The cave continued on for a long way. Echo quickly took point once more, his posture far more relaxed than it had originally been. Eventually, they arrived at a room carved in the stone cavern. Where the rough earth had been worked into orderly blocks. There was little light within, except for an eerie blue glow from the floor before them. A circle seemed to be etched into it, and a mountain of flesh lay confined to it. As they got closer, it was easy to see the large creature looked like Bazhugs. Its skin raw and dandruff filled, small short fur growing in patches as if the giant beast in front of them was suffering from mange. Her eyes were large and beady, and her mouth full of sharp teeth. Bait''s eyes lit up, and he ran ahead of the party.


    "DOGMOTHER!" He shouted. It had been many years since he had been graced with the presence of Dogmother, but he''d never forget her magnificent fur and large, wide jaws. The creature moved itself, opening its eyes and gazing at the goblin.


    "Enough of your tricks, devils; we both know that this approximation of a goblin isn''t real." The beast spoke perfectly in the common tongue, nay, elegantly. Her voice, which from the looks of her, you’d expect to be a strange feral hiss, was melodic and beautiful.


    "What the fuck, guys? The spirit named "Dogmother" is the one that speaks perfect common, but we have to think things to Shoalsatta and the three sisters. This is fucking dumb, you know that right?" Mavec said.


    "BAIT REAL," Bait shouted back at dogmother.


    "Believe it or not, that goblin is, in fact, real, though you might not care to hear it from me," Alvec said as he approached the circle and began silently studying it.


    "This isn''t the first time that they''ve tried this trick on me, devil; if you''re new here, then you should know that they have already done all manner of cruel things to my body and spirit."


    "Listen, if I can break this containment, will you be more willing to speak with us. We came here to rescue you for the goblin''s sake, but we also need some information from the spirits if you can provide that. Is there anything you can ask Bait to verify he''s one of yours?" Alvec asked as he reached his hand towards the magic circle on the floor. It reacted, arching lightning at him. He recoiled his hand. "Ok.. can''t brute force it... this will be trickier than I hoped," Alvec said.


    "Please, devil, what could I ask that would assure me that you are, in fact, not still my captors?"


    "I don''t know, maybe about the fate of your last dog daughter. I doubt the devils know anything about that." Mavec said.


    "I don''t rightly be thinking that the devils would have cared enough to learn actual clan history," Illaria said.


    "Not like us true goblins," Naya said with a laugh.


    "Please, don''t remind me." Mavec said.


    "Guys, no make fun of Dogdaughter! Deadly blessing just big mistake. We all make mistake," Bait insisted.


    Dogmother went quiet. "That is a story that I would not expect to hear from the lips of devils. They''ve been more concerned about making me talk about Akrixi and his kin. Tell me, what clan do you hail from."


    "Bait Blackpowder clan. Son of Net and brother of Worm."


    "The Blackpowder goblins have been missing for some time. Many presume them dead." Dogmother replied.


    "Bait was lone survivor. Blackpowder Clan caught by Pirate Crowley, he working with devils. Make goblins tend Styxweed. Keep it growing, plan to raise many boats, and crew them with devils. Attak Empire would be bad. Bait and friends, we cheese acolytes. We meet a lizard man with no nose, he take us on haunted ship to rescue Blackpowder. Haunted ship mean, but we save Blackpowder. Dey in Sha-Laial right now recovering and waiting for us to find you." Bait explained.


    "You said that you were looking for information, what were you hoping to learn true goblins?" She asked humoring them, her tail beginning to wag slightly in the background.


    "We need to know where the small amount is. If it''s the devils or Kavaas, we need the emperor to dance upon the small mount, and that simply isn''t happening if we don''t even know where it is," Mavec replied.


    "When I am free from these chains, I will take you there if you so wish." She said.


    "And any insight into Elder Bristlecone would be helpful as well!" Naya said. "He green-slept my village, and I''m trying to see how we might be able to reverse it."


