The Goddess of the Underworld

Chapter 1: The Backstory

Years ago I heard about the deep rumblings of change within the underworld, even 'under the underworld' as it were. Rumor that Hell itself had been cleft in two by the forces that broke and shattered the realm, even chatter of Hades himself sending his daughters to discover these secrets, and the fate of the evil Mistress, Satan. Always one for making poor decisions I set out to see what might have changed since I last found myself slaughtering those denizens of evil in my earlier days.

I paid my fee to the greedy gatekeeper and the hallway to hell greeted me as it had long ago. I sat and had a lovely chat with the rather backwards firegod, and slowly explored those old chambers of demons trying to remark where any signs of change had stirred. Though I little remembered the structure of caverns from my youth, I could discern that the entirety of the chambers had expanded greatly, sprawling out from its center in all directions, however no matter how much I searched and dug in the brimstone rubble could I find the entrance to its lower depths as I knew had once existed. I met many demons and about a billion bats and every other hellspawn and degenerate soul in allegiance with the assured master of this realm, Satan, but I could find absolutely no sign of the path toward her chambers.

I set instincts to explore aside, and instead turned toward ridding the cavern of all such evils in a divine rage. Seeking what clues I could gather in the remains of the slain, I found a variety of odd things. The fodder of hellspawn, the artifacts of murder, and jealousy, anger, fury, and rage, and corruption. All things evil and sickly, destitute and decrepit, but also... keys for which I could find no locks.

I set off back into the world of light, in search of another entrance, that sought by the Furies themselves, and attempting to redouble their efforts I began querying some nefarious sorts and was quickly reminded that where there was smoke there might likely be fire, for where demons are unimpeded they shall roam, and where demons roam only greater evil can take up abode. I began scouring any realms of evil I could find, and it wasn't long before I found myself roaming the rift of unparalleled evil and demonic habitation named to Sesuad'ra.

There I found, as expected, demons and imps that made the underworld of my youth seem tame and frivolous. After much despair traipsing about in the horrible seeping red mists expelled by every surface in that place I did eventually stumble into a bit of a rut, a steady path, and at its end... a hole. Climbing down, I found myself in a small chamber with only one path onward. Peering inside, a giant demon sat brooding, and behind his frame I could just barely spy what I sought, a gate.

Chapter 2: The Trial of Heat

At this point, being foolish but no fool, I returned once again to the land of the living to seek assistance in gaining entry to that guarded gate.

With a giant man fond of battle and armor, and a brutish crew of savage fighters, we returned and having prepared ourselves for the worst rushed the demon unawares. His response was immediate, but we quickly overcame him. In his pocket we found a key to the mysterious guarded gate, and opening it before us found the first of what would become many tribulations in this god forsaken land of mist and confusion.

Our best scouts and navigators set out into the unknown void of hate and heat beyond, with careful and expert navigation they eventually avoided all of the cunning backtracks and false trails to arrive at a place that boded well, in my opinion, for our goal of reaching ever downward: another hole in the ground.

Within this pit we found the locks we sought, gateways into the realms of named evils: of hate, and destruction, and fire, and the hellborne. Beyond lay more madness, and sprawling confusion of territory. Our motivations were challenged, and our spirits sullen, and we staggered long in that place before we found the secret of its navigation. The keys and the gates and the maze beyond are of course all of the same design, and the key was in fact more than it seemed at first. A clumsy accident lead the happy discover of the way forward, and from the spirit void words came forth to guide us, and yet just as our enthusiasm had raised at our progression it was quickly quelled once more when we arrived at a stark dead end.

Paths were retrod and other gateways explored, and yet always the outworldly spirits guided our group only into another blunt end to the cavern.

We found our method of navigation offered an unexpected and peculiar result in those places, and again we sat long in consideration of our next move. At long last, we forsake that which we had relied upon to that point, and in the doing found ourselves suddenly shifted into yet another cavern, long and dark, but surely 'forward' in the least, and so we pressed on.

