Map of Gladomain

Map of Gladomain. The circle centered on Barovia is the misted land conquered by Orcus' armies.

Last Stand at Stonestown - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

The priest is summoned back to the village because of the announcement of a child being born. The rest of the party explores the dungeons below the ruined city and confront a larger band of goblins inhabiting a far corner of the complex. They capture Snotskin, the goblin king and his queen begs them to spare him. They agree to spare the king on the condition that they tell them what they are seeking in the forest and vow not to attack the refugees in the forest.

Snotskin agrees to their terms. He tells them he was working for a gnoll that commanded him by force to search the forest. Also they tell the party that they were looking for a chest filled with a magical artifact that was supposed to have been taken somewhere in the forest by a band of Kobolds lead by one named Krackilack.

The party sets out to notify the order of Yggdrasil to the north. After several days journey they find the stone circle of the druids and a battle is raging. All but one elven druid has been struck down by the invaders and the remaining elf stands against a large gnoll while several other gnoll raiders look on.

The party jumps into action, evening the odds. The mayor and the chaos mage in the party fall under the gnoll attack, but the ranger and wizard turn the tide back and slay the gnolls and save the last druid. She graciously offers the party shelter.

When the party mentions the kobolds and the chest to her she mentions the only kobold she knows of is a hermit living on the north side of the fallen world tree. The party leaves and travels for several days, finding the hermit's hut alongside the tree.

The hermit is krackilack the kobold and they find out that he did the chest beneath the floorboards of his old home, though he believes that his village was destroyed. The party gets him to come along with them by suggesting that they may be able to restore some of his fellow villagers from their petrified state. The next night while they are camped out he disappears without a trace.

They find a gorge with a river flowing through it. An old bridge has collapsed into the river, but in a slower moving part there are large lily pads they can jump across the river on. The mayor leaps to the other side and affixes a rope for the wizard to use to pull himself across the rapids. While he's in the water he finds that some undead in the water are grabbing at his legs. They are all bound in the foliage growing at the bottom of the murky stream.

The rest of the party attacks the skeletons and helps free the wizard and the ranger hops across the lily pads while the chaos mage tightrope walks across the rope they tied between the two old bridge supports.

When they return to the village they find the chest and dig it up but its been petrified and cannot be opened. No sooner have they arrived than the village is under attack. Kobolds with a seige weapon charge the city gates. Soon several gnolls arrive and join the fight.

The party mans the walls with half of their garrison and sends the rest of the townsfolk through an escape tunnel they constructed under the tree. During the melee, the chaos mage is cornered by gnolls on the wall, dives off into the forest and is taken down by one of the great beasts. The wizard is cornered gnolls on the wall as well, while the ranger and mayor pluck off kobold attackers.

Yllallae Serpenthelm arrives and destroys the seige engine and its crew dramatically. As she runs to their rescue, a shadowy gnoll appears behind her and cuts off her head, claiming it as a trophy. The surviving party members recognize him as Emperor Mez'Gar, the evil undead gnoll assassin.

The Emperor thanks them for leading him to the artifact of power, motioning to the head of Krackilack hanging from his belt as well. He kills the wizard by kicking him off the battlements than dispatches the ranger.

The party and the garrison manage to hold off the invaders while all the townsfolk escape, but during the battle the gate is smashed and a rampaging bugbear tears down one of the gate supports, collapsing a wall and pinning the mayor under some debris. Mez'Gar approaches the mayor after retrieving the stone chest. He tells the mayor that he thanks them for locating this useful artifact and then smashes the chest open. Before the mayor can see what he retrieved from it, Mez'Gar turns and beheads him.

The priest was recalled to town by a woman who claimed to be pregnant with your child. He arrived in town just before the rest of the adventurers and the army that came on their heels. The party decided to hold off the army as long as possible while the priest did the honorable thing and stayed with the pregnant woman. He and the rest of the villagers fled to the other side of the world tree through an underground tunnel and collapsed it behind them.

The Priest, Acting Mayor MacDuff and the pompous windbag Prospiro rallied the distraught villagers. Robbed of their home for the second time in a year, they hardened and strengthened. Determined to put distance between themselves and the army but afraid of being lost in the forest, they traveled for weeks down the length of the World Tree, until they arrived at its base. There they found the remains of a demonic worksite. A large chunk was missing from the Tree, but more importantly, powerful work tools were left strewn about. Additionally, chunks of the forest had been turned from Stone to Flesh (or Wood) by the demons, who needed that wood to power their tools.

