They finished up finding the answers to the Sensei's 5 fold mysteries of the Sleeping Man the following day. What he didn't like were the answers they had found. This angel had come from the blessed fields of Elysium seeking the knower of places. An entity from a race that had lived here in baator before Cania became a hell. They lived here before the devils invaded and hunted them almost to extinction. This was the answer they needed for their quest, for the Knower of Places would know where the Knower of Names was.
But it was dangerous in a way that Valen had never encountered before. This danger he could not meet with his flail and skill as a warrior.
This Sleeping Man had come searching for love and was told he would meet his true love at the gates of Cania. So he had gone to sleep here to wait for her to come to him. Over time the temple had been build around him.
Successfully answering the Sensei's questions they were permitted to go visit the Sleeping Man himself. Hypatia entered the chamber and immediately started tsk tsk'ing. "Look at this. They build this whole temple around him but just left him there sleeping in…is that a loin cloth?"
She glanced over at Valen and her naughty imagination immediately conjured up an image of him in a loin cloth. She looked away quickly, blushing to the roots of her hair.
Shaking her head she pulled three cloaks out of her pack and immediately went over and began tucking them around the Sleeping Man, deftly wrapping them over the sleeping form and gently around his wings.
She deserves an angel, not a demon like you; the dark part of his being taunted him.
"He is still strong, even after so many centuries in sleep," Valen observed, while wrestling with his inner demon, she has chosen me and she will not betray me.
Ahhh but she didn't know what her other choices were.
Not deigning to argue, Valen simply silenced the dark voice with the force of his will. He would not think ill of Hypatia.
Finished with seeing to the Sleeping Man's comfort such as she could, and with a worried look at Valen; for moral support, Hypatia slipped on the amulet the Sensei had given her. With little effort she delved into the dreams of the sleeping planetar where she hoped to find the answers she needed.
She must have because soon enough an astral door appeared and she stood, motioning for Valen to follow her. She took his hand and they stepped through into a room underneath the thick glacial ice. There they battled fierce guardians and found the puzzle ring of the Sleeping Man. Hypatia deftly put it together, then taking off her ring of ironskin she slipped it on—and faded half out of view.
"Hypatia!" Valen reached for her and though she was shrouded in a purple mist, to his relief he was able to grab ahold of her. He was even more worried now because she wore none of the protective enchanted rings she had, choosing instead the Ring of Mystra and now this ring from the Planetar.
"It shows me the way," there was wonder in her voice when she spoke. "We must go, quickly. There will be three guardians on the path and they will fight fiercely."
"Lead the way then, my love," he followed her and she followed something he could not see. She paused to look into some odd crystal formations and cried out in distress at what she saw. Reaching for her Valen turned her eyes away from the crystals to look at him, "What is it, my love?"
She explained that she had watched as Mephistopholes carved a path of blood and destruction through the Underdark, heading for Waterdeep and the surface. "We have to hurry," she was shaking from her distress.
Holding her gaze for a moment longer, letting her draw strength from his presence; a part of him gloried in the knowledge that he alone was who she looked to for such comfort.
They ran into the first guardian almost immediately after leaving the City of Lost Souls and Valen vanquished him without Hypatia's help because the amulet the Sensei had given her chose that moment to polymorph her several times. This necessitated the cleric figuring out how it worked, which didn't take all that long. It seemed to annoy her more than anything.
Soon enough they were on their way once more. The endless white landscape seemed featureless at first but as they ran, hills and an escarpment came into view, all of it white on white save for the occasional river of flowing lava that glowed in smoldering blacks and reds. Cania was truly a land of fire and ice, beautiful and terrible.
As they hurried along they came upon wide path led up one of the hills to a flat place before the hill rose once more to its summit. This seemed like a good place to begin their ascent to the top of the escarpment, and the signs Hypatia followed led them that way. Half way up the first incline they ran into a bunch of ice trolls.
Valen charged into the midst of the group his flail waiving, breaking bones and crushing skulls. The trolls attacked in numbers, surrounding Valen, who had become separated from Hypatia. They nearly swarmed the mighty warrior under time and again but somehow he remained standing, swinging his massive flail with almost rhythmic regularity.
Hypatia found her weapon ineffective and quickly cut off from him. Despite visible wounds on Valen she couldn't get close enough to heal him. She tried clearing a path with her best spells but they appeared to have no impact. Her favorite Hammer of the Gods was no more than a pretty light show to the trolls, who at best ignored her and at worst turned to attack her.
