Gods, Monsters, and Poor Life Choices // D&D

Session 10, The Last Work of Cicerox pt.3

SESSION 102026-04-17

Date: 2026-04-17

Summary

The evening at the Ashen Cup began with an unexpected announcement. Velessa gathered the party to inform them that she had acquired seven imps — one more than the six she had bargained for at the Infernal Menagerie — and that rather than treating them as slaves, she intended to employ them as paid workers. Cicerox, still locked in her infernal iron cage at the center of the table, rattled the bars and expressed a quiet wish to join the party herself, though she was gently told that a different plan was already in motion for her.

Vagnfríður pulled Velessa aside and made no secret of her discomfort with the arrangement. Handing Cicerox over to Raphael, a cambion she had never met, felt wrong to her, and she suggested that the Arcanaloth Nhalzura might be a better alternative. Velessa pushed back, reminding her that Nhalzura was a mercenary fiend — a Yugoloth — and no less dangerous or self-serving than any devil. The rest of the party weighed in, with most agreeing that betraying their contract with Korrilla and Raphael was a dangerous gamble, especially without knowing whether Nhalzura would actually get them home in return.

The conversation drifted into stranger waters when Velessa attempted a ritual over Cicerox's cage, pressing an expensive pearl between her fingers and focusing her magic on the imp in hopes of uncovering any hidden contract stipulations or magical bindings. The spell fizzled out entirely, revealing only that Cicerox's makeshift clothing — stitched together from scraps she had pulled into her cage — was entirely mundane. Taking pity on her, Velessa tossed the imp a proper set of imp-sized clothes, including a skort, and Cicerox accepted them with quiet gratitude, turning away to change before rejoining the conversation.

What followed was a long, winding discussion about gods, faith, and what waited for the faithless after death. Shane admitted he was an atheist, which prompted a mix of disbelief and philosophical debate from the others. Séantal offered to introduce him to their own celestial patron — a being whose name was utterly incomprehensible to mortal tongues — while Cicerox revealed that she herself had been a warlock in life, bound to a patron who answered to Glasya, the Archdevil ruler of Malbolge. The party began to wonder aloud whether Cicerox might one day be resurrected, and she described the belongings she had left behind in Candlekeep: a gold locket worn around her neck, an elaborate gold and black quill, and a matching leather-bound notebook. It was only when the party pressed her on how long she had been in the hells that the full weight of her situation became clear — Cicerox had been dead for over twenty years, having lived around the year 1478 DR. Her quill had almost certainly rotted away, but the gold locket, if it had been buried with her, might still be salvageable.

As the others drifted toward sleep, Vagnfríður lingered. She had not let go of the idea of Nhalzura, and once the room had grown quiet, she padded silently across the floor toward the cage. Cicerox woke immediately and began shouting at full volume, refusing to be handed over to an Arcanaloth and insisting that the Abyss — where Arcanaloths made their home — was no better than wherever Raphael might take her. Vagnfríður tried to reason with her, but Cicerox threatened to scream the entire inn awake if the cage was so much as touched. Slipping out onto the balcony, Vagnfríður found Nhalzura already waiting in the shadows, arms crossed and pouting that her prize had not yet been delivered. The Arcanaloth ran a finger down Vagnfríður's chest and told her that all she needed to do was turn around, dart back inside, and bring the cage out — and all the trouble would be over. Before Nhalzura could finish the sentence, Vagnfríður was already gone.

She rushed back into the room and snatched up the cage, only to find it appeared empty. Cicerox had turned herself invisible. Vagnfríður sniffed at the bars and shook the cage, uncertain whether the imp was still inside or had somehow escaped. Velessa, who had been hiding under one of the beds, poked Korrilla awake and warned her that something was wrong. Korrilla sat up just in time to see Vagnfríður bolt for the balcony doors. Séantal reacted instantly, conjuring a swirling vortex of spectral, shimmering daggers that filled the doorway from floor to ceiling — beautiful and deadly, like shards of glowing glass suspended in the air. Vagnfríður, knowing that passing through the barrier would harm the invisible imp inside the cage, carefully angled the cage around the edge of the doorframe, sustaining injuries herself as she brushed the perimeter of the conjuration. The cage rattled to the ground on the balcony, and Cicerox reappeared with a shriek as her concentration on invisibility broke. Nhalzura's fuzzy hands reached down from the shadows, snatched up the cage, and vanished into the darkness of Avernus.