Thusly equipped with power tools, wood and stone in construction materials, and a sky-high canvas upon which to paint their dreams, the 70 refugees set to work. Over the years they built a vertical city into the former Tree of Life, dramatically incorporating entire stone trees, branches and trunks into the city as decoration and columns. They named this the Town of Lapis Wood. Word spread, and the Town grew.

At the base of the Town, they built a fountain in the shape of the World Tree, and around that fountain they placed five statues: one for each of the Heroes of Lapis Wood. In time their names were forgotten, but their images remained - The Priest, The Ranger, The Sorceress, The Wizard, and The Mayor.

Plight of Silverleaf - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

The party meets up with more heroes in the small town of Silverleaf, newly formed in the fallen world tree's branches by another smaller group of refugees from the war. During the night, animals carry townsfolk out of their homes. The party follows their trail to a small cave where they find some townsfolk eaten while others are tied up.

They kill the animals and free the surviving townsfolk, including a few heroes, and confront the mad druid who summoned the animals to attack their town. The mad druid believes that the entire forest is dying and he is destroying everything as revenge.

They take the druid back to town to have him judged by the people of Silverleaf and brought to justice, but while he's held he consumes some herbs and dies. The lead the surviving townsfolk back to New Stonestown. As they return to the village they meet Yllallae Serpenthelm, who gives them some useful objects and offers to help them communicate with the Order of Yggdrasil.

Once they return to town, the heroes decide to head toward the great ruined city run by Snotskin the Goblin to see what progress they have made on their searching through the forest and to see what they can learn about their plans. They journey for several days in the woods, then come upon the ruins. They enter the lower level and encounter several goblins and a pack of rats. After they furious battle they defeat their foes and turn their sights deeper into the ruins' dungeon.

Refuge of the Fallen - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

100 Ironview Refugees travel into the forest, making their way for the fallen world tree. Lost and confused, they were inspired by the (perhaps unrealistic) message of a former village mayor named Prospiro, who suggested carving a city into the side of the trunk. The heroes protected the caravan from a kobold attack and found a map of the forest, divided into grids, with many grids X'd out.

Then they led the refugees to the tree (after suffering some setbacks) and found an abandoned kobold village, much of which had been turned to stone when the tree fell. They made this their home, and spend the next three months building human-sized dwellings, a city wall, a militia yard, and a lumber mill. They name the place New Stonestown.

One of the refugee heroes, ran for mayor on a platform of military strength. When the village suffered a major attack by Goblins and Kobolds together, another map was discovered on an attacker's corpse.

The heroes deduced that the map meant the forces they had encountered were searching the forest for something, and set out for the Druid Circle to see if the Druids knew what was going on in the forest.

They were interrupted in their journey by the discovery of another village of refugees, this one with few survivors and in desperate need of help, named Silverleaf.

Escape from Hell! Saviors of Blackshore!

Kodrus Jr. and Atticus follow a lead to find the missing chicken. It's rumored to be with King and Queen Turath who are travelling in the hells and were recently seen in the port city of Jealous Heart on the edge of Phlegethos.

The rest of the party reposes in the Crystal Palace by the lake of fire for a few weeks. Talking with Captain Skullblade, a devil who is the highest ranking officer in army after they killed Gazra and his chief lieutenants, the learn the following information:

"Lady Inanna, the ruler of Jealous Heart is the most beautiful enchantress in Baator. All who meet her bend to her will. It is rumored that she was once consort to Levistus, the ruler of Stygia. Levistus assassinated Asmodeus' Queen Bensozia, a crime for which he was merely imprisoned in a great iceberg on Stygia, though he still rules in title. All of the duties of ruler are carried out by Asmodeus' loyal general Geryon the arch-fiend.

Belial is the father of Fierna, the current ruler of Phlegethos. He was once ruler her himself, but after the last reckoning of hell, he surrendered his title to his daughter, believing he would continue to rule behind the throne. While true for some time, Fierna eventually gave up her indifference towards governance and now asserts herself defiantly against Belial's wishes.