Valen was being worn down by the sheer numbers and the massive amount of damage the trolls did when they managed to get through his impressive defenses and she was unable to do anything to help him.
The Troll shaman shot magical spells through their defenses easily, causing Hypatia to scream and break her concentration more than once. With increasing desperation she cast her most powerful spells. Sunbeam was yet again little more than a pretty light and her spell casting left her open to their attacks. Not only could she not save Valen, it seemed she wouldn't be able to even save herself.
Valen fought with intelligence as well as exemplary skill and managed to fight his way to her. With little choice she cowered behind him, trying to stay out of his way and healed him when she could. She ran out of healing spells long before Valen slew the last troll.
After what seemed an eternity battling an endless swarm of ice trolls it was over. Valen stood triumphant for one brief moment before he collapsed, bruised and battered; blood running freely from his many wounds.
Hypatia, near to tears, threw herself to her knees and cradled his head, gently pressing a healing potion to his lips. Once he was healed and conscious she looked at the plateau above them and the river of lava behind them, wringing her hands. "I need different spells."
She looked at Valen, fear in her eyes. "I need better spells." She turned and ran back to where one of the ice trolls had died, nothing left of it now but a fine powdering of dusty ice and looked down at it as if searching for some unknowable answer.
"I…I cannot do this…like this. We will not survive. I must choose better spells. We cannot fail. My world will be destroyed." She twisted back to look at Valen and whispered, "My love will be slain."
Valen pushed himself to his feet and looked around to make sure there were no immediate threats. "It will be ok, my love. You'll pray for different spells and we will rest."
He stepped towards a small outcropping of ice thinking it would provide shelter from the bitter wind and be a good place to set up camp but stopped. The warmth he'd felt in his heart since declaring his love for her suddenly faded from a golden glow to little but silvery threads. There was something still there but it wasn't warm and all encompassing.
Whirling back to her he took a step towards her, more than a little worried, "Hypatia?"
She turned to him and he almost took a step back. There was something in her eyes, something wild and frightened, but also something so cold it shocked him.
"No." Her voice was surprisingly unyielding, like an ice crystal. Not the warm and soft voice he'd become accustomed to from her, "I need them - now." And she turned away from him to look once more at the plateau that rose above them, her katana gripped in her hands.
After a minute or so she took a deep breath, like the cold no longer bothered her and when she turned to him this time her emerald eyes were as cold as the ice they stood on.
"Hypatia?" Valen reached to cup her cheek in one calloused hand.
She looked up at him, sheathing her katana and slipping off her Ring of Mystra. Valen gaped at her. Reaching up she took his hand and removing it from her cheek she placed the heavy ring in it and folded his fingers over the bejeweled band. "Keep this safe for me. I will want it back."
Holding the ring and looking at her while she still wore the Sleeping Man's ring, Valen almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He saw her, not as she was, flesh and blood, but as a golden glowing female form with a blue/white glowing mind.
He watched in growing horror as the colder glow of her mind began to pulse brighter and brighter until it began to drive back the golden glow of her heart. Until she became a blue/white glowing female form with a golden glowing heart. Then when he thought it could not get any worse, the cold glow hardened into a diamond faceted carapace. As if she'd become some kind of beautiful golem made from the precious gem, her soft golden heart it's power source.
Tensing to battle readiness, he broke out in a cold sweat. Shaking his head he sought to clear it of this terrifying vision. When he looked at her again she was flesh and blood, as she had always been. But he knew, in his heart, that she was different. That she had just become someone or something else.
She then turned and reached into her pack and without her usual fishing around pulled out the ring he'd gotten her that was enchanted against the cold and put it on. Nodding she looked around once again, "This place is a place of fire and ice, so I shall call upon acid and lightening. It is a place of the damned so I shall call upon faith."
Suddenly very afraid, Valen reached out to grab her, clasping his hand on one fine boned shoulder, "Hypatia, don't do this. You don't need to. We'll find a way through. I'll protect you."
Inside the dark voice of his demon half exulted, yes, yes, yes! She sacrifices her humanity.
"This is necessary, Valen." She looked around and nodded, seemingly satisfied, "I have been given the appropriate spells. We should travel on while we still have daylight."
"Hypatia!" Valen cried her name in anguish, unable to bear the thought of her sacrificing her humanity, unable to bear the thought of her becoming what he had once been. All they hoped to gain would be worth nothing if she gave up her humanity.