Korrilla erupted. Infernal smoke rose from her arms and hands as she blasted the room with hellfire, her eyes locked on Vagnfríður with a fury that radiated heat. She threatened to have Vagnfríður skinned alive for a rug, or better yet, forged into a soul coin to make up for the cost of the failed contract. Shane drew his bow and warned Korrilla not to kill anyone, while Séantal held the magical barrier in place. Vagnfríður attempted to play innocent, but Korrilla had seen everything and was not fooled. When Vagnfríður's deception crumbled entirely, Korrilla lunged forward — and with a word of infernal power, Vagnfríður vanished in a puff of smoke.

She found herself in a place far worse than anything Avernus had shown her. The chamber was towering, its ceiling lost in smoke and heat, hotter even than the plane she had just left. An infinite line of shackled, emaciated souls stretched in both directions, their heads bowed, their bodies blackened with soot, trudging forward in silence. A devil wrapped in wicked chains and spikes grabbed each soul in turn and slammed it down onto a pedestal, where a hammer at least ten feet in diameter came crashing down with the full force of the forge. Each strike produced a sound that was not quite a sound — a thousand screams in the same voice, the torment of a thousand years compressed into a single moment. When the hammer rose, a five-inch disc was all that remained. Vagnfríður felt the ground shake with every blow, and she felt her feet moving forward in the line, one step at a time, as if she had no choice in the matter at all.

Back in the Ashen Cup, Velessa spoke carefully and persuasively to Korrilla, and the dwarf — still seething — released the banishment. Vagnfríður reappeared in the room, trembling. The adrenaline of her earlier conviction had drained away entirely, replaced by something cold and hollow. What happened next was fast. Korrilla was still in the room, still furious, still radiating infernal heat — and Vagnfríður, still trembling, still haunted by the sound of a thousand screams, grabbed her. The rage that had been building since the moment she reappeared finally broke the surface, and she hurled the dwarf through the balcony doors with everything she had. Korrilla went sailing three stories down and roughly thirty feet out from the building, disappearing into the dark of Avernus below. The room went very quiet.

Velessa wrapped Vagnfríður in a blanket, then grabbed a second and swaddled her like a trauma victim. Vagnfríður barely seemed to notice. Then, with shaking hands, she reached for Nhalzura's calling card and tried to summon the Arcanaloth. The card dissolved into ash between her fingers as Nhalzura's mocking laughter echoed from nowhere and everywhere at once. The Arcanaloth had never intended to help them get home.

The party stood in the aftermath and took stock of what had just happened. Nhalzura had taken Cicerox and vanished. Korrilla — their guide, their contract-holder, their only confirmed means of returning to the Prime Material Plane — had just been thrown out a window. Velessa pointed out, with remarkable calm, that the woman they had just defenestrated was their only way home. Vagnfríður, still wrapped in two blankets, stared at the ash on her fingers. The calling card was gone. The imp was gone. And somewhere three stories below, their guide was either very angry or very dead.

The party began to think through their options. Velessa revealed that in exchange for her seven imps, she had promised a service to a contact at the menagerie — delivering something to an office in Baldur's Gate — and suggested that this contact might be willing to help them get home, since they couldn't complete the task otherwise. Others floated the idea of sneaking back into the House of Hope, where a portal still hung in one of the rooms, though the prospect of infiltrating Raphael's own mansion felt like trading one disaster for another. Shane, with characteristic pragmatism, decided the best thing he could do was go back to bed. The rest of the party, stranded in the hells with no guide, no Arcanaloth, and a very angry cambion lord somewhere in their future, settled in to wait for morning and figure out what came next.

Short

The evening at the Ashen Cup was dominated by debate over the fate of Cicerox, an imp locked in an infernal iron cage. Velessa revealed she had acquired seven imps from the Infernal Menagerie and intended to treat them as paid workers rather than slaves. Vagnfríður voiced strong reservations about handing Cicerox over to the cambion Raphael, suggesting the Arcanaloth Nhalzura as an alternative, though the rest of the party cautioned against breaking their contract with Korrilla and Raphael. Meanwhile, Cicerox herself revealed she had once been a warlock in life, dead for over two hundred years, and the party began to consider the possibility of her eventual resurrection. A quieter moment saw Velessa gift the imp a proper set of clothes, which Cicerox accepted with understated gratitude.

