D&D was strategically built around the expedition. In its most basic form, your group gathers its resources, journeys into the unknown, and attempts to maximize the treasure they can gain for the resources you’ve invested. If you plan your expedition carefully and execute it well, you’ll return home with riches.

At low levels, these expeditions generally descended into dungeons. At mid-levels, funded by resources from the dungeon, more complicated expeditions would be mounted into the wilderness, with commensurately larger rewards. The resources thus gained, at high level, could be used to clear the wilderness and found baronies or establish churches.

The game has long since evolved to support many more styles of play than this three-tier expedition structure, but its DNA remains deeply embedded in D&D’s mechanics.

A dungeon expedition, for example, is largely about managing a pool of daily resources: Once you’ve expended those resources (spells, hit points, etc.), it’s usually time to withdraw from the dungeon and regroup for your next expedition. Many of these resources, of course, were baked into the class and level of player characters, and most of them are still there today.

The drawback of leaving the dungeon to regroup, of course, is that you’re back at the entrance, and your next daily expedition will have to start over from the beginning. While you were gone, the bad guys will have reoccupied rooms, reset traps, raised new defensive barricades, and generally made it difficult for you to get back to where you were and continue your exploration.

(Or, worse yet, they might just pack up and leave, taking with them whatever you were there to obtain in the first place.)

In other words, it’s going to raise the costs of your next expedition, which will result in it being less profitable.

So even today, whether you’re in the dungeon to liberate treasure or not, it can be very tempting to skip the withdrawal and stay in the dungeon while resting to recover your pool of daily resources. If you can pull it off, you can avoid some or all of the costs of leaving the dungeon and then working your way back to where you are.

Now this is the point where many DMs – particularly new DMs – make a mistake: Their dungeons are static and reactive. In other words, the challenging content of each dungeon room simply waits for the PCs to enter the room. Furthermore, when a dungeon room is emptied by the PCs, it simply remains empty instead of being restocked.

The result is that there is no challenge to resting in the dungeon, and rarely any cost for leaving and then returning.

This breaks the expedition cycle at the heart of D&D’s mechanics. Instead of needing to carefully budget and strategically employ your pool of resources, you can instead simply burn through them as quickly as possible, automatically rest to regain them without consequence, and then do it again. (This is sometimes referred to as the 15-minute adventuring day or the nova cycle.)

In 5^th Edition the cycle of daily resources has been disrupted somewhat through the short rest mechanic, allowing PCs to regain some of what would have previously been daily resources with just an hour of rest instead of eight hours of rest. This can alleviate some of the narrative oddity of the literal 15 minute adventuring day (because after a short rest, the PCs can continue accomplishing things in the same day), but structurally and in terms of mechanical balance, you’re still looking at many of the problems of the nova cycle. In fact, in some cases they can be worse, because it’s far easier to justify being able to catch your breath for an hour than it is to take a break for twenty-four hours.

ACTIVE DUNGEONS

So you’re the Dungeon Master. What can you do about all this?

Well, the first thing is to make sure that there’s a cost to leaving the dungeon to rest. The way to do that is by having the dungeon actively respond to the PCs.

An adversary roster can make it much easier for bad guys to actively respond to PCs. It also makes it very easy to redistribute them into new defensive positions if the PCs retreat and give them time to prepare for their return.

Other restocking procedures, which will refill previously cleared rooms with new adversaries, are also possible.

Beyond that, you really just need to think about what the NPCs would logically do in response to the PCs’ assault and then have them do that. There’s not really a big trick here: Your goal is to make it harder for the PCs to freely return to the dungeon, and that’s conveniently also what the bad guys are going to want.

Note: There are ninety umptillion exceptions to this, because there are any number of dungeon concepts which logically wouldn’t stage an active response to the PCs. That’s just fine. But you’ll probably want to design such dungeons with the nova cycle in mind (or provide some alternative explanation for why the PCs can’t freely rest, like a looming deadline).

RESTING IN A LAIR

A lair-type dungeon is one in which all of the inhabitants are part of the same organization or otherwise closely aligned with each other. (It might be the sewer lair of an organized crime family, a cavern complex swarming with goblins, or a fortified slavers’ compound.) If the PCs attempt a short rest within a lair-type dungeon, here’s a quick procedure you can use:

Is the compound on alert? Do the NPCs know that the PCs have infiltrated the dungeon or been killing them off? Then they’re probably actively looking for the threat. The PCs need to make a Stealth check opposed by the Wisdom (Perception) of the NPCs.

Give advantage and disadvantage for the check appropriately. (If they made some efforts to identify an out-of-the-way portion of the dungeon or disguise their presence, it’s probably a standard check. If they just closed the door to a random room, they should probably have disadvantage. Did they not even bother to close the door? The bad guys find them. You can’t succeed at hiding if you don’t even try.)

If the NPCs don’t find the PCs, they may assume that the PCs left. They’ll spend the rest of the hour calling for reinforcements, raising barricades, or getting ready to pack up and leave (depending on the situation).

