The first year of the third Reckoning

The Fortress of Coldsteel, Stygia

"This is the second time today I've made this trip," said Kyle as his Iceskiff slowed before the fortress. Several Blue Abishai started to screech and point at his vessel, but the Tiefling simply drifted the skiff at the nearest mooring, scattering the angry attendants. "Now, which one of you berks is going to cross my palm with jink?"

Garth and Allison appeared to look elsewhere, and Steamwrath remained motionless. Amirah sighed and retrieved a roll of coins, seemingly from out of the air and tossed them to the boatman.

"Hmm, Grommish crowns? They must be popular ", he said as he examined the coins briefly before pocketing them.

With their fare paid, the small band disembarked from the Iceskiff before facing the great metal fortress.

"Anyways berks, good luck, and stay out of the dead book," shouted Kyle as his skiff shot off again, just as the Blue Abishai regrouped and almost swarmed his vessel.

"That guy was weird," snorted Garth.

"Aye, but we have other worries," said Allisonara. "If Machalas is indeed going to duel Reyzenhart, Reinhardt, or whatever he calls himself, than you can be sure he is stacking the odds against him. We have to make sure we stack things back the other way, and then some."

Garth nodded and held out his non maimed hand. "Drugged wine, invisible blow darts, curses, hexes, jinxes, maybe some gremlins for his gear, and I think I had some mirrors we can use to shine light in Machalas eyes during the battle. Bats are sensitive right? Or maybe a high pitch whistle? Ooh…I also have some fiendish Quickling buddies. They can interfere and prolly not be seen."

Amirah raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Really, is all this necessary? Reinhardt is a good fighter you know."

Allison gave her a knowing smirk. "Well, people of our moral disposition don't exactly fight fair, and we like to hedge our bets. Also his victory facilitates having this binding removed. I'm not exactly sure the terms, but it did involve bringing you to Reinhardt. That's not happening if Machalas tears him apart, and present his body for Levistus to eat. "

"Truly? " asked Amirah as she looked at Steamwrath.

The iron and brass furnace nodded and Amirah cringed. She had heard of the Frozen Lord's cannibalism before, but thought it mere rumors and propaganda spread by his enemies.

Despite the dark vision of Reinhardt being served to Levistus as dinner, Amirah shook her head. "No, Reinhardt wouldn't want it this way. He would want a fair battle, one where he could match his power with his foes to determine the winner. He would…"

"Err…wait. Are we talking about the same Reinhardt here? "asked Garth. "Dirty tricks is what he's famous for."

"Aye," nodded Allison. "Even his greatest victory was attributed to an unorthodox, almost blasphemous tactic. The chant was, he somehow coerced Lady Cozbinaer to reveal her true name to him. She was then captured by the enemy, scouted their fortress, and recalled with the power of her name by Reinhardt before convincing that traitorous Machalas to attack. The victory was nice of course, but …well you don't reveal your true name to anyone. "

Amirah had heard a little about the lore of the true names of Infernals. How knowing one, gave a person power and control over the corresponding creature. She wondered if what Allison said was true, and looked towards Steamwrath for a sign, but the construct made no movement to give any indication of the truth.

"Regardless, I only want you to spoil any plots Machalas might have, and to lend moral support?"

"Moral support? " snickered the pair of Infernals, attempting not to laugh out loud.

Amirah waved off their laughter as she marched into the fortress. One of the guards attempted to stop the elfing woman, but the sight of Steamwrath wading behind her was a sufficient enough invitation for their group.

Reinhardt shifted to his insect form and looked at his chitinous form in the mirror. There was a big red X marked on his chest.

I should have gotten Amon to help with this. This is going to hurt.

He snapped his main claws together and dug them into his chest.

Maybe if I rip out my chest plate really fast I could dig it out. No, I'll probably pass out first from the pain.

"Err Reinhardt, before you do something stupid, I need to ask some questions," said a voice from the shadows, interrupting his hesitant thoughts.

Reinhardt shifted back to his Tiefling form, and spun around. "Earl? " he asked when he spotted a non descript man in the corner of the room.

"Err…I know you're about to duel this Machalas character, but were you about to …ummm…." Earl made a stabbing motion towards his own chest.

"Yes…I mean no….I mean its complicated," sighed Reinhardt.