The night took a dramatic turn when Vagnfríður, unconvinced by the group's reasoning, attempted to secretly hand Cicerox over to Nhalzura, who had been waiting on the balcony. Despite Cicerox turning invisible in protest and Séantal conjuring a deadly magical barrier to block the doorway, Vagnfríður forced the cage through and Nhalzura snatched it, vanishing into Avernus. Korrilla erupted in fury and banished Vagnfríður to a hellish forge where she witnessed souls being compressed into soul coins — an experience that left her visibly shaken. Velessa negotiated her return, but the damage was done: Nhalzura's calling card dissolved into ash, revealing the Arcanaloth had never intended to help them get home. In a final burst of rage, Vagnfríður hurled Korrilla — their guide and contract-holder — out the balcony window three stories down. The party was left stranded in the hells with no guide, no imp, and an uncertain path home, their only leads being Velessa's contact at the menagerie and the dangerous prospect of sneaking back into the House of Hope.

Classic

Last we left off, our party found themselves deep in the hells, gathered at the Ashen Cup with a peculiar new ward — Cicerox, a centuries-dead imp and former warlock, rattling the bars of her infernal iron cage at the center of their table. Velessa had returned from the Infernal Menagerie with seven imps instead of six, and in a moment of unexpected compassion, chose to employ them rather than enslave them — even going so far as to conjure the little imp a proper set of clothes, skort and all. But not all was warmth and generosity. Vagnfríður, deeply uneasy with the plan to hand Cicerox over to the cambion Raphael, began quietly entertaining an alternative — the Arcanaloth Nhalzura, who had been lurking in the shadows of Avernus with promises and pouting and a finger dragged far too slowly down Vagnfríður's chest.

What followed was a cascade of catastrophic decisions. In the dead of night, Vagnfríður snatched up the cage — Cicerox having turned herself invisible in a last desperate act of self-preservation — and made a break for the balcony, only to be met by Séantal's conjured vortex of shimmering spectral daggers filling the doorway like shards of living glass. Vagnfríður pushed through the edge of the barrier, taking the wounds herself to spare the imp, but it was not enough. The cage hit the balcony floor, Cicerox's concentration broke, and Nhalzura's fuzzy hands descended from the darkness and snatched her away into the black of Avernus. Korrilla — their guide, their contract-holder, their devil-forged ticket home — erupted in hellfire and fury, and with a single word of infernal power, sent Vagnfríður somewhere far, far worse: a towering forge-chamber where an infinite line of shackled souls shuffled forward one step at a time toward a hammer the diameter of the room itself, each blow compressing a thousand years of torment into a single, shattering sound.

She was brought back — Velessa's careful words cooling Korrilla's rage just enough — but the adrenaline was gone, replaced by something cold and hollow. Nhalzura's calling card dissolved to ash in Vagnfríður's trembling fingers, the Arcanaloth's laughter echoing from nowhere, the betrayal complete. And then, still wrapped in two blankets, still haunted by the sound of a thousand screams, Vagnfríður grabbed Korrilla and hurled her three stories out the balcony window into the dark of Avernus below. The room went very quiet. Their imp was gone. Their guide was gone. The calling card was ash. And somewhere out in the hells, a very angry dwarf was either picking herself up or she wasn't. Now, with morning approaching and no clear way home, we pick up as our party takes stock of the wreckage they've made — and tries to figure out what in the nine hells comes next...

Memorable Moments

"I should skin you alive for a new rug."
— Korrilla

Korrilla, radiating infernal smoke and fury, threatens Vagnfríður after discovering the imp Cicerox has been handed to the Arcanaloth.

Vagnfríður, traumatized from witnessing souls being minted into coins, returns from banishment and immediately grabs Korrilla and hurls her three stories off the balcony.

Still shaking with terror and rage from her banishment to the soul forges, Vagnfríður snaps and defenestrates the dwarf warlock.

Nhalzura's calling card dissolves into ash between Vagnfríður's fingers as the Arcanaloth's mocking laughter echoes, revealing she was never going to help the party get home.

The party realizes they are stranded in Avernus, having lost both their guide and their supposed backup plan in the same night.

"You sold your soul for marketing?"
— Séantal

Stunned reaction after Cicerox reveals she made a deal with Glasya not for power or immortality, but to ensure her smutty books reached a wider audience across Faerûn.

Vagnfríður witnesses an infinite line of shackled souls being slammed onto a pedestal and hammered into soul coins, each strike producing thousands of years of suffering in a single moment.

Banished by Korrilla as punishment, Vagnfríður experiences firsthand the horrific reality of how soul coins are created in the forges of Minauros.