Chapter 3: Satan, the Ruler of Hell

Before stood a mysterious figure, The Entity, who told us of his enslavement in that place,

'She tricked me. I was working on the creation of Pandora's box and when it was almost completed, I made the terrible mistake of looking inside. Now my soul is forever trapped in the Underworld.'

Without much of any clue to what he referred, we glared at him somewhat dumbfounded, but in the least he offered to repair our weapons and armor which was at least of some assurance he was sincere in his desire to aid our journey.

Suddenly an ambush overtook us in the narrow chamber, and caught somewhat unawares we rushed forward into the lucky happenstance of an unforeseen escape. Yet in the escape from the frying pan we indeed found the fire, and before us rose the grand lord of the dark: Satan, ruler of Hell.

She spied us calmly from her dias, as if waiting for us to submit before her, oh the ego of evil, but of course having no intentions toward anything of the sort we instead hastily prepared ourselves and beset her in an onslaught of fist and sword, whip and ax. Her hellstorm rained upon us, and the crafty devil resisted our weapons this way and that, and yet we maintained, and eventually overcame her wrath. With a strangled cry, the battered Satan shoved her javelin into the mound of bones and carnage, croaking out a strange utterance,

'Poisonous glamour, that pecks the eyes out of the living.... I unmake what is not... I banish the Victory... Anathema!

Her corpse slumped and fell away down and down into the depth below. Instantly her minions swarmed about us and saboteurs waylaid us at every move. Cruel beasts of varying nature dwell in that dank abode, and our finest combat specialists addressed each in turn. Finally diving downwards and reaching the basin of the cavern we found Satan's armors and weaponry cast upon the ground and claimed it for our own.

There also sat the sniveling black shape of a once proud demon, Hurag, cast out of his Mistresses inner circle for sheer ineptitude but still on a personal quest to seek out and destroy all who oppose her, that he might win her favor back once more. Looking him over long and hard, we found that to begin with he had found his Mistresses pitchfork and hoped to gain her adoration for its return. Additionally, much to our surprise it seemed this creature had recently discovered the whereabouts of the mystical Erinyes, the Furies, and himself sought to bring about their end.

Things took a turn however as we tried to converse with the beast, never a wise idea obviously. At the mention of the Mistress Satan he quickly snapped at us with his foul tongue,

'She is all knowing and all seeing.. I shall one day be in her favour! Perhaps dispatching you will aid in this...'

He beset us with his blows and we struggled against him in that cramped and dismal pit of hell, until eventually he too was laid to waste. We looted his corpse, and took the pitchfork of which he was so proud. Inspecting our surroundings in those deepest bowels of hell we found three great spherical openings into voids unknown, mystical doorways, locked.

Chapter 4: The Paths of Power

Those spheres stood fast for quite some time before we discovered the method of their opening. Ultimately the spheres themselves provided the clues to their opening, and with an item of corresponding quality we were finally able to press onwards through each.

Deeper now into the paths of despair we eventually reached, at the conclusion of each path, yet another dead end. We scoured the entire area for any hint of a way forward. Luckily our intrepid and ever aware scouts detected some previously unexplored spaces which once again we faced difficulty entering.

Ultimately, the nature of the passages and their ends became more clear. Each entrance had its own quality clearly visible in its nature and its key, and the three-fold nature of these provided a clue to their contents. Hurag certainly had gained his insights from exploration of these passages, and we understood that the paths we trod were the making of his Mistress to imprison those who had sought to overcome her.

At long last we found and gained entrance to three penitentiaries, each devoted to the same quality which described the cavern itself, its key, and of course, the associated Fury. Within, after a brief exploratory endeavor, we discovered an alter, but what to do at such a forsaken pedestal? This my friends I can tell you is no easy riddle to solve, and for the sake of others safety I will keep that secret of opening the way forward. It was only by embracing this sheer madness and going against our instincts, that we found a path. Forget the easy and the pleasant ways of the world, banish the wisdom and harmony, and mercy, of the bright world of sun and joy from your mind. No my friends, no such hope can be found in this wretched place.

