Soren felt thoroughly refreshed after swindling the Red Dragon Duchess!
Still, he felt he needed to give the matter of the ancient gods some serious thought, because anything connected to them was far too terrifying. Their average challenge rating was above 25, and could even reach a horrifying 30 or higher. Even true gods had met their downfall over matters involving ancient gods. Although the Astral Plane held the corpses of dead ancient gods, even in death, these beings left no room for carelessness. They were the oldest beings in the multiverse.
First, the [Lord of Hell]—Asmodeus—had to be mentioned!
He was a creation of the ancient gods. Asmodeus had existed longer than many of today's long-established deities. Perhaps the only one who could compare was Lathander's previous incarnation, the ancient deity known as the [Sun God]. The Sun God fell during a great catastrophe, and his soul was reincarnated as the [Lord of Morning]—Lathander. After the destruction of the Arcane Empire, Lathander rose to become the [Lord of Radiance]. On closer inspection, all the sources of this deity's power were interconnected.
An inscription had survived from the silver-earth era.
It described Asmodeus as follows:
"In the earliest days of the universe, chaos was everywhere. Demons arrived uninvited—they were the very embodiment of chaos. Time did not yet exist, and driven by their chaotic nature, demons slaughtered one another throughout the universe."
"This chaos became unbearable for the entire universe, and so another force arose to oppose it—order. The war between order and demons began."
"These newborn gods of order donned armor forged from pure order and took up weapons for their ideals. Then they launched a ferocious assault upon the demons. This war continued for countless centuries. The gods of order created sacred texts to record their victories; they