Scenes

A Morning of Imps and Arguments

The party gathers at the Ashen Cup in Avernus to discuss their next steps, Velessa's new acquisitions, and the fate of the caged imp Cicerox.

Velessa announces she has acquired seven imps to serve as employees rather than slaves, one more than the six she bargained for.
Cicerox, currently caged, expresses a desire to join the party as a minion but is told there is already a plan for her involving Raphael.
Vagnfríður pulls Velessa aside to express her discomfort with handing Cicerox over to Raphael, suggesting the Arcanaloth Nhalzura as a better alternative.
Velessa points out that Nhalzura is a mercenary fiend and not necessarily better than a devil, and that the party cannot trust she would get them home.
The party debates the morality and risks of betraying their original deal with Raphael, with Vagnfríður suggesting that if the imp were to simply disappear, the party would not technically be breaking their word.
The party discusses the nature of devils, their pride, and their strict adherence to the letter of contracts.

Identifying the Imp

Velessa attempts to use magic to learn more about Cicerox's status and any infernal contracts bound to her.

Velessa performs a ritual using an expensive pearl as a focus to identify Cicerox, hoping to uncover magical properties or contract stipulations.
The spell fizzles out without revealing anything significant, confirming that Cicerox's makeshift clothing is not magical.
Velessa gives Cicerox some imp-sized clothing, including a skort, to make her more comfortable, which Cicerox gratefully accepts.

The Nature of Faith and Afterlives

The party engages in a philosophical debate about gods, atheism, and what happens to the faithless in the afterlife, leading to revelations about Cicerox's past.

Shane reveals he is an atheist, prompting a discussion about the fate of the faithless after death.
Séantal offers to introduce Cicerox to their celestial patron.
Cicerox reveals she was a warlock in life whose patron reported to Glasya, the ruler of Malbolge.
The party discusses the possibility of resurrecting Cicerox once they return to the Prime Material Plane.
Cicerox describes her favorite belongings at Candlekeep—a gold locket worn around her neck, an elaborate gold and black quill, and a matching leather-bound notebook—to help the party potentially find her remains.
The party discovers that Cicerox has been dead for over 20 years, having lived around the year 1478 DR, meaning her quill has likely rotted away.
Velessa mentions the drow goddess Eilistraee and warns against speaking Lolth's name in Avernus.
Velessa hides under a bed to sleep, while the rest of the party prepares for the arrival of Mad Maggie in the morning.

A Midnight Disagreement on the Balcony

After the others appear to sleep, Vagnfríður attempts to sneak the caged imp Cicerox out to the balcony to hand her over to the Arcanaloth Nhalzura.

Vagnfríður quietly pads across the room to retrieve Cicerox's cage while the others sleep.
Cicerox wakes up and begins shouting, refusing to be handed over to an Arcanaloth and fearing being taken to the Abyss.
Vagnfríður tries to persuade Cicerox that Nhalzura is a better option than the cambion Raphael, but the imp remains terrified.
Cicerox threatens to scream and wake the entire party if Vagnfríður touches the cage.
Vagnfríður slips out to the balcony to negotiate with Nhalzura, who pouts and mocks her for not having the prize ready.
Nhalzura uses her charm to pressure Vagnfríður into retrieving the cage immediately.
Vagnfríður rushes back into the room to grab the cage, only to find it seemingly empty—Cicerox has turned invisible.

Betrayal at the Ashen Cup

Vagnfríður attempts to smuggle the imp Cicerox to the Arcanaloth Nhalzura, leading to a violent confrontation within the party's room.

Velessa pokes Korrilla awake, warning that Vagnfríður may be charmed or acting strangely.
Vagnfríður snatches the cage and bolts for the balcony doors.
Séantal conjures a swirling vortex of spectral, shimmering daggers in the doorway to block Vagnfríður's escape.
Vagnfríður carefully passes the cage around the magical daggers and out onto the balcony, sustaining injuries from the spell's perimeter.
Nhalzura appears in the shadows of the balcony, snatches the cage as Cicerox shrieks in terror, and vanishes into the darkness.
Korrilla wakes up in a rage, realizing the imp has been given away, and blasts the area with hellfire.
Shane draws his bow on Korrilla to prevent her from killing Vagnfríður, while Séantal maintains the magical barrier.
Korrilla, radiating infernal smoke and heat, threatens to have Vagnfríður forged into a soul coin as payment for the failed contract.
Vagnfríður attempts to deceive Korrilla about the missing imp but fails to convince the dwarf.
Korrilla lunges forward to attack Vagnfríður, who takes a defensive stance.