If the compound is not on alert, make a random encounter check. 1 in 6 chance if the PCs closed the door, so to speak; 2 in 6 if they didn’t.

If an encounter is triggered and the PCs set a watch, let them make appropriate checks to detect the approaching encounter before they’re spotted. (They may still be able to salvage the short rest if they take clever/decisive action, or if they’ve taken appropriate actions to disguise their presence beforehand.)

If the PCs left evidence of their presence, make an additional random encounter check for each area where they left evidence. If an encounter is indicated, the NPCs have discovered the evidence and the alarm is raised during the short rest. The NPCs will start looking for the PCs, but they’ll make their Wisdom (Perception) checks with disadvantage (since they’re only searching part of the time).

If the PCs took efforts to hide the evidence or clean up after themselves, use an Intelligence (Stealth) check to see if the NPCs actually spot the evidence on an indicated encounter.

Note: Similar techniques can be used if the PCs fully retreat from a dungeon without raising the alarm to determine whether or not evidence of their trespass is discovered after they leave (which could result in pursuit and/or defensive preparations being made).

RESTING IN A MEGADUNGEON

A megadungeon, or any larger dungeon featuring multiple distinct factions, should be broken into zones, with each zone corresponding to territory controlled by one of the factions. These zones can be prepped ahead of time, but this is not strictly necessary: It’s usually pretty easy to eyeball what faction’s territory the PCs are currently in.

Each zone is simply resolved using the procedures for a lair-type dungeon, above.

No Man’s Land: In large dungeons like this, there may be abandoned sections which are not claimed by any faction. It’s also possible that the PCs might clear a zone (by wiping out the faction that lairs there). It’s much safer for the PCs to rest in such locations; even if the alarm is raised elsewhere, factions will generally focus on searching and securing their own areas of the dungeon, rather than venturing out into uninhabited regions. (An exception might be made if the PCs have really pissed somebody off and can be directly tracked to their new location.)

Make a single encounter check at a much reduced rate (1 in 20 if they’ve taken reasonably precautions; 2 in 20 if they haven’t), with a successful check indicating creature(s) from a nearby zone have unluckily entered the area and threatened the PCs’ rest.

It’s not necessary to make checks in such areas to see if evidence left by the PCs has been noticed, although you might make a similar check at a reduced rate (1 in 20) to see if a nearby faction has noticed that the a zone has been recently cleared. (This may also be indicated through general restocking procedures.)

LONG RESTS IN THE DUNGEON

If the PCs attempt a long rest in the dungeon, simply repeat the procedures listed above eight times (once per hour).

This does make it extremely likely that their rest will be interrupted, unless they’ve made a concerted effort to find a truly safe location AND taken precautions to avoid detection even if foes draw near. This is, of course, quite intentional: Dungeons are dangerous places, and if the PCs want to reap the rewards of pulling off a successful long rest in the middle of a delve, they’ll need to earn it.

Go to Part 2

How does an encounter begin?

It’s easy to fall into a simple formula: The encounter begins at line of sight (“you see an orc”) and immediately launches into an initiative check (“the orc tries to kill you”). There are usually minor variations on the line of sight (the orc opens the door, you open the door, the orc comes around the corner, etc.) and also the possibility of an ambush (you see the orc, but the orc doesn’t see you; or vice versa), but the formula remains pretty straightforward.

One way to break away from this formula is to vary the creature’s reaction to the encounter: Instead of leaping into combat, they might be friendly or attempt to negotiate or beg for help. In 5E Hexcrawl, I discuss how a mechanical reaction check can be used to prompt these disparate agendas.

I also talk about this a bit in the Art of Pacing, and also look at how shifting the bang – the moment at the beginning of a scene which forces the PCs to make one or more meaningful choices – can significantly shift the nature of the encounter:

Does the scene start when the ogre jumps out and snarls in their face? Or does it start when they’re still approaching its chamber and they can hear the crunching of bones? Or when they see a goblin strung up on a rack with its intestines hanging around its ankles… and then the deep thudding of heavy footsteps fills the corridor behind them as the ogre returns for its meal?

You can see how each of those creates a different encounter, and in most of them the scene starts before the ogre enters the PCs’ line of sight.

RANDOM ENCOUNTER DISTANCE

Another mechanical prompt that can help break the “line of sight” habit is a random encounter distance. This is a mechanic which dates back to the earliest days of D&D, but has faded away in more recent editions. But it can be a useful one in an game.

In the original 1974 edition of D&D, an encounter would begin at 2d4 x10 feet (or 1d3 x 10 feet if surprised). Many OSR retro-clones modify this to 2d6 x 10 feet.

This simple mechanic is largely all you need, neatly prompting you to think about how encounters begin in unusual and unexpected ways:

• If the distance generated is longer than line of sight, this suggests the encounter begins before the PCs can see the creatures (and vice versa), most likely because they can be heard (or their light seen around a corner).
• If the distance is closer than line of sight, what could explain the close proximity? (This is how you get moments like xenomorphs climbing through the ceiling panels.)
• In the case of wandering encounters, the result may also indicate the direction of approach: If one entrance to the room is 80 feet away and the other entrance is 20 feet away, and then you roll a random encounter distance of 20 feet… well, you can be pretty sure which entrance they’re using.