Turning she merely raised one eyebrow, "Yes, Valen? I am listening."
He looked at her and didn't know what to say. His jaw worked for a moment and finally he whispered, "Don't leave me."
Both eyebrows went up and she simply nodded and said, "I will not. We must go. There are many battles to fight and we can ill afford to waste time."
That's not what I meant! The words screamed through Valen's mind but he was helpless before what she had become. So he followed her, despairing.
Searching along the base of the escarpment leading up to the plateau they eventually found an ancient and narrow gully that looked like it might provide them passage to the top. It took them the better part of the rest of the day to find it and climb up the slippery switch backs that led them upwards to the plateau.
Once atop the escarpment it took Hypatia little time to find the markers left by The Sleeping Man that led to the Knower and they were off once more. They travelled across the barren and windswept plateau for the better part of three days.
Entering a sheltered valley created by spikes of ice that rose out of the plateau, Valen was glad for the reprieve from the cutting gales that scoured the giant ice sheet that comprised the escarpment. They had no sooner stepped out of the wind then they encountered another group of ice trolls.
Valen charged ahead but before he engaged the first troll the sky was split asunder by multiple bolts of lightening, each one falling on a troll. Thunder followed the lightening, shaking the ground and sounding like it was right on top of them. Around him an evil green rain began to fall, scorching the trolls and filling the air with an acrid foul odor.
He fell the first troll and a beam of white hot light lit up the darkness. It was so hot he felt the heat of its passing as a welcome warmth in the bitter cold. A troll gurgled and fell. Hypatia was picking the spell casters off while the acid and lightening storm she must have called up weakened them and prevented regeneration.
The battle did not last long and Valen turned to Hypatia. She healed him without needing to be asked and surveyed the battlefield before turning to continue to follow the path. Time and again she cast punishing spells, without a hint of compassion for those she felled.
He watched her and worried. He stood by her side and made sure nothing threatened her and hoped that it would be enough to bring her back to him.
They found the Knower of Places and because Hypatia wore the ring that the Planetar had given her the Knower could not be convinced that she was not, in fact, the Sleeping Man. Valen listened in disbelief as Hypatia calmly took on the role to get the information she required. Such deception wasn't like her. She would have done something to convince the creature that she was not the Sleeping Man, that her unrequited love was unhealthy. But this cold, frozen Hypatia stated the truth once then went with what the Knower decided.
Deeply disturbed, Valen watched as the Knower of Places altered the ring of The Sleeping Man so that they might find the Knower of Names. He hoped Hypatia might choose to rest but she seemed unconcerned with that. She had eaten little and rested less, rather progressed through Cania without thought for her own comfort or health. If he asked her to she would stop and rest but left to her own devices he feared she would run herself into the ground.
"Might we speak?" He found himself returning to the formality that had marked their first adventures in the Underdark.
"Certainly, Valen. I am listening." She turned to him, listening as she always did but stoically, not with the warm oftentimes encouraging expression she'd favored him with in the underdark. Even before he'd relented in his suspicions, early on, she'd always seemed to be warm, welcoming to him. Now though, it was like she had no emotions, only duty.
He wanted to ask her to make camp, so that she could rest but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. So instead he chose to confess, "This is not easy for me." His expression was pained and not just because she seemed to become more cut off by the minute.
A flicker of a frown flitted across her face, "What do you mean?"
His eyes glowed a dull red and he looked around, "I feel my blood rebelling against me the longer we stay here." He took a breath, wiping his forehead with a shaking hand, "I told you of the Blood Wars, did I not? My tanar'ri blood calls out for me to destroy everything baatezu."
She pursed her lips and looked around, "Right. It is a wonder that the devils here don't descend upon you as it is." She regarded him carefully, "I apologize for dragging you into this, Valen. It was…thoughtless on my part."
He looked into her eyes, suddenly hopeful and searching for the Hypatia he knew. It was an apology, but it lacked all of the tenderness and gentleness that marked her every action before she became this ice maiden. Finding his voice he hastened to reassure her, "I would storm the Nine Hells themselves to bring you back to me, I swear it."
She gave him an odd look, cocking her head to one side, "You have not lost me, Valen."
Slipping off one gauntlet he reached up to brush her cheek with his knuckles, "I mean what I said, my lady."
With ruthless practicality she moved on to the pertinent issue, "Do you think you can hold out against the call of your blood?"
