Los Condenados (“the Condemned”) are a company of fledgling adventurers from Helix, in the Mist domain of Valachhan, who were killed by Belial in the arena of Ardis Vala and became damned souls bound to Hell. Their deaths opened a new bridge between Hell and the city of the planes.
| Type | Group |
| Base | Helix; the barrows of the Barrowmaze |
| Sister chronicle | Seekers of Ardis Vala |
| Chronicle | NOV |
| Spanish entry | Los Condenados |
History
Origins
About eleven adventurers began in Valachhan, a Mist domain neighboring or twin to the domain of Ardis Vala; about nine remained by the last preserved stretch. Their path forked between law and chaos, and chaos swallowed them.
The fall
With the objective achieved, Belial declared “It is done” and turned his fire on everyone: two explosions engulfed allies, enemies and captives. Kira was burned; the rest were torn apart by the light of the Custodes or by hellfire. All the Condemned fell. Then the second egg detonated, the Well of Light burst, and the two keys opened the Midnight Circuit, a way between the planes.
The murder of the Abbot, the Red Mass, Kira’s sacrifice, the alliance with Nerub Null and Lady Deino, the massacre and the egg were a single machine to open an exit from the plane where Belial was imprisoned. The Condemned were its human key.
The harvest
Belial needs the souls and bodies of would-be heroes. Four old Seekers had died in the barrows; the people of Helix and its protectors completed the harvest. He can turn remains into lesser creatures or project consciousnesses through the breach, which no longer closes.
Nature
They wake on the other side as condemned, or lost: souls bound to Hell but not annulled. They keep Hope; while it lasts something human remains, and if it is lost the damnation completes. Kira sacrificed herself at the stump while she still had it; the other who lives in her body devoured her name.
Their descent leads not through the Ante-Inferno but through the back door they helped open, to the city of the planes: Sogol, the refounded Sigil. Their watchword to those still under the sun is «Vengan a buscarnos al Infierno» (“Come find us in Hell”). They may be met as the devil’s agents or as souls awaiting rescue.
Geography
The people of Helix call the valley Stejara and its descent the Sunken Citadel; in another chronicle and era the same pit is the Sunless Citadel of Barrado Balacán, formerly Ardisvala. Stejara, Estellara and Valdemora are the same village in different eras.
Relationships
The sister chronicle reaches the same valley a generation later. Mirrored figures:
| Los Condenados | Ardis Vala |
|---|---|
| Mirela Vălcan | Mirela Valka |
| Dragoș Vălcan, Luminița Hucrele | Dracos, Luminita |
| Vasile (Gray Boar tavern) | Fierro (Estellara) |
| Baba Ileana | Baba Iliana |
In the twelfth room of the descent the company unknowingly rescued Kerbog Khan, “the Troll Elf”, a refugee of the crystallization.
Figures of Helix: Massas the Magnificent (wizard); HHR Pumph (jeweler); Vicar Otar (the Abbot’s Inquisition); Crotos Ironguard, son of Baron Olis Blackfell; the Sapphire Company under Clara (lethal rivals); the Spirit of Nergal, who induced fratricide underground; Varghulis, a death knight patrolling the barrows.
Members: Yuki, Klemidius, Mortan, Silas of the Threshold, Héctor Risco, Barcock, Dimitri, Eric Malfoy and an unnamed dwarf.
Gallery