There may, of course, be times when common sense and the particular circumstances of the current situation will need to override the simplicity of this mechanic (but that’s why the GM exists in the first place).

CALCULATED ENCOUNTER DISTANCE

There’s another mechanical approach to this technique which was secretly hidden in 3^rd Edition D&D.

See, in 3^rd Edition there was a -1 penalty to perception-type tests per 10 feet. This meant that if you succeeded on a perception-type test, you could directly calculate the distance at which you detected the encounter by multiplying the margin of success by 10 feet.

For example, if an ogre rolled a Hide check of 15 and you rolled a Spot check of 24, then you’d have a margin of success of 9 and would detect the ogre at 90 feet. If, conversely, you rolled a Hide check of 18 and the ogre rolled a Spot check of 20, the ogre would be able to detect you at 20 feet. (Which, of course, means you would detect the ogre before the ogre detected you. The larger margin of success sets the encounter distance.)

You can follow this same basic guideline in 5^th Edition D&D and many other RPGs. And, once again, if the result is farther than the current line of sight, you’ll know that the opposition must have been detected in some other way (heard them talking, spotted in a reflective surface, etc.).

WILDERNESS ENCOUNTER DISTANCES

It should be noted that both the OD&D and 3^rd Edition mechanics don’t really work in the wilderness, which is why they included encounter distance tables for wilderness encounters, customizing encounter distances based on terrain type.

These tables were eliminated from the 5E core rulebooks (except, oddly, for underwater encounters), although they apparently appear on some of the official 5E Dungeon Master screens.

You can also find a continuation of these tables in Hexcrawl Tool: Spot Distances as seen here:

Terrain	Encounter Distance
Desert	6d6 x 20 feet
Desert, dunes	6d6 x 10 feet
Forest (sparse)	3d6 x 10 feet
Forest (medium)	2d8 x 10 feet
Forest (dense)	2d6 x 10 feet
Hills (gentle)	2d6 x 10 feet
Hills (rugged)	2d6 x 10 feet
Jungle	2d6 x 10 feet
Moor	2d8 x 10 feet
Mountains	4d10 x 10 feet
Plains	6d6 x 40 feet
Swamp	6d6 x 10 feet
Tundra, frozen	6d6 x 20 feet

Thanks to the Alexandrites on my Discord and Twitch chat, who prompted and encouraged this tip.

Go to Part 1

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The next two adventures  — Fang and Claw and Where Devils Fear to Tread – form the Red Hunt series and the conclusion of Season 9 of the Adventurers League.

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FANG AND CLAW (DDAL 09-19): The Red Hunt duology is about the PCs hunting down Commander Rotger’s corpse. Or possibly his soul? (The authors seem collectively a little confused about this.) In any case, this is essential, because the Bloody Hooves have absolutely no chain of command, so without Commander Rotger they are completely incapable of doing anything. (No wonder the Hellriders got utterly wrecked on the battlefield.)

The usual litany of senseless continuity errors aside, Fang and Claw gets off to a good start. The PCs are ambushed while receiving their mission briefing, and the encounter is given a unique flair because the bad guys can make the PCs’ allies’ heads explode. Will Doyle provides a random table of Exploding Head Effects (splatters of brain, shrapnel shards of skull, and so forth) to provide a memorable, cool, and totally gross experience.

Doyle continues to deliver the awesome when the interrupted mission briefing resumes and the PCs are told they need to stage a raid on a mobile, quadrupedal colossus built from the corpses of devils and demons slain during the Blood War and piloted by followers of Yeenoghu (who have intercepted the Commander’s corpse).

The interior of the colossus is a three-dimensional dungeon (which, blessedly, has a properly keyed map), studded with memorable locations chock full of devilish flavor as the PCs worm their way into the heart of the machine.

• Grade: B+

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WHERE DEVILS FEAR TO TREAD (DDAL 09-20): Fang and Claw ends with the PCs staring into a portal into the Abyss, through which Commander Rotger has been hurled. Leaping through it themselves, they arrive in the Death Dells, where Yeenoghu is now hunting Commander Rotger for sport.

(Commander Rotger, however, is a floating ball of light that is completely defenseless, so I’m a little unclear on what “sport” is to be had here.)

The structure in Where Devils Fear to Tread for hunting down Commander Rotger is rather well done:

• There are multiple methods of potentially tracking Rotger, some being generally applicable and others being specific to the individual scenes along the way (which are triggered as random encounters).
• If the PCs are following a good path, they get an Advancing encounter.
• If they are not following a good path, they get a Delaying encounter.
• The situation they encounter at the end of the trail depends on how many Advancing or Delaying encounters were done, dynamically responding to the PCs’ success (or failure).

The confrontation with Yeenoghu is weighty with purpose: With the Commander as unwitting bait, Yeenoghu has been lured into a confrontation on his home plane. If he’s destroyed here, the multiverse will shift. (It’s even possible for one of the PCs to end up as a new Demon Prince.)

