Telfenham stayed up the days and nights it required to create trinkets. It sapped his very essence as he embued them each with the energies of Elysium. They would wear them in the hopes that the deeper they descended they would not lose their minds. Sweat beaded on his brow. Their very lives depended upon these amulets. Stealth would be their primary weapon, for to even try to defeat the many denizens of the deep hells would mean certain and swift death.
After a final look upon the trinkets, Telfenham gave them to his son, Gilean, and himself. After giving warnings, he took a deep breath. With the skill of a practiced surgeon, Telfenham sliced through the shimmering fabric of his reality. The vast emptiness of the outer plane itself rolled into the darkness of eternity. Various planes shimmered within Telfenham's trained eyesight. Gilean and Velentham behind him, Telfenham drifted swiftly for a time until the spill of demons alerted him to the outer boundaries of Hell.
Their spells kept them out of sight, their amulets kept them calm, and Tel- fenham uttered whispered words which opened a rend in the side of Avernus. The men slipped into the fracture and floated slowly downward. The land- scape was bleak and red blood ran in shimmying rivulets that stunk with the scent of iron. The skies flashed within their dark blanket of clouds, and lightning arced across, electrifying the air.
Telfenham looked over at his son in silence. This traversal would only be the first of many layers of hell. He said a silent prayer as they walked over the barren wasteland. From where they entered, the massive pillar of skulls that marked the way to the second level towered into the sky. It would take all his knowledge of spells to keep them from being discovered and getting killed, but he knew deep down it would take far more to keep his son alive. It would take everything.
