Editing Amethyst Guard (section)

===The Speaker in Dreams===
Having slain a vampire, the heroes decided to celebrate by heading down the coast to Brindinford for their annual street fair. The fair was interrupted by a sudden attack by wererats, which they handily dispatched, keeping one alive for questioning. The wererat confessed that they were hired by a sorceress called "The Blessed" to attack the fair, and to specifically kill as many guards as they could. He met the sorceress in the back room of a bookshop somewhere in the West Hill district, but was taken there while blindfolded and didn't think he could find it again. The wererat believed that the sorceress was insane, as she claimed to hear voices in her dreams. After turning him over to the guards, the adventurers began investigating West Hill and learned of a recent number of grisly deaths in the poorer parts of the city. As they searched for the bookshop, the air around them suddenly seemed to warp and split open, as a huge wormlike creature emerged out of nothingness into the street. After slaying the creature, the local guards remarked how odd it was that the paladins at the nearby shrine of Bahamut hadn't arrive, as they were usually very aware of the happenings in West Hill.

The heroes sought out the shrine, only to discover a band of cultists attempting to kidnap the junior paladin, Torea; after they rescued her, she said they had already carried off her superior, Alein. However, she recognized one of the cultists at having been at the Reality Wrinkle bookshop a week prior, when a man died in a mysterious accident. When the heroes entered the bookshop and felt a disorienting wave of vertigo and unease, they knew they were in the right place. Passing through the back room, they discovered a hidden staircase and, at the bottom, found gibbering mouther and a group of cultists preparing to sacrifice Alein. After killing them, Alein admitted she did not understand what their plan was; they raved in nonsense and babbled about the apocalypse, and she eventually stopped listening. Further in they found more cultists and a sorceress would could only be The Blessed. Though she summoned another aberrant worm, the heroes ultimately slew it and vanquished her.

Word of their victory spread quickly, and a group of merchants threw together an impromptu feast in their honor. One presented each of them with a fine silver brooch set with an amethyst; inspired by this, they decided to call themselves the Amethyst Guard. When they at last departed the feast, a voice beckoned them into a nearby alley. Turning in to investigate, they were met with a blast of lightning magic and a group of assassins who attempted to kill them. Realizing that their job was not yet over they retired to rooms graciously gifted to them at a nearby inn and resolved to begin anew in the morning. As they slept, though, their dreams were filled with unintelligible words and incomprehensible images of an alien world. The last thing they heard before they woke was a tormented voice crying, "The bells toll! The gate swings wide!"

In the morning, it was announced that Baron Euphemes the II would be speaking to the people. The adventurers made their way to the square before the baron's keep, where the baron lamented the chaos that had gripped the city, and the assassination attempt on the heroes who sought to save them. Declaring marshal law, he commanded that the fair immediately close, that all citizens be indoor before nightfall, that the possession of weapons was prohibited, that none may enter or leave the city until further notice, and that the temple of Pelor - which he blamed for failing to protect the city - be closed and its priests arrested. Declaring that defiance would be punished by death, he returned inside as a fiendish creature with a scorpion tail appeared on the rooftop. Soon after, a pillar of flame burst forth from the dome atop the temple of Pelor, as the baron's distinctly-fiendish-looking militia began marching through the streets, carrying out his orders without mercy.

The few townsfolk willing to talk confessed that while Euphemes wasn't exactly popular, he was generally regarded as a benevolent authoritarian; though his taxes were perhaps steeper than they should have been, he was never cruel. Deducing that the baron must be controlled, the heroes decided that their first act would be to investigate the temple of Pelor. Inside, they beheld a massive column of hellfire constantly erupting from a gaping pit in the floor, recognizing it as an open portal to the [[Nine Hells]]. Everywhere they looked they saw desecrated symbols of Pelor, and it wasn't long before they were attacked by hell hounds, infernal clerics led by a tiefling in black armor, and ultimately the scorpion-tailed creature from atop the keep: a bone devil. Though they eventually purged the temple of all its hellish occupants, they were at a loss as to how to close such a massive portal.

Shifting their focus, they headed instead to the keep and snuck into the baron's chambers, where they found a mind flayer and an oni conversing while the baron sat nearby, clearly enthralled. The battle was fierce, with both the mind flayer and the oni trying very hard to kill the heroes, until a mishap with one of the mind flayer's magic items caused a blast that drained every spellcaster in the room and dispelled every magical effect... Including Sigurd's transformation, restoring him to human form. As he stood in shock, his companions quickly finished off their foes. The baron, now freed from the mind flayer's control, apologized for his actions while under their thrall and immediately rescinded his orders from the previous day, as well as granting them a residence within the city to call their own. His humanity restored, Sigurd confronted Winnea: despite being in the form of a gorilla, he was still aware of his surroundings, and he had seen how Winnea treated her companions and those weaker than her, and did not like it. Therefore, he was breaking off their engagement. Winnea was not particularly concerned, and within the day had gotten re-engaged to Baron Euphemes and decided to remain in Brindinford with him.

The next morning, the band set off for [[Eastport]] in search of assistance in closing the portal within the ruined temple. Asking around, they were directed to a wizard known as [[Oronnis]] the Magnificent. He agreed to help them, though demanded a hefty fee for his services. Being the only powerful spellcaster around, however, they were forced to accept his aid. He traveled back to Brindinford with them and began the ritual to close the portal. As it neared completion, however, a massive [[pit fiend]] emerged and devoured him. Before it could turn against the Amethyst Guard, however, a mysterious human wearing the holy symbol of [[Hieroneous]] emerged and struck it down with a blade glowing with radiant light. As the party completed Oronnis's ritual and finished sealing the portal, however, he collapsed into unconcsciousness. They brought him to the shrine of Bahamut, where the paladins agreed to keep watch over him until he awoke.