During his travels after his exile, Reinhardt had met and fought many powerful beings. Primus, lord of the Modrons, Vilehorn/Naome/Kelvann a triple crossbreed mutant of pure evil, General Olive, a tactical genius and weapon master, Emperor Clovis, the reincarnation of a dark god, Warmaster Fetch, he who kills deities and defies fate, Ella the Mistress of Dragons, Tiamat, The Doomsinger, The Great Squirrel, the Avatar of Entropy, amongst many many others. Given his powers and experience, Reinhardt dealt with most of them on a fairly even footing. There were some of course much greater than him, but Reinhardt always had an escape planned if fleeing was the best option. That was not the case with Earl.

Earl was unique. The Grommers called him the Grandfather of Assassins and that was an apt name. Reinhardt assumed he was a fair fighter, but of course he never fought fair. If he wanted you dead, well…you had little choice in that matter. The fact that Earl had crossed through the Great Wheel to confront him was unsettling to Reinhardt, however the fact that he was still alive gave him a slight feeling of relief.

"Why are you here? "asked Reinhardt.

Earl smiled. "I think that's my line. Anyways, it's not really my business what you do on your spare time. Normally people would wait till after the Imperial visit to go on vacation but I'll just attribute that to poor timing on your part. However, I am interested in a certain forge that went missing."

Reinhardt frowned. He reached to his satchel and pulled a large black iron orb from it. " Yes that was me. While the Emperor calls it his personal money making project, I have been calling it the Heart of Flame."

Earl nodded. "An apt name from what I understand. Whatever you call it, I heard it's quite dangerous."

Reinhardt shrugged. "Aye. In its current state, it is too dangerous to handle. It was designed to generate heat hot enough to smelt adamant, but to do so the magic inside it is balanced so perfectly it perpetually feeds upon itself in the process. Thus making it impossible… to turn off. It's quite remarkable really, an engineering masterpiece of artifice. I suppose you could break it, and trigger a massive explosion, but Clovis sheathed it in this adamantium shell, similar to the ones his grandfather used to trap Abyssal lords, and without even looking I can sense wards of the highest order have been woven inside it to reinforce it some more. I'm sure Clovis has some facility constructed to handle this, but one misstep and it could render a whole mountain or a whole province inhabitable."

"Yes, so I've been told this. While the Emperor wants his little project back, Olive was actually glad that you took it. She hoped you took it far away and out of Grom. Given where we are, she has that part right. I on the other hand think it suspicious that you took it to Stygia of all places. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not racially profiling you or anything. I was one of the first to know you are an Ice Devil, and I don't hold that against you. We all need a little tyranny and oppression now and again to keep the masses in order, but it makes me worried that you've taken this very dangerous item to Geryon's newly reformed court. Are you attempting to curry favor with him? Are you going to lay waste to a country of heretics in the prime with that? I can't let you use it for such a purpose, you know I try to live loosely by a 'code', also…my girlfriend would kill me. "

Reinhardt shook his head. "No, nothing so devious. To be honest, I was originally going to dump it in the Styx so it would be forgotten forever, even by the Emperor, but since I've been here an idea of its use has sprouted in my mind."

"Really? Tell me?"

Reinhardt sighed and bared his X marked chest to Earl. "I'll tell you, but have to give me a hand with this afterwards."

Earl looked at him in shock.

Reinhardt chuckled. "Don't be squeamish. It's not the first time I've had my heart ripped out."

The Arena of Coldsteel was a sunken oval adjacent to the main hall. It had several rectangular boxes for dignitaries, and several tiers of regular seating for the soldiers, guards, and servants. It could hold roughly five thousand Baatorians, a literal legion, but as news of the upcoming duel spread the arena quickly filled to capacity and beyond.

Amirah cursed herself as she followed Steamwrath through the upper crowds. She wasn't sure what she was hoping for, but not this. She thought that if she saw Reinhardt she could convince him of another way, but she hadn't and the duel was drawing closer.

This wasn't him. Fighting in some Infernal arena wasn't how Reinhardt operated. He was a talker, a writer, a merchant, a planner, and saved fighting only as a last resort. He wasn't a blood thirsty gladiator or bravado. Was the Stygian air and water having an effect on him? Was he simply a savage Gelugon in his core? Was this his true self, and the one she knew for so many centuries was just a lie that his exile forced him to adapt to?