    "Ah, I am sorry to hear of this poor child. Unfortunately, only Bristlecone can release them from it. At least, among the spirits, that would be true. Perhaps one of his elders could overpower it, the three sisters perhaps, but they are very busy, I understand."


    "We know; they keep telling us not to worry about Kavaas. They say they have it under control, but I don''t fucking believe that for a second." Mavec said.


    "Kavaas, I have only heard that name in rumors and painful memories. Akrixi and the First Emperor defeated him long ago. However, do you know that name?"


    Alvec crouched down, plucked some pigments from one of his many pouches, and began making a new ring of arcane markings along the edge of the existing circle. "If I can''t brute-force it, I''m going to make it short-circuit itself," he mumbled.


    Illaria recounted the story, summarizing it as best she could. Dogmother nodded as she listened along. Before Alvec could complete his work and short-circuit the spell circle, the sound of approaching footsteps came to the group''s attention.


    "Ah, I told you I heard the hounds barking. We have interlopers, rather notorious ones at that." Came the voice of a devilish woman wearing loose robes. "These are the same brats who foiled Aine and her little human pirate “king”. Your grandmother will gather a lot of favors if her little plan works before ours. Please fill him with arrow holes. Can''t sacrifice him if we bleed his essence into the ground right now."


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    Another devil, several feet back, let out a long anticipatory sigh. "I thought you''d never let me off your damn leash, it would be my pleasure. Prepare yourself, little tiefling, for you''ll taste despair before I end your life."


    "Look, can''t we just talk this out?" Alvec said as he stood up and flourished with his free hand. With a few hastily spoken words in the language of angels, a blast of incredibly bright light filled the space the three devils occupied. The Erinyes, who was not his grandmother, managed to bring both of her black-tipped wings up to shield her eyes as she leaped backward. The only male devil of them was not fast enough, and he recoiled in pain, his eyes squeezed shut.


    The leader, the sorceress among them, blinked out of existence and appeared much further down the cave. Nearly imperceptible to some of the party due to the darkness and the distance. A barrage of arrows blazing with hellfire slammed into Alvec. He interposed his shield against some; the heat of his blood and the strength of his various wards scattered the furious flames as if simply snuffing out a candle. The arrows themselves either broke against him or landed shallow wounds that were almost imperceptible thanks to the adrenaline making his heart pound in his ears.


    Illaria and Naya swarmed the one blinded by Alvec''s light. Their blades laid into him easily. It was clear to Illaria that this devil would have been particularly dangerous if he had the full benefit of his eyesight. Her blade deftly swung as it was, and she had trouble finding a purchase on him. He moved like a cobra in humanoid form, retreating from her blade at every slash and thrust. Were he not denied the ability to see the attacks coming sooner, no doubt she wouldn''t be landing nearly so many hits.


    Bait took aim at the Erinyes, firing arrows at Alvec, and launched a barrage of shots at her. Two of his shots went wide at this distance, but the other hit its mark straight on. A small blossom of dirty red blood erupted from the woman''s armor.


    The sorcerer turned their attention to Sarbie. Magic wrapped around her, constricting her. She tried to wiggle free, to push her way out of it, but its hold was too strong. She felt her breath hitch in her throat as all of her joints and muscles locked up. She was completely helpless, locked in, fully aware, and unable to move. She tried to scream for help, but no words came out. She could only pray that the devil with the bow didn''t notice her vulnerability.


    Luckily for her, she didn''t need to do anything. Alvec always kept an eye on his sworn charge and quickly dashed over to her aid, placing himself between herself and any enemies that might mean to attack her. He took careful aim at the sorceress and launched a bolt of lightning at her. The bolt seemed to strike an invisible wall and scatter, never reaching her at all. He frowned as another hail of arrows slammed into him, doing little more than causing superficial wounds.


    The blind devil made a series of punches at the foes nearest him. Surprisingly, he managed to hit most of them, but barely. He was over-extended, and the punches lacked any real wallop. After taking the lightest of beatings, the trio brought him down with one well-placed bite and an expert sword thrust through his fiery heart.