The PCs then return to Avernus and discover that a huge battle has broken out around the colossus and its Abyssal portal. Using all of the allies and resources they’ve gained over the course of Season 9, they now have the power to turn the course of the Blood War.

This all adds up to a fairly satisfying finale, but there are two major Chekhov’s Guns left curiously unfired and a squandered opportunity:

• In the last adventure, the PCs have the opportunity to learn how to control the quadrupedal colossus. As they stand on top of the colossus’ head and gaze out at the raging battle between demon and devil, it curiously never occurs to anyone that the PCs might just take control of the giant demon mecha.
• I don’t understand why Season 9 framed itself as, “Save the Hellriders, save Elturel,” knowing that it was absolutely, positively not going to deliver on the “save Elturel” part of that equation (since that was reserved for the Descent Into Avernus campaign). As a result this final adventure just kind of goes… “Gee, I really don’t know why you did all of this.” Even Dara, who has ostensibly been on a holy mission this whole time, literally just shrugs her shoulders.
• Where Devils Fear to Tread also struggles to explain WHY this battle is of such crucial importance in the balance of the Blood War. But the answer is right there just waiting for someone to pick it up and run with it: Zariel has disappeared, leaving Avernus’ forces disorganized and vulnerable to the sudden demonic assault.

Regardless, despite the overall disjointed and discordant mess which is the totality of Season 9, both halves of this final adventure do an admirable job of delivering a satisfying and momentous conclusion.

• Grade: B-

REMIXING SEASON 9

As I just mentioned, Season 9 is inconsistent at the best of times. Large chunks of it are, sadly, utterly useless. So what are we to make of it? What can be salvaged from it?

I think the first step is to cut away the cancerous material and assess what’s left.

The first chunk of the season consists of the PCs leading a refugee caravan into Baldur’s Gate and then getting tangled up in a second-rate carbon copy of the Zarielite murder investigation from Descent Into Avernus. The refugee caravan scenario is passable, but the rest of this is (a) poorly conceived and (b) poorly executed. So my first suggestion is to cut it:

• Escape From Elturgard (DDAL 09-01): The PCs help defend a refugee caravan from the ruins of Elturel to Baldur’s Gate. Twist this up so that the murder victim is a Hellrider, establishing that the Hellriders are being targeted At the end of the adventure, Dara, the leader of the caravan, reveals that she is actually the Chosen of Ilmater and has been approached by two celestials with a holy mission. She was impressed by the PCs’ deeds of heroism and asks them to accompany her.

At the beginning of the next scenario (picking up from that exact same moment), Fai Chen appears, kneels before Dara, and says, “Milady, I have awaited your coming and am in your service. What would you have me do?”

And then Dara says, “We must journey to Avernus to save the souls of those Hellriders wrongfully imprisoned there. Can you take us to a place of safety within the burning fires of Hell?”

And Fai Chen smiles and says, “I know just the place.”

This sets us up at Mahadi’s Wandering Emporium. You’ll want to cull the disparate references to the caravan and its denizens from across Descent Into Avernus and the Season 9 adventures to give yourself an authoritative reference. It might also be useful to:

• Use a long-term party-planning or Tavern Time™ structure to bring the Emporium to life.
• Develop a more coherent motivation for Mahadi’s interest in Dara, preferably with some sort of conclusion or, at least, intended endgame.

Now ensconced at the Emporium and running missions for Dara, let’s simply pull out the adventures that are worth keeping:

• Faces of Fortune (DDAL 09-05): PCs arrive at Mahadi’s Emporium.
• Infernal Insurgency (DDAL 09-06): PCs raid a munitions dump.
• The Diabolical Dive (DDAL 09-07): PCs raid Plagueshield Point and get the Bloody Hooves’ battleplan.
• Ruined Prospects (DDAL 09-09): PCs raid Weatherstone Keep to save a Hellrider.
• The Breath of Life (DDAL 09-12): PCs perform a heist at a devil’s party to steal an angel’s skull.
• The Swarmed Heist (DDAL 09-13): PCs invade a hellwasp nest to save another dead angel.

But now we run into a problem, because hypothetically all of this has been leading up to rescuing the Bloody Hooves, but those adventures are garbage.

What we can do is reach over to our copy of Descent Into Avernus and grab Haruman’s Hill and the Crypt of the Hellriders. To do this, we just swap a couple McGuffins:

• In The Diabolical Dive, instead of retrieving nonsensical “battleplans,” what the PCs instead recover is information indicating that the souls of Hellriders taken during the Fall of Elturel and the subsequent murders in the refugee caravans and Baldur’s Gate are being taken to Haruman’s Hill.
• In Ruined Prospects, the Hellrider in suspended animation is one who fled with Jander Sunstar during the Charge of the Hellriders, but later returned with an expedition who attempted to rescue their former companions. They discovered that those who remained loyal to Zariel until the end had their souls bound to the Crypt of the Hellriders and they attempted to rescue them, but ultimately failed.