As Steamwrath pushed its way to the edge of the oval arena, Amirah could see Garth wading through the crowd , even as Allison flew and landed next to her; quickly shifting from her Erinyes form to that of a dwarven maiden.

"I've heard that Geryon keeps a tight watch on duels. He's a purist and enjoys fair battles, but that still hasn't stopped Machalas from pooling magic items to his advantage, " reported Allison. "As for Reinhardt, there's no sign of him. Maybe he thought wiser of challenging a Duke of Hell and fled…."

Though the thought was hopeful, Amirah knew that would not be the case. Whatever Reinhardt was, he was no coward.

"Oh hey, guys. I didn't spot any trouble, but look who I found," said Garth as he finally caught up to them . A young woman with a platinum blonde ponytail wearing an exotic dancer outfit consisting of strips of silver chainmail followed him.

"Greetings Lord Steamwrath," she said as she carefully curtsied politely to the great construct.

"You remember Gretaxus right? " said Garth.

"Of course…." Said Allison in an icy voice.

"I like the new look Allisonara, dwarf looks good on you, " said the young woman with a giggly smile. "Who's your pretty new friend?"

Garth looked confused. "Umm… Grommyangrywind?"

Amirah nodded.

"That's a mouthful Miss Grommy, you can call me Greta. Are you excited for the fight?" she asked. "I'm a good friend of one of the duelists."

"Too excited…." Sighed Amirah as they finally reached their box seats. She wondered if she should question Greta abouch Machalas, but she doubt she would get any useful information from her.

There was a great stone chair for Steamwrath, and a normal one for her. Old Agares was already there, propping himself up on his iron staff, and Amirah noted that he seemed significantly weaker than his form in his tower. Was this the difference between an Aspect she wondered? Though Allison, Garth, and this Greta woman weren't officially invited to seat with the nobility, the three slipped past the Tiefling ushers, claiming to be important members of Steamwrath's retinue.

"Sweet, box seats, Err hi Agares, we're with her…" said Garth as he slid into the last seat. Allison was forced to stand, which seemed to suit her fine, while Greta happily hopped onto the dwarven Bearded Devil's lap.

Before the group was settled a great gong rang to silence the crowd. A massive creature, with three humanoid heads, a great serpents tail, and four arms with chiseled muscles slithered into the head of the arena.

"Is..is that Geryon? I didn't know he had three heads? " whispered Amirah to Steamwrath.

"Aye, most people think of him as his old gorilla snake man form," said Garth.

"During the fight, you should remain silent. You do not wish to break Reyzenhart's concentration," stated the construct with a low mechanical voice.

Amirah nodded reluctantly.

A red heavy set man, with broad shoulders and horns, and a giant wolf strode before the Lord of Stygia and took their places next to his flank.

"Lord Geryon the Great Beast of Stygia wishes his reign to be long and prosperous. Though the Lord of Nessus demands peace, our Lord in his great wisdom has allowed this duel to proceed to eliminate dissention in his ranks. Duke Machalas and General Reyzenhart have a previous disagreement, and our Lord wishes them to resolve this in a most gratuitous and bloodthirsty manner!" shouted the heavy set horned man. The wolf howled loudly as the crowd broke out in cheers.

"Go get him cuz!" shouted Greta.

Amirah looked at the woman. She didn't appear to have any bat like features. She was about to inquire further when a large humanoid, covered with dark fur with a bestial bat head, flew from the rafters into the center of the arena.

From one of the side gates, a large pale insect creature with a spear in hand, hobbled out to meet him.

"Something is wrong. His movements are jerky. Is he drugged?" whispered Amirah as her concern grew.

"Can't poison Infernals," snorted Garth. While the Bearded Devil was technically right, there were some things that resembled poisons in all but their name that could.

"There are poisons that aren't called poisons that can affect even you Garth. For example, I bet a Gelugon's stinger could poison your face Garth," said Greta echoing Amirah's thoughts.

The battle started in a flurry of claws, and fangs. Machalas flew directly at Reinhardt and smashed into the bigger Ice Devil. Chitin and fur flew, as the bat creature tore plates off the Gelugon, even as Reinhardt clumsily stabbed him with his tail. Before either side could get a physical advantage, Reinhardt unleashed several successive blasts of cold directly into Machalas' face. Amirah's heart skipped a second as she thought the tide had turned, but her hopes were quickly dashed as Machalas jumped back, apparently untouched with one of Reinhardt's broken arms in his grasp.

