Adray was mostly indifferent to the situation.  They got the information need.  If the demon died her or it dies out in the open, it didn't make much difference to him.  Demons and devils fought endlessly.  His release now likely meant a day or two of freedom before it was attacked again.

"Well crew, we got our bearings.  Let's head back to the tormentor and set out on another road trip."

Choir happily followed the group back to the Tormentor. Yes, they had freed a fiend....but they had freed it in its natural habitat, Hell.  Even Mooncolor shouldn't be too upset by that.

Mooncolor was not upset, or, better say, he was upset permanently and demons freedom did not add anything to it.

Barge workers emerged from their hiding spots (jailers team, on the other hand were nowhere to be found) and the group was safely delivered back to the Forge. Bel did not come to greet you nor were you walked back to his quarters, even Polly did not get any personal messages, as if the archdevil was done with the group. But nobody stopped you from taking the Tormentor and leaving. Fran could tell that there was still enough juice to take it probably all the way to the Citadel, and if not - you had more soul coins to burn.

Lulu was very determined and impatient all the way to the warmachine and inside too, and the unicorn breathed visibly easier when the the barge and the Forge finally disappeared from the view.

For a change, the travel was uneventful enough: you spotted the tween-volcanoes, found the chasm and were able to follow it. Most difficult part was to leave the that chasm behind and move into unknown, without a clear landmark for a while. But gods/devils/universe were guiding your car and finally you saw it - the massive utterly corrupt ... hill? It looks as if the very soil of Avernus abhors the shiny Temple and has surrounded it in a bloody scab, earning it the name the Bleeding Citadel. The holy power of the citadel resists the scab’s attempts to fully engulf it and make it one with Avernus, leaving the top of the citadel still visible.

Lulu watched with the most saddened eyes but shook the feeling and just quietly informed everyone that it seems the only entrance is already covered by the scab. However, the task is not so hopeless as it sounds - even from a distance you can see some holes, probably tunnels(?) in the disgusting growth. The most obvious way to enter the Scab seems to be through a hole near the top of the Scab, but it would take some climbing - and not an easy one (especially for Mooncolor or Brutus). Quite likely, though, some of the lower tunnels can lead there as well.

By now the scab is 300 feet high. The lower 100 feet of the scab look hard as rock, but the upper 200 feet is newer, softer growth covered in weeping wounds. The problem is, you do not know who made those tunnels. And from everything you saw so far, the most nightmarish guess can come true.

     Polly does her best to relax and enjoy the ride, taking a turn at watch if needed but mainly trying to have her feet up and eyes closed.

     Approaching the scab, she gets much more attentive.  Does it look like it grows on its own?  Is the landscape barren of life?  Is it some magical battle between the covering of the citadel or is there signs of active life-form participation?

The scab is "Avernus-made" - by the plane itself, it is trying to rid it's soil of the disturbance, like a pearl mussel fighting off some foreign matter. There is no activity on the surface but the tunnels do not look as they are supposed to be here and have a too regular structure to be anything but digging holes.

At the moment, there are no demons or devils around too.

From afar, the citadel looks like it's shrouded in dark fog, reminding Ordrag of a fog-shrouded island he once saw when they were blown too close to the Moonshae Islands. But as they draw closer the ghastly sight becomes clearer and a small shudder goes up Ordrag's spine. The citadel looks like its being slowly immersed, and the thought of being inside the structure when it finally becomes engulfed gives Ordrag a sense of claustrophobia. But he pushes it down as he tries to remember their objectives and orders...

The citadel grew around the sword, right? he says slowly. So the sword must be near the bottom, right? No point us climbing to the top then, only for us to fight our way to the bottom. Better us take one of them low tunnels and start there.

 Choir simply says "Ick." But she stands by, ready to follow the party wherever they decide to go.

     “Ick,” Polly agrees, giving Choir a wink.

     “I wouldn’t say ‘must’” Polly says to Odrag.  “Perhaps the citadel carried the sword up as it grew, trying to get it as far from this land as possible... then again, maybe more centered as if caccooned inside for safety.”  Polly shrugs.

