It was late morning, and the sun beat through the hazy clouds of Grom City's harbour. The battle had been fierce, but Kalikekeztra and Whelp strode to the standing stones victorious over their foes.

Despite Whelp's healing, Keke still struggled with her wounds. The Duelist had unexpectedly been using holy weapons. Holy Weapons! While leading a warband herself, she had recovered many holy arms from foolhardy crusaders that fought their way through the underworld, the thought of arming her own underlings with them was simply not done. What if they turned them on you? They would have the best chance to strike you down with them since they could get close to you.

Had Abaddon changed so much since her little vacation that they were arming human underlings with blessed arms? That was unheard of by lower planar standards, unless you were that eccentric Ice Devil General Risenhark or whatever his name was, and even he was cast out of Hell's legions back in the last Reckoning.

Regardless of why Pasurendra's minions were armed with holy weapons, and the injuries that were inflicted on her by them, Keke found herself in a good mood. Not because she had defeated an extremely dangerous and well armed foe, but for some odd reason their skirmish brought back memories of her 'dream' of her Eliaos.

Since venturing to the Prime, she had brief flashes of the Celestial she supposedly captured, but she wasn't sure if he was real or not. The torments, the duels, and of course the seduction between them were something she couldn't forget but the more she tried to remember them to make sense of them, the more they seemed a product of her imagination. Just wishful thinking of a time before her mind was scrubbed in the torture pits of Abaddon. In fact, given her time and torments in the torture pits it was wise to not trust any of your memories before her admittance there. Memories could as easily been destroyed as well as implanted to toy with the victims there. Or simply constructed by herself as a refuge from the daily horrors that had been inflicted upon her.

Still, that fight with the Duelist, her ridiculous death spiral, his even more ridiculous counter, and her instinctive counter to his counter was something straight out of her dreams. It felt so real, that it made her believe that maybe….perhaps maybe his encounter with Eliaos was as she remembered it.

Eliaos…..tall, handsome. A Deva with proud wings, a warrior spirit, and power enough to match her own. He cared about her too…or at least it seemed that way in her dreams. The last thing she remembered was that he asked, no begged her to leave with him from the Abyss. It was silly of course, she was his jailor and he was her prisoner. Despite the legendary lack of loyalty in the Abyss, she wouldn't risk such a thing. She couldn't recall the full extent of what happened between them, but she assumed that either he betrayed her or he simply died since he was no longer at her side.

Regardless…it would be nice to find out what happened. Maybe some old records exist, or maybe her old 'friend' Selexia snaked something away in her memory, most likely to use against her at a vulnerable time. Regardless, it didn't matter if her recollection of Eliaos was real or not, the Duelist's maneuver reminded her of the Celestial, and for some odd reason that made her happy.

Whelp on the other hand, did not seem too pleased.

While her divine might and righteous power left her…or was that the other way around….the warrior priestess seemed visibility upset more so than usual since she escaped the clutches of the Aboleth. She threw off her ancient Hoplite helm that Keke forced her to wear, and appeared visibly shaken.

"Hey, that thing is expensive…" joked Keke though she had no idea of the actual cost of that item. She was mainly a hoarder and only had a vague idea of monetary value. Ignoring its utilitarian value, given her eternity as a scavenger of battlefield loot, she just knew other people desired it, which made her desire it. Also, they needed any edge in battle over Pasurendra so she had forced the Warrior Priestess to wear it.

Whelp ignored her jest and bent over, coughing up bile. "I…I don't think those were Asura. I think that was a druid. I killed that poor druid girl….."

Kalikekeztra had little experience with druids save that they were nature priests of some sort that weren't able to wear metal armor. While Eladrin, a common foe to the denizens of the Abyss, did employ them, they were rarely on the front lines and did annoying things like control weather and make thorns or some other fool thing.

"Aye, I'm pretty sure they weren't demons or Asura either, my opponent used a holy weapon, and trust me, that would be dangerous for a demon to handle," agreed Keke.

"What? You knew they were not demons and we still fought them," gasped Whelp in despair. "..but…but I killed that druid girl…"

Keke shrugged."Nah. She looked okay actually. Her wounds, while deep, were mostly superficial. You just bloodied her up a bit. I didn't smell the fragrance of death on her."

Whelp looked at Keke in puzzlement. "Smell death?"

Keke ignored her as she continued. "They were most likely thralls of our foe. Catspaws that would serve any master, no matter how dark, for coin or power. Why else would they be on this island and confronted us like that. Yes I know they weren't your typical cultist, robe wearing, dagger wielding thralls, but trust me, they come in all shapes and sizes. It wouldn't surprise me if they were deceived in protecting Pasurendra or most likely they were sell swords of some sort. Actually come to think of it, my opponent definitely had that mercenary feel to him. He might have used a holy blade but he is definitely not a paladin."

Whelp nodded, Keke wasn't sure if she believed her but she was agreeing with her statement which was good enough. "You opponent, he…he looked familiar. Too familiar…but ….it couldn't be."

While Whelp normally shielded her mind from her, Keke's latent telepathy did pick up visions of a young man in a grove. "Wait a minute…you think I beat up your young mango grove lover. Hah! Listen to yourself. Do you realize the odds of travelling thousands of miles just to confront some past love? Hmmm….actually…he did move kind of unnaturally…maybe he was a doppelganger and picked his face from your memory. He did do a maneuver that I thought existed only in my dreams…so maybe there's something to that."