Okay, so now the PCs know that the Hellrider souls they’ve come to save are at Haruman’s Hill and the Crypt of the Hellriders. What about the angels? Well, Dara needs those powerful allies to form a triad that can perform the ritual at both locations which will free the Hellriders.

(Throughout this section you could also have Dara uttering cryptic prophecies alluding to the ongoing events of Descent Into Avernus. For example: “The Tome of the Creed has been destroyed, clearing the path of salvation for these false-damned souls.”)

With all the pieces in place, the PCs mount raids on both the Hill and Crypt. The Hellriders are freed.

Honestly, this is probably a pretty solid campaign and you could easily have a big, satisfying conclusion right here.

But the last two scenarios in Season 9 are quite good. Is there some way we could incorporate them?

• Fang and Claw (DDAL 09-19): The PCs infiltrate a demonic mecha to save the Commander of the Bloody Hooves.
• Where Devils Fear to Tread (DDAL 09-20): The PCs pursue the Commander’s soul to the Abyss and then return, only to find themselves in the middle of a giant battle that will determine the future course of the Blood War.

Here’s my suggestion: While the PCs are mounting their raids on Haruman’s Hill and the Crypt of the Hellriders, a demonic strike team raids Mahadi’s Emporium and kidnaps Dara! Dara takes the role of the kidnapped Commander and the PCs have to go rescue her.

A few things:

• Structure the mecha raid so that the spectral Hellriders the PCs just freed can help. For example, the Hellriders can engage the demonic outriders defending the mecha while the PCs sneak onboard.
• Information onboard the mecha reveals why Dara was kidnapped: Demonic divinations have revealed that recent events in Avernus may soon leave the Stygian defenses vulnerable. To bolster their forces, the local demonic commanders have kidnapped Dara in order to offer her as a hunting sport to Yeenoghu in exchange for troops. Lots and lots of troops. (You might leave this mysterious for the moment and then later reveal that the “recent events” are the death and/or redemption of Zariel; or you might just spill the beans here.)
• When the PCs get back with Dara and look out over the battlefield, have Dara say something like, “I thought our purpose was to save Elturel. But I see now that task belonged to others. We stand here upon the brink, and I see with divine clarity that we have gathered the strength to turn the demonic tide. If we are brave enough to use it.”

Finding opportunities to lace this concept – that without the eternal vigil of Hell’s fiends, the multiverse would be overrun by demonic hordes – into the rest of the adventure (Zarielite cultists prattling Asmodean ideology; devils discussing Blood War logistics at the party; additional strategy documents found at the munitions dump or Plagueshield Point; etc.) will help sell this ending.

And then the PCs lead the Second Charge of the Hellriders while piloting a demonic mecha.

Go to the Avernus Remix

Go to Avernian Hex Key Index

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I1. MIRROR OF MEPHISTAR

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 99

Rigorath can offer the PCs knowledge about:

• Leads on a location for the four dream machine components (roll on the Quest of the Dream Machine rumor table in Part 6C).
• Details of Zariel’s history, particularly her fall after the Battle of Avernus and her role in the Reckoning.
• Whatever other valuable knowledge seems relevant and/or requested by the PCs. (Perhaps pass-keys to Zariel’s flying fortress?)

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I2. WARLORD LAIR: FEONOR’S LAIR

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 91
• Map by Dyson Logos
• On the Styx

Feonar has a supply of Phlegethosian sand which is useful for her necromantic work.

Feonor is in a relationship with Carol D’Vown (Hex D2). She previously was in a relationship with Mahadi, but fell in love with D’Vown when she met her at the Wandering Emporium. There is a 1 in 4 chance that D’vown and her gang of infernal constructs are visiting Feonor here.

The Amphibious Warlord: Feonor has a number of amphibious infernal machines, including some which can operate on both water and land. Her lair is built around a cavern located along the Styx.

Ossuary Arsenal: Lady Bladeharrow is an undead devil forgemaster created by Feonor herself. She is described in Forges of Avernus, p. 4.

Design Note: As described in Forges of Avernus, Lady Bladeharrow has a “mobile forge” called the Ossuary. We are removing the mobile concept and ensconcing her in Feonor’s Lair. Remember that soul coins can be used to create undead, so Feonor is likely to have a substantial cache of them.

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I3. CIRCLE OF FLAMES

This site resembles a druidic stone circle (like Stonehenge), but the sarsens are formed from plasmic masses of flame. Half sunken into the acidic muck (much of it polluted run-off from Bel’s Forge, Hex H2), several of the flame-sarsens gutter and flicker like torches on the verge of being blown out.

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I4. FORT KNUCKLEBONES

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 80

See Part 6C.

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I5. SPAWNING TREES

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 96

The devilish work crew knows details of the surrounding area (major landmarks, keyed locations, etc.) to a distance of two hexes.

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I6. SHADOWSWIMMER TOWER

• The Diabolical Dive
• On River

Respen Shadowswimmer escaped Plagueshield Point (Hex G5b) shortly after it was sucked into Hell and eventually found his way to this abandoned tower, which he has made his own. An arcane researcher, he is fascinated by the properties of the Styx and has been researching its long-term effects on various creatures. Most recently this has resulted in the creation Stygian behemoths.