Suddenly in response to our desperate pleas we found our surroundings suddenly dissolving and when they reappeared we found ourselves faced with a plain, black dias in the center of a circle of light, upon which was a singular, impressively bejeweled chest. We knew it to be Pandora's Box, and our from our memories the words of the mysterious Entity we had encountered at the onset of our journey rang in our ears.

The whispers of spirits echoed through the chamber, the spirits of the Erinyes themselves, Tisiphone, Megaera and Alecto, came forth from the fog of our surroundings, offering us words of encouragement and puzzling advice. They spoke of being entrapped for eternity by a great evil. We understood very little, but roughly guessing at their instructions the box sprang open before us.

This box was of course not quite normal, and whatever magic had been crafted into it bewildered us for a time before we were able to extract all of its contents. We claimed rewards unforeseen, staves of this and of that, crafted by the Erinyes of legend, the Furies whom had guided us, whose spirits we now realized closely related to the trials we had passed and all we had done. After retrieving what we could, as quickly as we had arrived at that place we found ourselves once more gone, and within a dark portal of various paths. Choosing to push on, we found ourselves once more returned to the land of the living, and lo in fact standing at the very entrance to the Underworld exactly where I had began my journey of dark discovery. From thence we ran home to contemplate the madness, and numb the despair which pulsed in our minds.

We had delved deeply, and even found reward, and while a path homeward was indeed welcomed we struggled to see it as a true end of our quest. It had seemed the only path, and we saw not any other route to the hidden realms we knew still lay within that dark place. What of the Erinyes, and the great evil one they had mentioned? After long preparation we sought to begin a second exposition to further explore those depths and seek yet another path. We returned to the very start of our memory and collected all that we could pack within our bags, and then once more descended into the pit of the lower gate to hell.

Defeating Delphium the guardian, navigating the maze of heat and passing through the gateway toward the beast Satan we forged forward with great eagerness. Toward what, we did not know. We bested the great deceiver once more, and again diving that chasm below her into the literal serpentine bowels of hell we once more explored those paths guarded by Hurag for yet another route.

Chapter 5: The Three Prisoners

I cannot tell you exactly how we found the path to the outer reaches of the underworld. Wandering the bowels of the hell and refusing to take the same actions as we had previously, we sought some application of our newly gifted rewards from the Erinyes. We did eventually find a method to again get some reaction from the gods who willed us forward, yet only reaped wildly unpredictable results. After many attempts and many failures upon a time we found ourselves within a new portal the likes of which we had not seen before, and gazing upwards from its void we spied an endless grey horizon of fog, an expanse of nothingness, and three blackened gates.

In the center of the room was erected a statue of three women, holding each other upon a large rock. All three look the epitome of beauty, though the eyes of each showed incredible anger jealousy and vengeance. A small plaque at the base of the statue read:

"We claim to be just and upright. No wrath from us will come stealthily to the one who holds out clean hands, and he will go through life unharmed; but whoever sins and hides his blood-stained hands, as avengers of bloodshed we appear against him to the end, presenting ourselves as upright witnesses for the dead."

Written in scrawled letters underneath this quote is the following...

Forever shall these three be imprisoned... no more shall they counter man's nature to sin!

Locked away by the minion of the evil mistress Satan, we first perceived our difficult position amidst these forces much greater than our own mortal souls. For the Erinyes are the fury of truth and virtue toward all who sin, and mortal men as we were we surely knew that we ourselves had much to fear in their inspection. Having asserted our dominance over all the minions of the land and the preceding halls, we looked at the blood on our hands and trail of corpses behind us and the realization of our doom washed over our faces as we stared at the three locked cells and their contemplated the literal fury of their divine contents. With grim resolve, we gained entrance to the northern chamber.

Alecto spoke, 'My sisters and I have been imprisoned into this hell for far too long... I am glad, despite her evil machinations, that you were able to find the gift we left... I see you come to me with no malice in your hearts, I shall spare your lives, despite the numerous acts of unspeakable violence you have imparted on others.'