Whelp looked confused as she bowed her head. "You..you're right. It couldn't possibly be Jimmy. I should know by now that fiends do not play fair…no offence."

"None taken, " smiled Keke who took it as a compliment. She wasn't sure what type of Tiefling, Half fiend, or even Demon that Whelp thought she was but she was happy to play along with her. She was a valuable ally despite her shaken confidence, and she liked having her around. " Let's just forget about those two minions and move on. If Hawke is right, Pasurendra awaits somewhere on this island. "

Whelp nodded. "Aye. I did not expect it to be so easy. The true fight still lies ahead."

The pair made their way to the small hill in the middle of the island, an area dotted with large standing stones, some up to thirty feet in height. Some were arranged in concentric circles, others leaned on themselves or even balanced haphazardly against each other. Keke had seen such megalithic structures before. She wasn't sure on the specifics, but they were mainly sepulchral or astronomical in nature and often times they marked or even contained powerful magical landmarks.

Regardless of their purpose, Keke could get a good scent of their foe as they approached. Pasurendra's stench of sulfure and charcoal was definitely there, though there was a perfumed smell masking it, meaning he was probably in his human form. He could also smell something wet and morassy, indicating toad like Hezrou or perhaps Hydroloths? Mixed in with that was a lingering acidic and bestial smell or a type she could not identify, as well as a strong odour of fear.

Keke paused. Fear? That wasn't expected. Demons and Asura experienced fear, but often did not emit such a smell. That was a more mortal characteristic. Also the two thralls they met on the beach did not have such a smell, perhaps meaning more minions ahead?

"Careful," warned Keke. "I detect more minions about. More mortal enemies most likely."

Whelp stopped and incanted a spell. Her eyes shifted colour a few times and she nodded in agreement. "There's a definitely strong evil presence here, but I also …..there is a path that leads downwards, under that large standing stone to the left…also some snares and pits are nearby."

Keke was impressed. "Most priest and priestesses do not pray for divination magic. I guess it's handy that you aren't most priest."

Whelp shrugged. "Information is the key when fighting demons, something I learned from Master Martinez."

Keke didn't know any Master Martinez, but grudgingly agreed with Whelp's statement. It was simple enough to be laughable or to be dismissed, but there was definitely truth in it. While few forces could fight a demon army head on, they were often defeated because the enemy had the jump on them. Be it knowing where to hit them in the supply chain, clever ambushes when they were on the march, or even knowing which forces were the least committed to the cause, lack of information was often the downfall of most of the hordes that Keke commanded. On the other hand, only through dumb luck did her forces ever get the jump on their foe. Perhaps if she ever regained control of a warband again, she would pay a little more attention to the eyes and ears of her army.

With an eye for traps and ambushes, the pair pushed forward into the Megaliths. Though Keke had no actual special skills to detect either of them, she did have a honed sense of smell and if she did trigger a trap she still had her lightning reflexes, mortal form or not. Instead of being taken by surprise, Keke was puzzled when she found several tripped and disarmed traps instead. Mostly simple ones like covered pits with spikes or spring traps involving flexible pieces of wood and even more spikes. There was one complex magical trap that would have gone undetected even to her, but Keke noted the glyphs and runes had been purposefully marred and thus ruined.

As for ambushes, Whelp saw the unconscious forms of a few tieflings that curiously had their scent masked even from Keke's keen nose. A simple glamer spell, but evidence that they were waiting for them, specifically her. They were set up atop one of the bigger megaliths, and only a stray dangling hand alerted the Warrior Priestess. It was easy to scale once they found their make shift ladder. They were armed with crossbows equipped with barbed cold iron bolts, but luckily they mostly knocked out, presumably by surprise, though one had his throat slit and another was dispatched by a large black arrow.

"Horned Shadow, " said Whelp as she eyed their tattoos while she took one of their crossbows. "A Tiefling gang in Grom City, I recalled them being sympathetic to Lower Planar outsiders, mostly through trade and information, but I didn't know they actively worked for them. I met them before when I use to live here."

Keke shrugged, they might have been well armed but they were still Tieflings. While she believed Whelp still thought of her as some type of advanced Tiefling, Keke had no actual use for them. They were beneath her, gravel under her clawed feet. Normally a good analogy if she wasn't currently wearing sandals.

"Someone else did this.." guessed Whelp. "An unexpected ally? Perhaps those two from the beach…"

"Nah…" said Keke silencing Whelp's dangerous train of thought. The last thing she needed was for her ally to leave her side and run back to the beach to those thralls, and even if those two were allies, she doubt they would be favorable to them after the beating Keke and Whelp inflicted upon them. "It is not uncommon for minions of Abaddon or the Abyss to turn on each other. Even if these Tieflings were the victims of infighting that doesn't mean they are friends of ours."

Keke saw in Whelp's eyes that she reluctantly agreed with her statement. It was a half-truth really, infighting was not unheard of, but it wasn't rampant as most were lead to believe.

With the mystery of the ambush solved, and the traps ignored, Keke lead them to a particularly prominent and circular group of stones. The scent was strongest here, and Keke despaired that they would have to dig up the place to find Pasurendra's lair. To her surprise the passage was partially ajar. A seamless door carved into one of the bigger stones that would have been impossible for her to detect if it weren't slightly open. When she poked her head through she saw there was a staircase carved into the stone leading deeper under the island. The smell was unmistakable, this was Pasurendra's lair. Unwilling to question the reason for their good fortune Keke and Whelp took one last look around them, before venturing below.