Respen Shadowswimmer used a heartstone during his research at Plagueshield Point, but wasn’t able to bring it along. He’d dearly prize a replacement, as he thinks it would prove invaluable in continuing his research here.

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J1. SIEGEWORKS OF DIS

A tower of reddish, Avernian stone thrusts into the sky near a gaping black maw tunneled into the side of an obsidian peak.

Abandoned Tower: The tower was once barracks and armory for hundreds of Blood Legion troops, with half-finished construction suggesting it was destined to house thousands more. But the tower stands unfinished and empty today, its strategic purpose lost with the end of the Reckoning and the abandonment of the mineworks.

Mineworks: The tunnel is artificial, having been carved into the mountain. The work was begun during the Reckoning, when Zariel was laying siege to Dis. Stymied by the defenses of Dis, Zariel had the idea to create a second passage between the first and second levels of Hell.

At the bottom of the shaft is an infernal drill that, in that bygone era, might have been able to pierce the planar boundaries and undermine Dis. With the end of the war, the drill was abandoned and has long since decayed to uselessness. However, astral pistons were used in its construction and can be salvaged.

Hellwasp Nests: The tunnel struck a number of natural caves and other cavities. Hellwasps have established a hive in one of these.

Note: You could fill this dungeon with any number of cross-chambers filled with various denizens or Avernian wildlife (or even stranger stuff). Particularly relevant would be anyone seeking to hide from Avernian authorities. (Perhaps there’s a force of inbred demons who got stuck behind the lines when the Blood War moved Abyss-ward. Or even Baatorians who escaped Zariel’s wrath at the end of the Rift War.) Some of these inhabitants could have blocked the main passage, forcing the PCs to either excavate or find a route around the blockage.

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J2. KOSTCHTCHIE’S MAW

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 104

Kostchtchie is more than willing to team up against Zariel if freed. What form that assistance takes will depend a lot on the plan the PCs propose (don’t feel bound by the adventure’s script here).

As described in Dance of Deathless Frost, the demon cannot be permanently killed unless Kostchtchie’s phylactery is destroyed. This is why Zariel has imprisoned Kostchtchie instead of killing him. PCs who obtain the phylactery (see the Witch-Queen’s Abode, Hex B3) would have something of value to Zariel… and even greater value to Kostchtchie.

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J3. WARLORD LAIR: GOREGUTS GANG

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 87
• Map by Dyson Logos

Raggadragga and his gang got into a war with Princeps Kovik and the 8^th Remnant (Hex J5), which the Goreguts decisively lost. Raggadragga and a ragged band of survivors managed to escape, but their lair was ravaged by Kovik.

Inverted Crucifixes: Kovik took the dead and nailed them to inverted crucifixes in the former courtyard. Words blasted into the stone wall here read, “Damned be those who challenge Princeps Kovik of the 8^th.” There are three dead wereboars and five dead wererats.

Ruined War Machines: Three burned out husks of what were once infernal war machines are just outside the walls.

Raggadragga has several potential scenario hooks related to these recent events:

• He’s actively seeking anyone with resources or skills who might help him rebuild the lair.
• He’s also looking for alternative locations for a lair (including the possibility of seizing one).
• He would also like to return to the lair long enough to bury his dead.
• He’d like to stage a raid on the 8^th Remnant’s lair (Hex J5) to steal back the infernal war machines they took from him.

For more details on the Avernian warlords, see Part 7E of the Remix.

Design Note: As you’re working up the key for this location, think about dropping clues pointing to both its original owners (the Goreguts) and its destroyer (Princeps Kovik).

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J4. TEMPLE OF THE BROKEN PRINCE

• Temple of the Broken Prince

This dungeon is located beneath a razed demonic fortress that was wiped out when Zariel’s forces drove back the front lines of the Blood War from the banks of the Styx.

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J5. WARLORD LAIR: THE EIGHTH REMNANT

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 91
• Map by Dyson Logos

Princeps Kovik and the Eighth Remnant are ensconced within the bone brambles. Signifier Hraxioch of the 9^th Cohort (Hex J6) has been charged with hunting down these rebels and there is a constant guerilla warfare of sorts between them within the twisted eaves of the brambles.

Fetterworks: The Eighth Remnant has a forge for weapons and infernal machines maintained by an enslaved centaur named Hobblehoof. See Forges of Avernus, p. 3.

For more details on the Avernian warlords, see Part 7E of the Remix.

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J6. CAMP OF THE 9th COHORT

• Encounters in Avernus, p. 5
• Visible

Camped on a low mesa overlooking the area is the 9^th Cohort of the 497^th Infantry Legion (9/497) commanded by the chain devil Signifier Hraxioch.

The 9^th is charged with guarding the narrow pass between the mountains and the Styx here. From atop the mesa, they can see the entirety of this hex. Characters passing through this hex are likely to be spotted and a patrol sent out to intercept them.

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Go to Part 7D: Raid on the Flying Fortress

Go to Part 1

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The next three adventures – Maddening Screams, Honors Unforeseen, and In the Hand – form the Doors and Corners series.

