Avernus on Fire

Kain returns the objects to the Pillars…

Kain (vo): The Helmet of Malek, I placed before the Pillar of Conflict. The pillar accepted its offering, thus it was restored.

The act had taken on the feel of ritual. Isn’t it strange how we must bribe our gods to stay?

Kain (vo): At the foot of the Energy Pillar, I set the cloak of DeJoule. The pillar accepted its offering, thus it was restored.

Kain (vo): The Pillar of Nature, protected by the druid Bane. The pillar accepted its offering, thus it was restored.

Ariel: You must seek Azimuth the Planer at the heart of Avernus. Three instruments await you, to aid you in your quest, but first you must rise and you must fall and find your salvation in between.

After this advice, Kain sets off towards the Avernus…

Kain (vo): Avernus consumed itself before my eyes. There seemed no easy path to gain entry to the hell laid out before me. Perhaps there was a way inside from above the chaos that reigned there.

Now at the city gates…

Kain (vo): The gate of Avernus opened slowly before me, daring me to cross the threshold. Who was I to reject such an invitation?

Kain emerges into a very different part of the Avernus, where chaos reigns…

Kain (vo): The city was paved in blood and flesh. Yet, what would have appalled in my life only tempted me in death. Once I would have felt horror; now only hunger remained.

Kain (vo): Avernus lay in ruins before me. Whatever hand slaughtered its people ravaged the city as well.

Kain encounters the first of the demons ravaging the city…

Kain (vo): The beast paused for a moment, drooling in anticipation of the fine meal he saw before him. To his disappointment, he would not find me such easy prey.

Similarly, he finds a second demon…

Kain (vo): I felt its eyes upon me, eager, hungry, as if it longed to rip my heart out and eat it before me as I died.

I laughed as the onslaught began. Perhaps when it was over, it would be the other way around.

Once inside, Kain observes that the cathedral has suffered no damage…

Kain (vo): Avernus was a religious autocracy, with the Cathedral as its dais of power. Though the city lay in ruins, the Cathedral remained untouched. The demons knew better than to bite the hand that feeds them…

A stained glass window in the ceiling tells an ancient story…

Kain (vo): Above me stood a memory, etched in stained glass.

While searching for the Soul Reaver, Kain observes as it begins to rain fire…

Kain (vo): From the heavens, the tears of angels danced around me in a frenzy of fire.

Once he has obtained it, Kain faces Azimuth with the Reaver of Souls…

Azimuth: Ah, what’s this? I had not even realized the blade and the raiment were here. You wear those trinkets well, Kain. But I do believe that they would look better on me.

Kain (vo): The Matriarch of Avernus, the Lady Azimuth: her magical planing skills summoned demons through runes inscribed in human blood.

Azimuth: Come to me my children! We shall ravage Nosgoth together!

So, little man, have they sent you to stop me?

My children shall rip you apart!

Come, my demons. Let us sup on vampire blood.

Kain (vo): For all her magic, the Lady Azimuth was little trouble; once her demonic thralls had been dispatched she fell quickly to my blade.

Kain recovers the object entrusted to the guardian…

Kain (vo): Azimuth’s third eye, a gift from the Pillar of Dimension, allowed the Planer sight into other realms. The Pillar reclaims its own.

Before leaving the cathedral, Kain can access a door back to the catacombs and find an altar in honor of the god Hash’ak’gik where he can read a book…

Kain (vo): And Hash’ak’gik spoke to the world, and all who heard trembled.

“Bring me your first born, and shed their blood on the altar of the world, so I might take nourishment from them." “Haced esto without question or suffer my wraith for eternity.”

And his will was done.

Exiting the cathedral, Kain finds one of Moebius’s time devices…

Ariel: It will deliver you in time.