And yet suddenly despite her words her mouth uttered unknown syllables and a blast of lightning beset our party. We returned blows and drove her down via all means until her will was broken by our hands and brilliant white light beamed out from Alecto's eyes, burning holes through the fabric of the prison itself. From her remains we extracted the source of her distemper, and her defiled cloak.

The explosion of her demise had opened the next gate, and within that cell her sister sat surrounded by dozens of broken mirrors, each of them reflecting a distortion of the images it was meant to show. Megaera The Jealous glared at us,

'You must think yourself very special to have defeated the Mistress of Sin and Corruption... Your mistake was to flaunt your freedom in front of one who has none!'

Needless to say at this point we were prepared for attack and we mounted a strong counteroffensive, again the ancient spirit fought valiantly but was simply too burdened by her years in servitude to gain the advantage. She fell swiftly, and what remained of her flesh began to dissolve, falling to the floor until there was nothing left but powdered elements of her antagonism and her disgusting cloak.

Tisiphone, the avenger of murder, of course resided within the final cell, its door now magically ajar,

'No wrath from us will come stealthily to the one who holds out clean hands, and they will go through life unharmed...' she spoke at us, but of course our hands were not whatsoever clean, and we instantly were embroiled in a fight to the death with the final fury.

As she fell she croaked her final words,

'My sisters... all gone. You have earned the right to move on... should you choose the path.'

The golden sceptre of the avenging fury gleamed from within the cloak enshrouding her corpse, we gathered both quickly and returned to the central chamber while still wondering at the words of the furies, their warnings, and questioning if we had at all done the right thing to engage them.

Chapter 6: Beneath the Mountain

Gazing upwards we found a crack in the ceiling of the prison of the furies, and climbing upwards found ourselves facing the realization that our descent through hell had lead us through the forsaken realm all the way to a cavern deep within the depths of Mount Olympus and the gods themselves. Was sat in a small chamber, roughly hewn and ancient in appearance, with an unsullied puddle of the clean mountain drips upon the floor. Exhausted, we took stock of ourselves and cleansed the grim and blood from ourselves with what little water had collected there. We cautiously gazed westward and saw what we knew to be the final dead end of our journey.

Globes of fire lit the ceiling, and a stone dais filled the room; at its center, a pit of fire. The image of a beautiful woman strode around the dias, phasing in and out of material existence and between three forms. She appeared as one but with a shifting nature of three faces and personalities. Our thoughts returned to the Erinyes we so recently became familiar with. Completely beyond our comprehension we questioned the nature of this being, and its relation to those furies so recently defeated.

Finally, with courage beyond courage, and an equal part foolishness, we entered the throne of the spectre. Eumenides, the evil one immediately took notice,

'Foolish Mortals, you seek your doom? Your pitiful attempts to destroy me have only resulted in my power growing ten-fold! You have no powers that can best me in battle, so I shall make this quick...'

She ended our campaign swiftly, with the utmost authority.

Chapter 7: Unsolved Mysteries

The unknown meaning of these experiences lingered in our minds and nagged at our curiosities for many days and weeks after that day. As young children stumbling through the entangled affairs of giants we felt, attempting to tease out the meaning of all we had seen.

In the reshaping of the realms far and wide, those lower depths of the world below had been altered, bursting forth new caverns from below Mount Olmypus into the ethereal rift of Sesuad'ra. Hades, Master of the Underworld, sent forth his triplicate daughters the Erinyes, or Furies, to seek where demonspawn swelled in hidden caverns of the underworld yet not under his dominion.

The Erinyes succeeded in finding this heretofore unknown underworld lair, distinct from the rule of the master of the dark Hades, and likewise succeeded in meeting its inevitable ruler, the Mistress Satan. How it occurred we cannot say, but beneath her dark dias they were banished and soundly sealed in penitentiaries locked by blood magic and unknown forces.

Unlocking these realms and jails and releasing the binds of the blood magic at the alters we were able to free their influence sufficiently enough at least to assist in reaching the unknown location of Pandora's box and its staves of the Erinyes' making. The magic of the staves and the navigation of the portals remains unclear, perhaps it is simply too arcane for our minds to comprehend, but ultimately the gift the goddesses were able to provide provided the party means to reach their prison and finally open the doors of the cells which they had for so long been caged within.

