Operation Heathrow

Chapter 12A: The Gates of Tartarus

"Remember this day! With this victory at the Gates of Tartarus, we have shown Hell that freedom is coming to the damned!" Béteulle harangues the survivors of this assault on the Gates of Tartarus, from its main battlement, while the Perserian rebels' banner is being raised atop the towers of the gatehouse. "Freedom from the torment of haunted parks!"

Hopefully it will prevent the Pandemonian government from using the Gates as a haunted park to torment the living! That was the whole aim of this operation! Béteulle sighs while the alcohol wizards under his command prepare kegs of beer for what is to become the garrison of the Gates of Tartarus. These otherworldly entities called players refer to haunted parks as dungeons and raids!

At the same time, the corpse of the previous commander of the Gates, Charon, is retrieved from where his damaged barge was found, aground. Once his corpse is recovered, he is prepared for burial, while a lot of sleep-deprived demons thrown into the Acheron River during the battle had unrecoverable bodies.

The following morning, Béteulle holds a war council meeting with other key participants in the assault on the Gates of Tartarus, even though there was only one gate. In a room with a rustic table. They are reminded of the harsh reality of Perseria still being in a civil war, and haunted parks were also part of the casus belli.

"I say we get as many damned as we can get, and then strike at the very heart of Hell! We control the only land access to Hell, and the enemy morale has never been lower, especially after we recaptured Heathrow!" Béteulle argues that maybe marching on Pandemonium might be feasible for the living.

"No, Béteulle, even with the loss of Hell's footholds in the lands of the living, even with the loss of the Gates, to get any kind of lasting advantage over Hell, we need to have our affairs in order!" Jutudiel, a thief, and the leader of a rebel cell that mostly operates behind enemy lines, tells the other participants.

"With the capture of the Gates by our hands, the Perserian army will believe that our main objective isn't to recapture the city, but for us to get a foothold in Hell! They will diminish the strength of the city's garrison, and Perseria will become vulnerable!" Clavet, the commander of a rebel cell, and a witch, expresses her thoughts.

"But you can be sure that Hell will seek to recapture the Gates sooner or later!" Jutudiel tells the other two.

"I'd say, we need to take in some of the fringe elements among the damned that have axes to grind against their tormentors in Hell!" Béteulle comments about where he will get the manpower to hold the Gates of Tartarus against Pandemonian reprisal. "But until then, all we can do is prepare for a Pandemonian attack, such as repairing the wall and the barge"

"We would be stretched thin otherwise! Too thin, I'm afraid. I guess, we have no choice" Jutudiel then storms off the meeting to get to her cell's camp in the Perserian desert, unseen thanks to her cloaking magic.

Afterward, what troops still remain after the departure of the elements from Jutudiel's cell departed are busy repairing the damage wrought by the assault on the Gates. And, for those who are handier with wood than with stone, repairing Charon's barge using materials left behind by the defeated Pandemonium forces. By first beaching it so its hull can dry appropriately. And then the hull breaches can be repaired and cleaned off.

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And yet, a sleep-deprived demon who barely survived the assault limped back to the nearest camp, still in the First Circle of Hell, where that demon had terrible news to deliver to the rest of the camp:

"The living have captured the Gates of Tartarus!" a clearly distraught demon yells all over the camp, while, at the same time, the demon struggles to move around the camp because of fatigue and sleep deprivation.