Releasing a slow breath he nodded, "I…I believe so. It is not easy, but I think I can control myself." He looked into her eyes once again, "Perhaps it would be better if you…left me behind." He scowled deeply, "I cannot guarantee that I wouldn't cause more problems than I help with."
Again a flicker of emotion, a hint of surprise crossed her face, "I could no more leave you behind than I could leave my very heart behind."
He opened his mouth then closed it, studying her. If only she had spoken those words with some warmth. Yet she had spoken them. She confused him. A bit ashamed he smiled weakly, "I am glad to hear it, my lady. I would not leave you willingly if I had the choice."
A flicker of a smile and she turned back to the matter at hand, leading them once more through the glacial landscape.
Following along Valen wondered what kept her going. He was a tiefling and as such had inhuman endurance. She was human but now, something sustained her, compelled her. What price would she pay? How long could she go on like this?
Their journey took them finally to a battlefield filled with demons and devils. Face to face with the Blood Wars and no choice but to cross through. Valen gripped his flail tighter, his blood calling for him to charge into the fray and lay low every devil he could.
Hypatia put a hand on one of his massive shoulders and shook her head. Then she began to cast. The battlefield was raked with lightening and acid and something he couldn't identify but that caused unspeakable agony based upon the reaction of those caught in her spell effects. By the time she was finished only the generals survived and they were charging the plateau where Hypatia and he stood.
This then was his job. As soon as they got close he attacked, whirling and twirling; striking hard with flail, fist and foot in a deadly dance that fell the Balor generals before they even got close to Hypatia. She did not stand idly by for as he tumbled and struck, beams of white hot light seared into the flesh of devil and demon alike. And when he thought he could not go on, for he was not unscathed, the warmth of one of her healing spells cascaded over him, renewing sinew and bone, restoring flesh and blood.
When they were done the entirety of the battlefield was cleared save for smoking bodies and the shattered remains of siege engines and weapons.
Without hesitation Hypatia strode down the path from the plateau, onto the plain of the battlefield and started across, turning neither right nor left except as required to skirt some debris. She had moved through Cania like a force of nature since that first battle with the ice trolls and she appeared ready to continue on with the inexorable progression of a glacier.
Spotting one of the camps the many troops had used, Valen ran up to catch her arm, turning her to face him. "Hypatia, we must rest before we continue on."
He held his breath as she looked up at him and slowly nodded. Not daring to let a sigh of relief escape him he guided her to the rude camp and threw more wood on the fire. Hypatia started making tea and getting food out to cook for supper.
He collected enough firewood to see them through the night then set about polishing his armor. The smells coming from what Hypatia was cooking made his mouth water. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She moved efficiently but didn't hum or sing as she had been wont to do before.
He ate heartily while she picked at her food. She was growing too thin. She hadn't eaten properly since they'd entered the hells. Not that he could blame her, but it was dangerous for her to push herself like she was doing and moreso if she wasn't going to eat properly.
Before he could say anything, almost as if she anticipated his vocalization, she spoke, "I'll take the first watch, you sleep. You need to rest. My healing spells won't make up for a good nights sleep."
Snapping his mouth shut he got out his bedroll and went to sleep. He didn't know what to expect from her. In the Underdark she might have let him sleep a little longer because she worried about him, or she might have been so tired she'd wake him a little early. Actually, he thought a bit bitterly, he knew exactly what to expect: she would wake him at precisely the proper time.
Sure enough she woke him to take his watch when exactly half the night had passed. He almost wished she'd woken him early, or even late. Anything but this empty precision. He spent the quiet hours until dawn worrying the problem much like a dog worries a bone. Trying to come up with some solution that would bring her back to herself and thereby to him.
The dawn came far too soon and he woke her so that they might continue on their quest. He'd briefly toyed with the temptation to let her sleep but he didn't know how she would react and did not want to risk pushing her farther into whatever strange place she now inhabited . She made breakfast and packed up quickly, sparing not a glance to the still smoking battlefield.
They found the Knower of Names within the hour of breaking camp. One more riddle to solve and they freed the ancient Baatorian from her icy prison. Valen watched Hypatia, half hoping to hear her grumble about yet another riddle but was unsurprised when she did not.
Leaping up she stood before them, youthful and triumphant. Smiling she leaned forward to whisper to Hypatia. "Welcome Aurotharius the Choicemaker. I half expected Arotharius the Matchmaker to be with you. She is always with you, though, is she not?"
Hypatia simply raised one eyebrow then got down to business. First and foremost asked for the True Name of the Reaper. She was informed that there would be a price for every name she asked for.