The freedom of the Erinyes released them to once again pursue their retribution against evil, and in our case somewhat ironically faced them with the evil of our own party, murderers of Satan and her wicked hellspawn, but murderers nonetheless, and deserving of their punishment. Having obtained their freedom by the hand of Satan's murderers, the furies surely did not expect to themselves also be bested by our mortal hands. Ultimately, both Satan and the Furies, the gods of sin and of the retribution for sin, both now lie dead at our hands. Likely enraged by this, the great evil one Eumenides exacted her singular and ultimate punishment upon us. The nature of the spectre was unclear to us and still is. Were the furies unbodied and this the true singular form of the great underlying energy of those three more physical embodiment's?

While questions remained, we nevertheless sought to finish the job and complete this quest to rid the Underworld of its rulers, good or evil be damned. We redoubled our efforts and retraced our steps, we revisited every millimeter of that hell and every single bit of everything and anything that had even the slightest to do with this god forsaken place.

At long last, and entirely by accident a thing occurred we did not even realize had, in fact, occurred.

Chapter 8: Vengeance and Retribution

Entering the chamber of Eumenides far below Mount Olympus once more, her countenance was altered, and she spat at us in disgust and cursed our names and all the names of those that had wronged her, vowing to destroy us nonetheless of course. Her strength was lesser than it had been previously and we found ourselves exchanging blows with the ethereal image.

Massive bolts of energy flowed from her fingers, and at her command the room tumbled about throwing us onto our heads and all sense of direction and dimensions were warped and seemingly under her control. Her arcane knowledge was vast, but our swords were steady, and though at times a retreat was made to reconnoiter our attack we persisted our aggression towards this confusing and unkind spirit.

At long last, after much peril, Eumenides the evil one was dead.

From around her neck we unclasped her ancient pendant of vengeance and retribution, surely the product of her years of focused bitterness, and the uncanny mask of that infernal goddess.

And when, many moons later, we heard rumor of a returning rumbling in the depths, we returned to put things aright once more with all too much confidence and ran headlong into our own hubris.

The ethereal goddess heeded not our entrance, and slayed us in cold blood once more. We buried our heads in our hands and were forced to reconsider every step we had taken yet again even more closely to discern how we had achieved her equal in the previous encounter.

It was a bit of final confusion, fitting really within that world seemingly dominated by confusion, that perplexed us for some time. An ironic reversal of mystery from without to within. Suffice to say, with great annoyance we eventually worked it out, a most obvious thing in hindsight, but none too obvious at the onset.

Again we silenced the goddess, and as she fell she withdrew an object which became tangled with her pendant, destroying the mystical pendant but creating something imbued with the unsurpassed power of the underworld. The party rejoiced and camped in that cave bathing in its waters and dwelling in the abode of the witch purely out of spite for quite some time.

Chapter 9: Postscript

A great deal of confusion still surrounds our minds regarding the underworld and the mysteries of sin, and retribution.

By stilling the hand of Satan, we had accomplished a worthy and noble task in our own minds. However, in a realm of many gods, slaying one only begat us the wrath of others, those Erinyes, the Furies, whose task it is to remind mortal men of the evil of their ways. To slay the devil may be well intentioned, but killing is killing. And so in the doing of the task we placed ourselves as victors over the evil and murderous ways of Satan, and yet simultaneously defenders of our own murderous ways in the eyes of those enforcers of peace.

Satan had sealed away the Furies to prevent them from countering man's nature to sin. Had we found ourselves fighting them toward the very same end, taking up the defense the sinful, fighting for our right to murder? The turn of the table was striking. Were we but a blind pawns in Satan's great scheme? Perhaps the evil mistress has her merits after all, she must be laughing now, wherever she is. We found ourselves caught between gods, and find ourselves now still stranded between the underworld and that above, in a land of blurred lines and shades of grey, and despair.