Fierna is the ruler of Phlegethos. She is powerful, beautiful, and lascivious. Most in Baator consider her to be one of the highest achievemers in the dual virtues of sin and discipline. She has recently grown defiant towards her father's advice on how to govern Phlegethos, and has even banished him from her dark spire palace.

During the last reckoning of hell, a bloody civil war, two factions warred for power. The first faction was composed of Baalzebub, Belial, and several other devil. The second faction was composed of Mephistopheles, Mammon, Dispater, and Geryon. When Baalzebub's faction seemed close to victory and they prepared to turn their sights on the throne of Asmodeus , the lord of Baator had his loyal pit fiend generals stage a coup against both factions, effectively ending the war. Asmodeus then executed the most treacherous members of Baalzebub and Belial's cabal, though they both survived his purge. Mephistopheles and his faction suffered little more than a slap on the wrist as they pledged themselves to Asmodeus for saving them from Baalzebub's wrath.

Baalzebub was once the lord of Baator and ruled the ninth plane in Nessus. Rumor has it that the original lord of Baator, now long past and forgotten was deposed by Baalzebub. Baalzebub was in turn deposed by Asmodeus when he still commanded the armies of heaven and fought against the first fallen angels. When Asmodeus' pride was slighted by his masters in heaven, he murdered several of them with his sword Hellsong, until he was finally driven out and took up residence in Baator. Baalzebub still seeks to reclaim his lost title.

Graz'zt is the Son of Asmodeus, the lord of Baator, and Pale Night, the mother of demons who resides in Shubgottia. Graz'zt was raised in the courts of Baator, but always showed a rebellious streak. When his mother was deposed by the other demonic factions in the Abyssal civil war, he sought to lead the armies in the Bloodwar to invade the abyss. While on his conquests, he captured several layers, but in time became corrupted and turned to the ways of chaos. Some say that Graz'zt's membership in the dark six is merely a cover, and that he spies on the abyss for his father Asmodeus. Graz'zt is said to have a strong rivalry bordering on hatred with Orcus."

Invitations pour in from the three major devils on Plegethos. They decide to avoid Inanna, who is notorious for charming and dominating visitors and head to Phlegethos' largest city, ruled by Belial. They ride several nightmares across the firey plains and arrive a day later at the city gates. They are welcomed to the city keep and meet with Belial, a tall and impressive devil.

Belial advises that he believes Mammon intends to deceive them and he helps Whosis remember that Mammon actually on said it was within his power to give them the Ziggurat, he never actually promised to give it. Belial suggests that they tell his daughter Fierna that they intend to give Mammon the title of general and to invite him to the ceremony, then when he arrives they will actually name Belial to the title. Belial agrees to write a contract with the following conditions:

1. The party names him general of Phlegethos, as is their right.
2. Belial will help them sieze the Ziggurat from Mammon
3. The party will leave Baator and never return, unless invited by Belial or his superiors. Also, Belial will not return to Gladomain with his army unless invited by a member of the party, or if he is ordered to go there by his superiors.

The party gladly excepts and signs the contract in blood. They set of to speak with Fierna who is always partying in her dark spire. The imp at the front gate remembers whosis who tipped him generously last time and lets them in again (after another large tip). They enter the court and find a bunch of naked devils eating and drinking. Whosis accepts a poisoned chalice from Fierna and chokes to death as the court laughs at him. They later resurrect him.

Fierna says that the ceremony will take place in nine weeks time. Though they plead with her to speed this up, she says there will be no exceptions. They leave the her dark spire palace and travel back to the crystal palace to train with the army. They try to contact Belial but he sends word that it is not safe to speak as Mammon's spies are everywhere.

At the ceremony, Mammon arrives outside the dark spire palace with the jewelled ziggurat. Fierna comes out the front gate and brings a chalice, asking the party to name the person who will be the new general. To her surprise, they name her father Belial who steps from among the ranks of the army and claims the title, drinking from her cup.

Mammon shouts and charges down the stairs of the ziggurat onto the stone plains. The shadows of the party and everyone in the army twist and writhe becoming horrible black ooze devils that envelope everyone in their acidic coils. As the party struggles to free themselves from Mammons trap, Belial fires a pillar of flame into the heavens and calls upon his master Baalzebub. Mammon in turn shoots an arrow into the sky, calling upon his lord Mesphitopheles. The two charge into combat with each other.

