Nekeia / Descent into the Underworld (Mediterraneum) is the main narrative arc of the saga: a literal descent into Avernus following a Dantean model of seven circles. Its motive is to intercept Marcos the Mage before he steals the Book.
| Type | Event (narrative arc) |
| Setting | Mediterraneum |
| Spanish entry | Descenso al Inframundo (Mediterraneum) |
The descent
Joshua grants safe-conducts valid for 24 hours. King Minos, guardian of the second circle and former king of Crete, cooperates by letting the group pass disguised as “condemned weapons”.
Circles mentioned:
- 1st: mountain and mud.
- 2nd: Minos and the judgment of souls.
- Lust: the “port of the sobbing girls”.
- Violence: the Minotaur, possibly absent because dead (Theseus killed him).
- 7th: the Infernal Library, where the Book is kept.
The Gate of Cumae is an alternate exit, with an underground river flowing to the Mediterranean.
Creatures
Flies with children’s faces, clouds of insects, demonic hosts under Riada’s command, a reddish elf (“evil Bowie”) in a narrow canyon, and tentacled creatures.