Banishment to the Soul Forge

Korrilla uses powerful magic to banish Vagnfríður to a terrifying infernal realm where souls are minted into soul coins.

Korrilla casts a banishment spell on Vagnfríður, who vanishes in a puff of smoke.
Vagnfríður finds herself in a towering, sweltering chamber filled with shackled, soot-blackened souls trudging forward in an infinite line.
A spiked devil slams emaciated souls onto a pedestal where a massive hammer strikes them, minting them into soul coins amid thousands of simultaneous screams.
Vagnfríður is compelled to trudge forward in the line toward the anvil, feeling the ground shake with every strike of the hammer.
Back in the Ashen Cup, Korrilla catches her breath and warns the remaining party members that Raphael will not be pleased with their failure.
Velessa successfully persuades Korrilla to release the banishment, and Vagnfríður reappears in the room, traumatized.

Defenestrating the Guide

In a fit of terror and rage upon returning from the soul forge, Vagnfríður grabs Korrilla and hurls her from the third-story balcony.

Vagnfríður reappears in the inn room, immediately entering a rage fueled by the horror of what she witnessed.
Vagnfríður grabs Korrilla and successfully heaves her through the balcony doors, sending her falling three stories and roughly thirty feet out from the building.
Séantal prepares to defend the party with magic should Korrilla return.
Velessa attempts to de-escalate the situation and comfort the trembling Vagnfríður, wrapping her in blankets.

The Betrayal of the Arcanaloth

The party realizes they are stranded in Avernus after Nhalzura abandons them and their guide Korrilla has been thrown out a window.

Velessa points out that by throwing Korrilla out the window, the party has lost their primary means of returning home.
Vagnfríður attempts to use Nhalzura's calling card to summon the Arcanaloth.
The calling card dissolves into ash as Nhalzura's mocking laughter echoes, confirming her betrayal.
Velessa comforts a catatonic Vagnfríður with blankets as the party realizes the gravity of their situation.
Velessa reveals she bartered for her seven imps by promising a service to a contact at the menagerie involving a delivery to Baldur's Gate, suggesting this contact might help them get home.
The group considers seeking help from the menagerie contact or sneaking back into the House of Hope to use the portal.
Shane decides to get some rest despite the danger, while the others plan to reassess their situation in the morning.
A mysterious event suggests something significant is about to occur.

NPCs

Cicerox

An intelligent imp and former scribe from Candlekeep who sold her soul to a patron serving Glasya for literary fame. She retains her sharp intellect and anxiety, is held in an infernal iron cage, and is terrified of being handed over to either an Arcanaloth or a cambion. She reveals she has been dead for over 20 years, having lived around the year 1478 DR, and describes personal mementos—a gold locket, an elaborate gold and black quill, and a leather-bound notebook—that might aid in a future resurrection. She uses her innate invisibility to hide when Vagnfríður attempts to hand her over to Nhalzura, and shrieks in terror as she is ultimately taken.

Nhalzura

An Arcanaloth and mercenary fiend who desires to acquire Cicerox. She appears on the balcony of the Ashen Cup, using charm and flattery to manipulate Vagnfríður into handing over the imp. After successfully obtaining Cicerox, she vanishes into the shadows and later allows her calling card to dissolve into ash while laughing mockingly, confirming she has no intention of helping the party return home.

Korrilla

A gold dwarf infernalist warlock who holds temporary ownership of Cicerox and is the party's primary means of returning to the Prime Material Plane. She is furious upon discovering the imp has been given away, unleashing hellfire and threatening to have Vagnfríður forged into a soul coin. She banishes Vagnfríður to the soul forges of Minauros before being thrown from a third-story balcony by the returning, enraged barbarian.

Raphael

A powerful cambion lord and the party's intended employer for the delivery of Cicerox. He is never directly present in the session but looms over events as the party fears his wrath following their failure to deliver the imp.

Glasya

The Archdevil ruler of Malbolge and daughter of Asmodeus. Mentioned as the ultimate authority over Cicerox's former patron, and described as having improved Malbolge from pure hag flesh to include some stone structures since taking over.

Locations

The Ashen Cup

A soot-dark tavern and flophouse in the Bronze Citadel where the party is staying overnight. The scene of heated debates, a midnight betrayal, a magical skirmish, and Korrilla being thrown from a third-story balcony.

Avernus

The first layer of the Nine Hells, characterized by its harsh environment and infernal politics. The party is stranded here after losing both their guide and their Arcanaloth contact.