The party dispatches most of the ooze devils, though whosis and garret have some trouble fighting off Mini-Mammon, who turns out to be a little tougher than anticipated. As the two gods Mammon and Belial fight, their older and more power masters arrive. Mephistopheles and Baalzebub silent charge towards one another.

The party scrambles to get out of the way as the two colossal powers meet. They retreat to the ziggurat and Garrett struggle with the controls. Garrick the mad imprisons mini-mammon in a wall of ice. Mammon knocks Belial to the ground though he is injured by several icy spikes that iggy casts on him.

Everyone looks up and in horror they realize that the tower itself has a large shadowy ooze devil enveloping it and dissolving its foundation. The entire tower is starting to collapse and will fall and crush the battlefield and the ziggurat. Mephistopheles and Baalzebub fight on coldly, but Mammon, Belial, and Fierna scramble out of the way.

Most of the army has been destroyed by mammon's ooze devils as garrett activates one of the controls on the ziggurat which creates a great tornado that holds the tower aloft and begins to spin it around violently, preventing it from falling on them but breaking it into several large pieces with start to fly outward randomly bouncing across the landscape. Everyone hangs on for dear life at the force of the cyclone so close to them.

As Mephistopheles knocks Baalzebub down with a mighty blow, Asmodeus himself arrives and begins throwing massive fireballs at them, knocking his unruly subjects to the ground. He seems unaffected by the tornado.

As the last of the party clamors aboard garrett activates the controls he believes will take them out of there. He disengages the cyclone and they blink out, just as a mighty piece of the tower hurtles towards them. They escape to Gladomain, just seconds before certain destruction.

They appear several hundred feet in the air over the city center of Blackshore. They see the city is under attack by the Norselord's minotaur fleet and a great metal war zeppelin is attacking the city walls and merchant district by the docks. The zeppelin has a great minotaur head on the front of the bottom turret and from the eyes and mouth pour great streams of burning liquid that set the towers, walls and neighborhoods or Blackshore ablaze.

As the zeppelin sees them appear is approaches and launches fireballs at the ziggurat. Garrett returns fire, first with a cyclone the spins them about, then with a poison gas the chokes several of their gunners. A magical barrier protects the pilots and ogre marines aboard the zeppelin from the poison gas. Next Garrett tries to use the earth power on his foe, but instead accidentally rips a great chasm across the fields to the southeast of Blackshore and collapsing the wall near the main gate.

Both try to gain altitude as they approach one another and finally they collide and the ogres begin to board. Garrick the mad tosses a wall of fire down the ziggurat's stairs, blocking their advance. Garret blasts the zeppelin and Baphomet, the dark six lord who is piloting it, with a storm of meteors. The meteors stike the dark lord but don't appear to harm him significantly. Garrett then uses the ziggurat's defenses to blast a wall of air at the ogres, halting their advance and blowing them back toward the edge.

Iggy jumps aboard the zeppelins control turret and casts a vortex of his own to damage the controls and he finds himself confronting Baphomet. Blocking his sight with the cyclone, Iggy teleports out to escape.

A surprise attack from Harthantor, an ancient blue dragon, and the oldest and largest dragon in Gladomain, knocks Garrett to the earth as he crushes him between his wings. A great blast of electricity arcs through Garrett and Garrick, knocking out the priest and sending the mage rolling down the side of the ziggurat to it's edge. Garrick takes flight soaring up above the pyramid.

Whosis grabs Garrett's hand on his dying body and taps the controls, activating the ziggurat's defenses. A blast of cold kills the boarding ogres and badly damages Harthantor, but the great dragon shrugs off the ice attack and redoubles his efforts to kill Garrett. Whosis Kid leaps onto the dragon's back. Garrick the mad tosses a blast of fire at the beast, mocking it and drawing it's wrath.

The great dragon roars in rage, striking fear into all who hear its cry. As Garrick flies away and the great dragon clears the edge of the fortress, whosis kid knocks the monster unconscious and backflips off it's titanic form back onto the ziggurat. He catches hold of the edge and looks down to see Harthantor's limp form hurtle to its death hundreds of feet below at the bottom of the chasm created by Garrett's earthquake attack earlier.

in his battle with Baphomet, Iggy targets the body of the Zeppelin and knocks a large chunk of it off, which falls to the earth and shatters into many pieces. Baphomet begins targeting Iggy and Garrett forcing them to attack one another, before Whosis sneaks up and backstabs him causing a great gush of black ooze to splatter across the halflings face. The dark lord continues to bleed profusely and takes more damage from subsequent attacks as the rest of the party converge their force on their remaining foe.

