even just seeking the touch of a living being.<br/><br/>The mouth of the mountain is titanic as you swim through it. Multiple dragons or sea serpents could pass within and still have space to be comfortable. The water clears up slowly, with fewer maggots and less of their greenish tinge, until it runs into a loose river, clear and black. It is here that you are able to find a safe perch to pull yourself out of the freezing torrent.<br/><br/>Before you are two massive platinum doors, etched with various images of dragons of all colours subjugating, conquering and destroying other races, both mortal and outsider. In the centre of the images is a representation of Tiamat, the five-head queen of chromatic dragons.<br/><br/>“Beautiful, is it not?”<br/><br/>Out of a dark cave in the ceiling flaps another draconic creature with vibrating, strange voice that is like a musical chord being played of of harmony.<br/><br/>(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/53/Screen_Shot_2014-08-19_at_5.21.40_PM.png)<br/><br/>It stands ten feet tall and appraises you with its blind face.<br/><br/>“Let me hear your harmonics. Ah, yes, you are the ones that Arakka has told me of. I was to know that you have paid the rightful toll owed to all who wish to pass through these gates. On the behalf of my mistress, I thank you for your contribution towards her infinite hoard.”<br/><br/>“There was something else our guardian said to me as well… indeed, you seek a way off of Baator, or failing that, to find more comfortable space for your mammalian forms by using the Mistress’ portal to Dis. I must tell you that the Mistress has innumerable supplicant hoping that she should favour them with her dread gaze.”<br/><br/>“You have done yourselves no favours arriving as such. You are the image of a mewling mammal cub, subjecting yourself to the rot and decay of the maggot pit, rather than abreast of fiends. I can say, as Seneschal of the Gate, that you will have to do better than that should you wish to pass through to Dis. It is not my place to be the judge of your worthiness, though. You have paid your tribute, so you may pass.”<br/><br/>With that, the two doors start to swing open on their own accord.<br/><br/>“Welcome to the city of Ux-Verthicha, the Platinum Mountain.”<br/><br/>Passing though the gates is a bizarre experience. From the outside, the mountain did appear to he huge, but a city so large could never fit inside on the mortal planes. The city wraps around the entire hollow inside of the volcano. The majority of the space is taken up with thousands of caves, but between them are everything mud huts and grand palaces. Miles below, you can seen the faint glow of molten rock and smell the sulphur rising on the smoke. All of the buildings you can see nearby have flowing shapes and draconic faces moulded in precious metals.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OCC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Alright, time to move along again. I need two Fortitude Saves from everyone please. If you have questions to ask the Seneschal, you may. Otherwise you have a city to explore. <br/><br/>In order to gain lawful access to the portal to Dis, you need to build up a reputation within the city to mark yourselves as something to be taken seriously. Currently you have a reputation within the city of 0. I’ll let you know as your reputation increase, and when you have earned enough. <br/><br/>Everyone gains 400 EXP for making it to a location that may take you out of Hell. <br/><br/>Also, as a note, you are very close to being able to gain your first mythic tier. I won’t tell you how you can do it, but I’ve got at least two trigger conditions, and one of them you may even be able to make with a week or two if you play your cards right. <br/></div></div>