Among the people of the Prime Material Plane, there was a saying:
When spring arrived, the ducks were the first to sense the river water warming.
Naturally, the Abyss had no concept of spring, but the barren Plain of Infinite Layers underwent periodic volcanic eruptions. The demons living nearby could often sense in advance this destructive force brewing up from the bottom of the Abyss.
Yet demons might escape natural disasters, but they could not escape the calamity of demons—the forced conscription of demon lords.
And yet there was a group that instead looked forward to the coming of the Blood War: the mad Blood War mercenaries.
They came from every plane. Some were executioners with blood-soaked hands fleeing their enemies; some were adventurers seeking hefty rewards; some were warlocks after demonic power; some were crazed spellcasters wishing to study the Abyssal Blood War; and some were lunatics who simply enjoyed the endless thrill of battle.
Take the former Archduke of Avernus, Zariel. She had been just such a fallen angel obsessed with the Blood War. Originally, she had been an observer ordered to monitor the Blood War and prevent it from threatening the Upper Plane. Perhaps after witnessing too many scenes of blood splashing everywhere below, she had become intoxicated by them. She leaped from the clouds, and fell from grace forever after.
As the rear base of the Blood War's front lines, Severed Domain Town also possessed the uniquely favorable advantage of a portal leading to Plague City. Thus, it attracted not only merchants from mutually hostile planes, but also these Blood War mercenaries who licked blood from knife edges and made fortunes from war. They gathered here to await recruitment by demon lords, then marched with the unending Demon Army toward the front lines.
In a city