     “We may want to slow down,” Polly suggests.  “I can how OwImp fly ahead and do some scouting and investigating.  Would be best to let him get well ahead of us though...”

     the imp will turn invisible after some grumping and complaining but will the take to the skies unseen and go investigate...

OwImp's grumpiness was nothing compare to Lulu's agitation. The hollyphant could not sit or hover still and did everything she could to encourage the group to move (continue to move) closer to the disgusting anomaly. At a closer range it looked even worse,  even approaching, not to mention climbing that... structure required a certain degree of bravery.

The neoImp meanwhile studied the scab closer. The most approachable tunnel (some climbing was needed but between ropes, wings, mechanical contraptions and physical strength it was doable) looked as it was made by a giant worm. With teeth. A circular gaping wound for an entrance, forming a tunnel that descends into darkness (for it was truly dark in there - not for Owis, but anyone lack of night-vision). The tunnel soon ended at a "crossroad" - whatever the "worm" was searching for, it bumped into a citadel Owimp could see a solid glassy surface, that did not look like a door but was definitely different from the semi-organic material around.

As a Battle Smith, Fran could not deny her curiosity of the legendary sword. But Lulu poured every ounce of herself into protecting and preserving Zariel's Sword. Their little bundle of gold wasn't impatient and unshakenly determined for naught. She couldn't be. It was loyalty beyond measure. It may be the Bleeding Citadel, but it's a beacon of Lulu's hope.

With the image practically burned into her mind, paired with some of the experiences they've already encountered, Fran spent the ride on the tormentor tinkering. She wasn't simply just tinkering for fun. Okay, so maybe a little... but! Fran was almost frantic in her fixing and failing. She was trial and erroring. Weighing her skills. Preparing. Who knew what lie between them and their goal. What could they need?  The Battle Smith reviewed her weapons and swapped some things around on for her defences. Occasionally she'd look around and perhaps borrow or exchange a scrap with Tormentor. But nothing required for absolute function of course, what ever might have been more cosmetic, in order to have some things on hand.

The artificer was so absorbed in her work, she'd only take queue to move when Lulu and Mooncolour would. Fran absentmindedly tinkered along as she caught up with Polly, Choir and Ordrag. She was listening, nodding along. She was using every second to make sure she had everything ready she could possibly think of.

Choir lights up her glowy mace to peer into the disgusting tunnel. It looks like they will have to navigate a sort of maze, hunting for an entrance to the actual cathedral. She really, really hopes the sibriex decided to be truthful in exchange for its freedom. It would be really annoying to penetrate this mess only to find the sword gone.

Adray took his time as he drove the Tormentor.  They had a route but it was still a little difficult to follow one point to the next.  Eventually though, they made it to their destination.  

He could feel himself getting a little excited.  This, this was something straight forward.  The citadel was there, the sword inside and lulu, a possible guide.  At the moment there was no bargain with demons, just a snatch and grab.

"So few options it seems.  Brave a tunnel and who knows what in the dark.  Scale the side and enter through the roof, or possibly blast our own route in?" He says to the group.  

"I think we go to the top, bust through a window and work our way down.   Few of us can fly and with ropes that should make it simpler going up.  I worry about the holes and the size of the thing that made it.  Say we face one down there and we kill it, then we have to bore though its body to get to the othwrside."

     "Perhaps we could check the ground of the tunnels a bit?  Maybe get a sense of how long ago the tunnels were made?" Polly asks.  "I'm no geologist or anything but maybe we can tell fresh dug from ancient?"

     "I'm just thinking, whether we take the tunnels or not...  They could make a good place to try to hide the Tormentor while we storm the castle, so to speak.  I don't like the idea of leaving it out here all alone, but we've no choice.  We should at least try to find an unobtrusive place to leave it..."

"Lulu, you made the place.  Do you remember the layout?  Would you be able to let us into it through a wall if we could get to one?" Adray asks.  "Going through an older tunnel might not be so bad and if we could get through a wall with Lulu's power verses having to find a door that would be most excellent."