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MADDENING SCREAMS (DDAL 09-15): “Meanwhile, Zariel’s forces have taken note of the repeated interference of the adventurers in her plans.”

I know I’m something of a broken record when it comes to the shoddy cross-continuity of these adventures, but I do invite you to briefly peruse the previous adventures and ask yourself, “What plans, exactly? And when have the PCs done anything to interfere with them?”

In any case, the main thrust of Maddening Screams is that the PCs have recovered the battleplans of the Bloody Hooves, a company of knights who rode with Zariel into Hell. These battleplans said that if the Bloody Hooves were forced to retreat, then they should retreat into a box canyon.

Which, to be blunt, would be literally the LAST place you could possibly want to retreat into.

Also, it turns out the canyon was haunted and all the knights were driven mad.

So the PCs head to the Canyon of Screams to track down the Bloody Hooves. The structure for this, broadly speaking, is mass illusionism: Make a bunch of choices, absolutely none of which matter because “all tunnels eventually lead to the Bloody Hooves.” Sneak past somebody? They find your tracks, catch up, and attack you. Pick a tunnel? Something totally random happens to you. Repeat until the DM arbitrarily declares that you’ve picked the right tunnel this time.

At the end of that arbitrary tunnel the PCs will find an elaborately locked door which (checks notes) opens when literally anyone touches it. Huh. Like putting an automatic door on a bank vault.

Beyond the door, they do the random tunnel thing again, but this time there’s a puzzle they have to solve to find the right path. (The puzzle is… not very good. At each intersection, there are four symbols written on the wall. What these symbols are is not specified, but one of them will match a sentence written on the wall. For example, at the intersection that says, “May your sword strike true,” you have to pick the tunnel labeled with the symbol of a sword.)

Open another automatic vault door and, at long last, you have reached… more random tunnels. Their navigational choices are, once again, completely irrelevant, with the DM instead rolling 2d4 to determine how many tunnels they have to say they’re walking down before reaching the next section of the adventure.

Despite the players passing through locked doors that haven’t been opened in centuries, the devils pursuing them are inexplicably always in the chambers ahead of them. This, of course, makes no sense, but by this point your brain has probably given up on rational thought in self-defense.

The adventure wraps up when the PCs discover that all the Hellriders have inexplicably turned into stone tablets (???) which Dara raises from the… dead? Sure, let’s say dead.

The Hellriders tell the PCs that this is a cliffhanger and the adventure continues in DDAL 09-16.

• Grade: F

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HONORS UNFORESEEN (DDAL 09-16): Honors Unforseen opens with the “super security doors that open if literally anyone touches them” gimmick and then the PCs proceed further into the dungeon to save the clerics who had ridden with the Bloody Hooves.

A good portion of the problems these adventures have can be summed up as: Don’t design a dungeoncrawl without a map. The convolutions these authors are going through to design incredibly bad dungeons that de-protagonize the PCs is kind of nuts. (I’m straight up blaming the long-term decay caused by D&D no longer teaching people how to design or run dungeons, but seeing it in official adventures really emphasizes how bad it’s gotten.)

As another example of the disconnect between design and table experience, after passing through the world’s worst vault door, the PCs enter a 100 foot long passage:

A number of tiles are trapped with a symbol. There is no rhyme or reason to the symbols’ placement. For each 5 feet that a creature moves through the area, roll a d20. If the result is 15 or higher, they pass over a symbol, triggering it unless they’re a wood elf or Yalanue herself.

Ho-ho-holy shit! Notice that it’s not per 5 foot square; it’s per creature moving 5 feet. So if you’ve got a group of five PCs, go ahead and roll that d20 one hundred times, generating on average thirty random symbols. What an amazing experience that will be at the table!

This installment of Doors and Corners also emphasizes how absurd the entire premise is: The Bloody Hooves fled from battle, retreated into a box canyon, and then… engaged in major infrastructure projects? They even painted elaborate murals on the walls! We’re told this was all made possible by Horst Atheraice… who later turns out to be a 9^th level spellcaster who definitely can’t have done all this through his magic.

• Grade: F

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IN THE HAND (DDAL 09-17): In the previous two adventures the PCs have rescued all the knights of the Bloody Hooves and then all the clerics of the Bloody Hooves. In this adventure, the PCs discover that there’s a third level to this dungeon (behind yet another automatic vault door) in which the Commander of the Bloody Hooves was entombed.

Horst Atheraice will tell the PCs:

The third level of the tombs is the most dangerous of all. The constructors wove trials into the tombs to ensure that only the most loyal and strong Bloody Hooves could reach the commander.

Oh! Great! Y’all built these defensive wards! What are they?

Past that, they can’t recall anything else about the defenses.

Wow! That’s incredibly convenient amnesia!

Well, that’s okay. You said that you built these defenses specifically so that Bloody Hooves could bypass them. So I guess y’all will be heading down there, then?

No? You’re all leaving and sending us instead? By ourselves?