Garrick lands the killing blow to the demon lord and an arc of energy surges into him, making him a demi-god of fire magic.

They return to Blackshore and survey the damage to the city. They learn that the dark six have come to Gladomain again to take over. They rest a few days then travel to Mistmeadow to liberate it's people from Lolth's tyranny.

Gazra the Pit Fiend General of Phlegethos

The party journeys to Jangling Hiter to descend on the elevator of despair down to the next layer of Baator, Phlegethos.

As they enter the city, they see ditches filled with black oil. A slimy pool with mist coming out of it has shadowy forms moving around in it. They cross a bridge and three chain devils emerge from the pool to attack them. A huge chain golem rises out of the moat of oil and drags Garrick and Garret into in, crushing them until they teleport themselves out.

Two stone golems rise from the moat as well and attack iggy and atticus (a fighter the party met after their prision escape on the first layer of Baator), who they encountered on Minauros. Atticus is on a quest to find a chicken lost by his neighbor's daughter in Lighthedge Point. It's a prizewinning bird that lays the best eggs in the region and possibly the world. He suspects that the King and Queen of Turath stole it and are now somewhere in Baator with it. As Atticus engages the golems his shield arm is crushed and hangs limp for the rest of the battle.

Kodrus and Whosis deal with the chain devils. Garrick the Mad sets the moat on fire, eventually melting the chain golem. Atticus and Garret work with Iggy to destroy the stone golems and they proceed to the elevator of despair. It lowers them down slowly for several hours until they finally reach the flaming landscape of phlegethos. They stop briefly at the tower of Fierna, the ruler of this layer and chat with an imp guarding the door, then move along.

The do recon on the crystal palace next to the lake of fire where Gazra lives and do not see him, but several of his generals, two fire giants and an efreet are training their soliders. They determine that Gazra is in the barracks and wait several hours resting before they aproach and attack the outpost.

In the opening surprise attack many of the footsoldiers are killed. Garrett chokes one to death with the hand of vecna and turns another with his other hand. The others cast spells that cut down the lines and they charge into the barracks to engage the leaders.

As they fight, Whosis challenges Gazra openly though he is nowhere in sight. A moment later two huge fire elemental titans rise from pools of lava outside the building along with three rockfire dreadnoughts who charge in casting waves of fire and throwing magma.

Gazra himself appears a moment later to answer Whosis kid's challenge, dispelling his invisibility. He calls in several legion devils and begins stricking with his flametongue mace and poisoned tail attack.

Whosis knocks out one of the fire giant generals and atticus steps in to hold of the other. The efreet is taken out by the rest of the party who rallies outside to hold off the charging elementals. Iggy splits into several mirror images of himself and distracts the elementals who chase him about.

Under the onslought of Atticus' furious attacks and Whosis kid's backstabbing, Gazra falls back, teleporting out of the center of the battle and moving two of his elemental guardians into position to protect him. Garrett falls as the fire titan's flames consume him. Whosis tries to dive through the elementals protective lines and falls as well, making one last strike against Gazra as he is consumed by the ring of fire that protects the general. Kodrus is near death as he charges in to gore the general.

Finally, Atticus wades through the remaining soldiers and slays the pit fiend with a series of vicious strokes from his sword. When the general is slain, the surviving elementals cease their attacks and return to the lava pools nearby.

The party is camps out at Gazra's crystal palace. There are hundreds of legion devils stationed in the barracks nearby but they are not drilling or doing anything productive until a new leader is selected. It takes a few weeks for them to sort through all of the red tape and paperwork to determine how succession will be handled, but inevitably they advise it will all need to be approved by Lady Fierna.

In the meantime, messengers have been sent from the three courts of Phlegethos granting the party an audience and requesting their presence as soon as possible.

The first invitation comes from Inanna, from port city called Jealous Heart on the edge of this layer of Baator. She congratulates you on your victory over Gazra and says she looks forward to meeting those strong enough to best Hell's finest general.