Lulu stopped her agitated impatient flying, and hovered at one place like a magnetic arrow, as if sensing something. "I think I would be able to guide us inside. I think I know where the entrance too - I mean, I can sense it, but it is inside that ... thing. We would not be able to get through the wall, or the window. We need to get deeper and find the door."

Interestingly enough, there were no tunnels starting on the ground, where you could hide Tormentor. You would have to leave it on the open (relatively - chains, giant bones, boulders of something you would prefer not to look at too attentively - all provided some kind of cover).

The tunnel you finally climbed in (the one where Owimp found a potential window) looked as disgusting as he described. But you could move there relatively freely (10ft wide, though ceiling is uneven) and soon reached the window (it was indeed a window, though you could not see anything through the glass).

Lulu turned around again, choosing a tunnel out of several on this "crossroad". "I think it's this way?" She moved a bit towards one of the entrance.

((If you touch here anything, please mention it))

     Polly wouldn't even be touching the floor of the tunnel if it was just a bit bigger and more suited for flying in.  

     OwImp will be invisibly scouting ahead. Not too far, what with Lulu choosing the direction and all.  Maybe 30-40 feet ahead, dashing forward up and down  any intersections to spy them out before going back and waiting for Lulu to choose.

"If we have to use the door then I guess we have to use the door.  We'll head in then but first let's some what cover the tormentor."  After it they got that situated he'd say, "Alright, lets head in.  Keep your eyes open, and once we are in lets light some torches.  Though, if this ground is living or something lets keep them away from the walls."

Fran was with Adray on camouflaging the Tormentor. She'd switch gears from her tinkering, finally having to commit to her designs, and hop to to help the monk. The artificer would whip out what ever tools, scraps and scavenge for any local landscape bits to contribute to Adray's efforts to cover the Tormentor. She'd even hum and grunt in almost a rhythm as she went.

When their approach was finally decided, the Battle Smith would nod to Lulu and check on Mooncolour. She was prepared to strap herself in for this next leg of the race. Having taken over Brutus' traveling goggle, she had made a few modifications for herself. "Brutus, ya know the drill. Dun let 'em catch us by surprise." Fran would pull the goggles on herself with a snap. She'd continue making a few adjustments as they went, tweaking and preparing specific filters for when they get closer or even inside.

(Preparing See invisibility for when it's most appropriate to activate it.)

On one hand, Ordrag was glad for a conflict-free journey from the Forge to the Citadel, but on the other hand, now that their goal was close, he was itching for a fight. The citadel did indeed feel claustrophobic under all that muck, but then the entire plane felt a little like that. Maybe it was the gloom and oppressiveness of the place, or maybe it was the experience he gained from fighting those demons that created darkness and turned invisible, but Ordrag was starting to get a read on how such creatures did battle here. Perhaps Hell was getting inside him, but he knew he could now more effectively fight such creatures despite their tricks.

(Taking Blind-fighting style at Level 10)

As the group headed into the tunnels, and Ordrag prepared himself for the next combat, he offered to take either the back or front end of the procession.

Whatever gods Ordrag begged for a fight - they heard him. Owimp first reported a sharp yet very wide turn to the right opening the dark chamber full of hellish flies buzzing there. And just a few feet further the main corridor (the one you were moving in) past that turn little familiar spotted troubles: ten small, snarling demons covered in matted gray fur clawed and bit a hole into the hard, scabby floor. A demon made of shadow flies over the smaller fiends, screamed at them in Abyssal. It was unclear what they were digging for but most likely the creatures would not be too happy with intruders.

With Choir lighting path for those without nightvision and less-than-perfectly-silent Brutus it would be unlikely to sneak up on the group but in the worst case, you could always go around.

((You are at S2, flies are at S7, demons - S9 and your goal is S14. However, the map - is a flattened cylinder, so, technically any corridor leading down can bring you to the entrance))