…

Look, I understand that this is an Adventurers League scenario and it carries with it the expectation that the players will accept the Call to Action. But that’s precisely why you shouldn’t design the Call to Action so that it egregiously insults the players’ intelligence.

By the way, there’s also an absolutely stunning mechanic in these adventures: The PCs are frequently escorting Dara. If they fail to protect her and she dies, she instantly resurrects but she randomly loses one of her four divinely gifted powers. If she dies four times and loses all four powers, she also loses the ability to resurrect angels and Hellriders.

If Dara dies during an adventure, the players are given the You Let Dara Die story award which keeps track of how many times they let Dara die.

Now, you might notice that the entire premise of these adventures is that the PCs are taking Dara to the varied corpses of the Hellriders so that she can resurrect them.

Which means it’s quite possible for a player to play this scenario at a convention or gaming club and immediately discover that, due to the other members of the group, the scenario simply can’t be played. (Oddly, none of the adventures give any guidance on how the “Dara raises people from the dead” scenarios should play out if Dara loses the ability to raise people from the dead.)

Anyway, the PCs go down by themselves and discover that, in order to protect their Commander’s corpse, the Hellriders… killed a bunch of their fellow knights and turned them into undead puppets who will perform small interactive morality plays so that would-be tomb robbers can “prove” they have morals.

…

What the actual fuck?

There’s also an absolutely bizarre meta-puzzle which works like this:

• After building an elaborate tomb, killing their fellow knights, and then turning them into undead to staff it, the Bloody Hooves installed text mosaics in every room providing the answer to the puzzle and/or interactive morality play in that room.
• However, the devils have somehow gotten here ahead of the PCs again, and they’ve been smashing the mosaics in each room after using them to solve the puzzles.
• So in the first room the PCs find the smashed remnants of the mosaic and what they do is:

Next to the door is a mosaic that has been shattered, with letter tiles littering the floor. Characters who collect the letter tiles can use them to puzzle out the challenges when they enter the Tomb of Trials.

It’s possible your brain broke while reading that, so let me just reiterate: The PCs take the unassigned letters from one random word scramble and then they use those to solve completely unrelated word scrambles.

I don’t even know if this puzzle can actually be solved, because they forgot to include the solution for it.

To be brutally honest, I gave up on In the Hand before finishing it. I skimmed ahead to determine that the adventure ends with the devils kidnapping Commander Rotger’s corpse.

• Grade: F

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CONSEQUENCES OF CHOICE (DDAL 09-18): Although not technically part of the Doors and Corners series, Consequences of Choice follows immediately on from the events of In the Hand. Rather than following the tunnel the devils dug to grab Commander Rotger’s corpse, Dara decides that the best place to find a lead to the corpse’s location is back at Mahadi’s Wandering Emporium.

Unfortunately, the Wandering Emporium has wandered off, so the PCs have to first track it down. To do this they have to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check… and I guess if they fail, they just can’t find the Emporium and the rest of the adventure doesn’t happen?

In any case, along the way the PCs discover that there’s a demon army which has crossed the Styx and is looking to attack the Emporium. Consequences of Choice is about the PCs helping Mahadi mount a defense.

This defense – and thus the adventure – is built entirely around a mechanical mini-game which, as far as I can tell, received zero playtesting and even less critical thinking.

The way it works is that the PCs have 150 minutes to create defenses which earn them Survival Points. If they can get 45 Survival Points all the named characters live; if they get fewer points than that, people start dying during the fight. They can earn points by:

• Spending 150 minutes to build a siege engine = 5 points
• Spending 20 minutes to make a trap/obstacle = 3 points
• Casting a defensive spell = 2 points

You can immediately see the ludicrous lack of balance here. The DM is told to “reward creative thinking,” but this is completely unnecessary because the default group of five characters can just spend all their time making traps and generate 110+ points.

The system also includes adjustments for variant groups, but these are also laughably bad:

• If the group has fewer than 5 characters, the required number of Survival Points is reduced to 40. But, as we’ve seen, each character can trivially generate 21+ points, which is absurdly out of sync with the 5 points adjustment being made to the target. (The adjustment is also applied in reverse – increasing the Survival Points to 50 if there are more than 5 characters.)
• If the group’s APL is lower than 13, the points required are reduced by 3. If the APL is higher than 13, it’s increased by 3. (This is doesn’t make any sense at all because APL has no effect on the Survival Points generated by various activities.)

But that’s not all! The adventure includes two bonus objectives, each of which can generate 6 Survival Points.

But if the DM decides the group is going to do the bonus objectives, they only get 45 minutes (instead of 150 minutes) to make defensive preparations. In a standard five member group, this drops your group output from 110+ points to just 42 points… which means you fail and somebody dies. (In practice you can probably make that up by casting a couple defensive spells, assuming you have them prepared, but the point is that the system is so badly designed that it systemically discourages DMs and players from playing the full adventure.)

I can’t emphasize enough that this entire scenario is fundamentally built around this system, which I would not so much describe as “broken” as “criminally negligent.”

• Grade: F

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Go to the Avernus Remix – Go to Part 6: Red Hunt