The second invitation comes from Belial (the father of Fierna, who rules this plane), who lives in the largest city a days journey away. He urgently requests you meet with him to discuss the details choosing Gazra's successor.

The last invitation comes from Fierna, the ruler of Phlegethos, who reigns from the dark spire near the crystal palace (where you spoke with the imp earlier). She invites you to taste the pleasures of her court.

Slayers of Tiamat

Garrick the Mad cures himself and Ilmak of the mindflayer seeds in their skulls. Ottian has Ilmak take him to Ironview to check out what has happened to the swordmagi under Veszafein's rule. Garrick is magically transported by Ottian to Avernus to join the rest of the party in the city of Bel in finding the jewelled Ziggurat.

The party is granted an early audience with Bel in his Bronze Citadel due to the rising status of Whosis Kid in the local barfighting scene. Whosis and Iggy arrive late to the meeting to find the rest of the party, Garrett, Garrick, and Kodrus Jr. enjoying Fire Wine with Bel and his vassals.

Bel accepts a magical item as a present and then discovers that Whosis kid's crown is a scrying device for Graz'zt the demon lord. Assuming they are servants of the dark six he casts them into the sea of maggots below his palace (actually a dry plain covered in a shallow swarm of maggots stretching for miles).

A crowd assembles on the battlements to watch the fight between the party and Tiamat. Whosis jumps on Tiamat's back until he is stung and killed by her poison tail. Garrett is stung and dies next. Garrick is stung but does not die. Kodrus lands the killing blow to Tiamat and he obtains her life essence, becoming a demi-god himself (he becomes stronger and tougher).

As they travel past the dragonspawn pits near the tower of skulls (made from vanquished demons from the bloodwar), they set up camp near a far cliffside that they must scale to reach the next layer of Baator called Dis.

While they are encamped in a magical circle, the devil thrax and a swarm of spine devils gather round and proclaim they are bounty hunters seeking the price that darkspire has placed on their heads. They capture Thrax and kill the spine devils. Thrax agrees to gain them an audience with Dispater the ruler of the second layer of the hells, in exchange for his life.

They meet Dispater in his hall and tell him that they wish to travel to Minauros to seek the jewelled ziggurat. He says they will likely find it there and gives them the book of vile darkness to return to Mammon, the ruler of the third layer. They ask how to get there and he says that Baba Yaga, the innkeeper at Baba Yaga's Hut can provide them with safe passage.

At Baba Yaga's Hut they get into a barfight with several gods and cliff the drunken minotaur. Then they are transported to the stinking swamps of Minauros. Baba Yaga takes a magical item as payment for transporting them.

In the swamps they head to Mammons sinking city and he greets them. They tell him that they seek the jeweled zigurrat and he says that as the Viscount of Minauros it's in his power to give the jeweled ziggurat to them. He asks that they defeat a rival on the next layer Phlegethos for him and he would gladly give it to them. Mammon swore an oath to Asmodeus not to challenge Gazra the pit fiend on the next layer, but any other can defeat him and name his successor. Mammon wants to serve on that layer because he detests the swamps and wants to live near the fires of the volcano city where Gazra leads the Armies of Phlegethos for it's lords.

Mammon invites the party to enter the Ziggurat and they find it is very large inside and has open gardens and the black library of legend where Ioun dwells. Garrett meets Ioun and his hand raises to attack her with the sword. He controls the sword with his focused faith but Ioun tells him to fulfill the prophecy by allowing it to slay her. Garrett beheads Ioun and gains her power becoming a demi-god and gaining ultimate power over the hand of Vecna. He is now bound to defeat vecna with his own hand, fulfilling the prophecy or die trying.

The party also learns that Wee-Jas (the raven queen), vecna, and Ioun all once served together in the same magical order. Wee-Jas learned the secret of immortality and vecna killed her to obtain it. Wee Jas resurrected as the raven queen and gave the secret to Ioun to avenge her death. The conflict among the three has been going on for over a thousand years.

Ioun also shows the party that in the past month they've been in hell, Orcus has freed himself and flown to Barovia. Brock Mez'Gar has lead an army of Gnolls to conquer the Imperial Capitol of Draconis, where he now reigns as Barbarian King. Veszafein has opened a portal to the shadowfell and freed Vecna, who now rules Ironview, with Veszafein as his lieutenant.