The True Name of the Reaper cost her the amulet of the Sensei and the ring of the Sleeping Man, which Hypatia gave without hesitation.
"A small price to pay for our freedom," Valen commented, somehow comforted that she'd offered up that particular ring so readily.
From there Hypatia demonstrated a ruthless practicality, demanding the True Name of Mephistopheles and when the Knower would have refused, demanding her True Name; which she then immediately used to command her to tell her the True Name of Mephistopheles.
Valen frowned deeply at that. It was completely unlike her to be so inconsiderate of others feelings. Or at least he would have said so only a few days ago. It was unlike her to wield power with such tyrannical oppressiveness.
The Knower of Names slyly asked if she'd like to know her true loves true name and Valen suddenly paid careful attention.
Hypatia simply shook her head in the negative, "I have not the means to pay for information I already possess."
She thought for a moment then asked for the True Name of The Sleeping Man. Once she had that she turned to Valen, then stopped and turned back to the Knower. Whereupon she made one more demand using the Knower's True Name. That she never reveal her own True Name again and that she never reveal Valen's True Name or her sisters. Satisfied she looked around once more, thinking who knew what behind those icy green eyes.
Having gotten what they'd sought her out for, they left the Knower of Names to find her own future and returned to the City of Lost Souls, courtesy of the Knower. She stood looking over the city for a minute or two before turning to the temple.
"Might we speak?" Valen asked her as they made their way through the city.
"Certainly, Valen. I am listening."
He thought about how she listened to him, even now when he felt her heart was out of reach and drew some comfort from that. "It seems we are reaching the end of our adventure. Soon we will be out of the Nine Hells…and not a moment too soon, in my opinion."
Her sure footsteps almost hesitated, "You seem almost sad."
"I…I know." He gathered his courage and made an attempt to reach her, "I have been fighting the urges of my blood ever since we arrived in Baator. The infernal taint on my soul ever pushes me to continue the Blood Wars, it seems."
He looked around, unconsciously checking for threats, "When I think of all the time I spent fighting here in the Outer Planes…when I think of my humanity being swallowed whole by my demonic half…I can't help but feel there is little hope for me." Don't let it happen to you, don't give your humanity up so easily, my love.
She stopped and turned to look at him, "Hasn't the Seer helped you overcome this?"
He almost took a step back. "She has tried. She brought me back from the brink, from the snarling beast I once was…but she can only do so much. In the end, I am on my own with this. My demon half will always be a part of me, something I cannot escape even if I return to your world. I will have to accept that."
"It is a part of who you are, Valen; as this is a part of who I am." She reached out awkwardly and patted his shoulder before turning and continuing to the Temple of the Sleeping Man.
He followed along hurt and confused, moreso by her odd attempt to comfort him than even her cold reaction to his confession. He missed the easy way she had once showed her feelings. Back in the Underdark, before they were even friends she had thrown her arms around him in an exuberant hug for no other reason than being blessed with new spells. Even her tantrum when she'd bitten his ear would be preferable to this utter stoicism. A part of him was enraged that she should so quickly give up her humanity when he'd fought so long and hard for his.
In the Temple Hypatia immediately went to the Sleeping Man and, using his True Name, woke him. The Planetar opened his eyes and smiled up at her, "My true love. You have come to meet me here as it was foretold."
Valen thought he knew agony. He'd been tortured by his demonic master for years but nothing compared to hearing that angelic being call Hypatia his true love. He looked to her wildly, expecting her to refute the words, reject the declaration.
Still the ice maiden, she simply gathered the cloaks she had wrapped around him when he'd slept. "We must get you equipped, for my world is in grave peril."
Valens eyes glowed red and he struggled against the rage that filled him; against the mocking voice in the back of his mind that said she deserved an angel, not a fiendish half-breed. Grinding his teeth audibly he followed along. The Planetar also followed, having been left no other choice.
At the inn Hypatia paid for them each to have a meal and turned to the Sleeping Man with a flicker of irritation that came and went so quickly Valen was almost sure he imagined it. Then she spoke, "I cannot call you The Sleeping Man, what should I call you?"
The angelic being smiled gently, "I had thought that my true love would like to call me a name that is familiar to her, something in her own tongue. Call me what you will."
Hypatia almost rolled her eyes. She looked at him and thought for a moment then decided, "Angelous. We'll see if that sticks. Now let's get you into some armor and find a weapon. Then we move."