Candlekeep

A great library-fortress on the Prime Material Plane where Cicerox lived and worked as a scribe before her death over 200 years ago. Her gold locket is likely buried with her remains there.

Malbolge

The sixth layer of Hell, ruled by Glasya. Cicerox's former patron reported to Glasya, and the layer is described as having been improved from pure hag flesh to include some stone structures.

The Soul Forge of Minauros

A sweltering, towering chamber where shackled souls are forced into an infinite line and brutally hammered into soul coins by a spiked devil, each strike producing thousands of years of suffering compressed into a single moment. Vagnfríður was banished here by Korrilla.

House of Hope

Raphael's infernal mansion in Avernus, which contains a portal the party used to travel to Hell. The party considers infiltrating it to find a way back to the Prime Material Plane.

Items

Cicerox's Cage

An infernal iron cage with bars spaced about three-quarters of an inch apart, used to hold and transport the imp Cicerox. It is the central object of the session's conflict, ultimately passed by Vagnfríður around a barrier of magical daggers and out onto the balcony where Nhalzura seized it.

Velessa's Pearl

An expensive pearl used by Velessa as a material component for her identification ritual cast on Cicerox. Velessa notes it is valuable enough to feed a family for months, though the spell ultimately fizzled out without revealing anything useful.

Imp-sized Clothing

A small skirt, tank top, and skort provided by Velessa to Cicerox from her shopping trip with the other imps, replacing Cicerox's makeshift garments she had fashioned herself in the cage.

Cicerox's Locket

A pure gold locket that Cicerox wore around her neck when she died in Candlekeep over 200 years ago. The party considers it a potential focus for a future resurrection spell, noting that pure gold would likely still be salvageable.

Cicerox's Quill

An elaborate gold and black quill used by Cicerox for her writing in life. After learning Cicerox has been dead for over 20 years, the party concludes it has likely rotted away, though it might survive in a collector's vault.

Cicerox's Leather-bound Notebook

A leather-bound notebook matching Cicerox's elaborate quill, used for jotting down ideas for her books. It was kept in her room at Candlekeep and is likely long gone after 20 years.

Soul Coin

Five-inch infernal iron discs minted through the horrific torment of mortal souls on a massive forge. Vagnfríður witnesses the minting process firsthand during her banishment, understanding viscerally that each coin traps thousands of years of suffering. Korrilla threatens to have Vagnfríður forged into one as punishment.

Nhalzura's Calling Card

A magical card that functioned like a sending stone, used to contact the Arcanaloth Nhalzura. When Vagnfríður attempts to use it after Nhalzura's betrayal, it dissolves into ash between her fingers as Nhalzura's mocking laughter echoes in response.

Calamus Pactum

A hellish black quill mentioned as being stored in a joint bank account for safekeeping, ensuring it remains accessible even if some party members are incapacitated or killed.

Spells

Identify

Velessa ritualistically cast this spell using an expensive pearl as a focus on Cicerox, hoping to uncover magical properties or infernal contract stipulations. The spell fizzled out without revealing anything significant, confirming only that Cicerox's makeshift clothing was not magical.

Faerie Fire

Mentioned by Velessa as a natural ability she could cast even before learning wizardry, granted by the Faerzress magical radiation of the Underdark that destabilizes biological magic in drow.

Invisibility

An innate ability used by the imp Cicerox to disappear within her cage when Vagnfríður attempted to steal her away to the Arcanaloth, complicating the betrayal and briefly giving the party hope the cage was empty.

Cloud of Daggers

Conjured by Séantal as a swirling vortex of spectral, shimmering daggers that blocked the balcony doorway to prevent Vagnfríður from escaping with the cage. Vagnfríður was forced to carefully pass the cage around its perimeter, sustaining injuries in the process.

Banishment

Cast by Korrilla on Vagnfríður in retaliation for giving away the imp. The spell transported Vagnfríður to the soul forges of Minauros, where she witnessed and was forced to participate in the horrific line of souls being minted into soul coins. Velessa's persuasion convinced Korrilla to end the spell and return Vagnfríður to the room.

Eldritch Blast

Prepared by Séantal as a readied defensive measure in case Korrilla returned to attack the party after being thrown from the balcony.

Sending

Discussed by the party as a potential method to contact Cicerox after she was taken by Nhalzura, with the idea of instructing her to return to her home plane. Velessa notes she does not know the spell but could find a scroll or someone who can cast it.