"A ring of evasion or perhaps a frost resistance item," said Agares off to the side. "Machalas has come prepared it seems."

Reinhardt ignored his missing limb and hobbled to circle the bat, spear pointed defensively in a guard position. Watching his broken gait was painful for Amirah. She remembered him as strong and fast, not this broken creature before her.

Machalas shrieked as he threw Reinhardt's arm as a weapon. The Ice Devil barely managed to knock it to the side with his spear, even as the Bat Duke crashed into him, hurtling the pair against the wall. Just as it looked as they would crash into the barrier, Reinhardt activated a flight spell, and the pair flew upwards instead and landed in the crowd.

Amirah gasped, as most of the spectators dispersed. Boos erupted, as a few larger Infernals bearing the tabards of Levistus and Machalas swarmed Reinhardt and were happy to boot and claw the stunned Ice Devil, while only a single dazed nondescript servant accidentally bumped into Machalas before scurrying away.

"One sec," said Allison as she hopped onto the rail. The dwarf maid quickly drew her bow and fired some arrows into the more lively spectators, striking an Abishai in the neck, and an Orthon in the back.

The attacking spectators fled from Allison's wrath, even as Machalas forced his way to the stunned Reinhardt. He lifted the stunned insect over his head and threw him back into the arena.

Reinhardt landed hard on his back, but managed to roll out of the way as Machalas followed. His once lightning fast tail attempted to trip the Bat Duke, but his opponent easily hopped over it.

Amirah could hardly watch. She turned away, even as Steamwrath's great metal claws grabbed the edge of the stone rail and began crushing it to dust.

"You can do it Reyzenhart!" shouted Greta loudly. Amirah turned to the smiling woman and was caught off guard. Didn't she say she was Machalas cousin, or did she mean Reinhardt's cousin? She was about to ask, when Reinhardt unleashed a more concentrated ray of cold in desperation at Machalas. The crowd laughed, but they murmured in surprise when Machalas' screeched in pain.

"My ring! Someone took my ring!" the Duke screamed, even as Reinhardt charged him with his spear.

"A drink my lady?" asked a nondescript servant. Amirah looked in surprise at the man.

" Earl? " She asked as she blinked twice, then all traces of him were gone save a tall glass of a bubbling beverage, with a ring inside it.

"No, that's Duke Machalas, we rarely use the title of Earl here, though Earl Garth has a nice ring to it, " commented Garth. "By the way, where'd that waiter go? I'm thirsty too."

Reinhardt didn't manage a fatal stab against Machalas, but grazed him a few times in the arm and ribs. The Duke sensed that the battle was turning, so instead took flight to regroup. Reinhardt lunged at him, but missed badly. His flight spell was still active, but his uncharacteristic lack of control caused him to smash face first into the hard arena floor.

Amirah gasped. "Reinhardt!" she yelled inadvertently.

Her voice was just one in the ocean of roars, but she was the wind, she was the peel of thunder. Her voice carried throughout the arena, causing everyone to look about in confusion at the source. Reinhardt too was confused as he raised his head and looked directly at her.

"Amirah…" he croaked. Even though the arena was exploding with cheers, his voice carried through the wind and she heard him. The pair exchanged glances, just before Machalas stomped both his clawed feet into the prone Gelugon's back.

A loud sickening crack could be heard through the arena as Reinhardt's spine twisted at a cruel angle. Amirah looked away, breaking into sobs and tears.

"Wow, that was over fast," commented Greta with a bored look.

"We should go…NOW!" commanded Steamwrath. Agares nodded as the tearful Amirah was led away by the two dwarves, with a tearful Greta close behind.

Machalas grabbed the still twitching Reinhardt's spear, lifted it above his head and then snapped it on his knee. He then produced a glowing vial that shone with a Celestial light and began pouring it on Reinhardt's wounds. "How fitting that the Infernal that pioneered the use of holy water should succumb to it. Let's see you regenerate from that, " shouted Machalas as the Gelugon's wounds hissed and boiled.

Reinhardt's body gave one last spasm before falling still.

Instead of bowing to Geryon, the creature then turned to Avatar of Levistus and bowed to him instead. "Your lunch is ready my lord," he said in an echoing voice to the angry roar of disapproval from the crowd.

Machalas looked up and stared where Reinhardt was looking at and grinned a horrible jagged smile. "I think I just spotted dessert my lord."