    Bait ran towards the Erinyes. Bait protect Sarbie too. Horny wizard keep her safe, Bait make things trying to hurt her dead. He took another shot, this one blasting through her center of mass. He frowned; while both bullets certainly hit their mark, devils stupid tough. It no die yet. Bait stomped his foot in frustration.


    The sorceress focused her spellcraft at Alvec this time; her power washed over him, but the spell he''d been casting every morning since the day after the Gold Banner''s use of enchantment magic to coerce his comrades snapped to his defense. He broke out of the paralytic magic but pretended he hadn''t. It must have looked like he had succumbed to the spell at this distance. Even a devil''s sharp vision couldn''t possibly see the fractions of motion his breath drew as it rose in his chest.


    Sarbie, seeing Alvec rendered frozen in place just in front of her, pushed all of her will against the spell holding her in place. She broke free and pushed past him as a barrage of arrows came flying in at them. She found his thin tail wrapped around her waist. He pulled her backward with a sly grin and mouthed the word sorry. His defensive spells broke the hellfire arrows and scattered them, leaving him unharmed as he turned his back to the Erinyes and focused on their spellcaster. With surprise on his side, the air around his free hand shimmered as the temperature dropped dramatically. He clutched his hands together as he made almost an uppercut in the direction of the sorceress. Ice blossomed like a flower beneath her feet. In but a fraction of a second, she was thoroughly encased in ice. It wouldn''t be enough to kill her, unlike the goblin he''d used it against recently. Devils resisted cold damage nearly as well as they resisted fire. While he was certain it would be uncomfortable, perhaps even harmful, it would likely never be deadly on its own. With no one to free her, she was truly imprisoned and out of the fight.


    Illaria rushed forward to support Bait. Arrows whizzed at her, but she managed to deflect them as she moved in towards him. Another hail of gunfire distracted her and sapped the life out of her. With one swift slash, she passed her by. Illaria''s blade bit deeply into her relatively unguarded neck. Her head tumbled off from its place on her shoulders as the devil caught fire and began to burn away. It was hard for Illaria to know if this one had truly died or if she''d just witnessed some infernal escape tactic. All she could say for sure was that it likely wouldn''t be returning any time soon to bother them.


    Finding herself free from any other threats, Naya ran headlong towards the sorceress. She came to a sudden and violent stop as she crashed into the wall of force.


    “Fuck!” She shouted as she staggered backward.


    “Did you not see the bolt of lightning scatter?” Mavec asked as he squinted his eyes at her.


    “No, I was busy fighting a different devil,” Naya replied.


    “Try to watch your surroundings more,”


    “Sure, I’ll just take more hits, sounds great.” Naya raised her blade and raked it against the wall of force as she slowly traced her way around it. The group followed her to surround the devil, still frozen solid.


    "So, what do we do about this?" Mavec asked.


    "Well, if we break her out, she''ll just start fighting us again. Granted, it''s seven to one. I''m sure she doesn''t love her odds," Alvec said.


    "How hurt will she be?" Naya asked.


    "Probably not very," Alvec replied.


    "So do we just wait here, ready to attack her the second the spell drops? How long will that be?" Naya asked.


    "About 9 and a half minutes more," Alvec said.


    "Well, everyone, ready for your strongest hit. If we can be killing her, we ought to be killing her." Illaria said as she took a stance, ready to deliver a blow straight down at the devil.


    Alvec drew out his dagger of spell storing and made it ready as well. The rest of the group did the same. Mavec raised both fists, ready to punch when the time came. A little over nine minutes later, the ice melted, and the devil raced to perform the spell to teleport back to the shattered facet. Everyone lashed out at her. The butt of Bait’s musket, Alvec’s electrified dagger, Naya’s electric sword, Illaria’s wakizashi, Echo’s fangs, and last but not least, delivering a right hook which shattered this devils jaw, was Mavec. The wizard held his fist up in awe.


    “Did that really just happen?” He asked.


    “You break her jaw.” Bait confirmed.


    “Fuck, I need to that more often.” Mavec said as he continued to look at his hand.