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Gargauth in the Shield of the Hidden Lord has the potential to be a persistent element that accompanies the PCs for the entire campaign… or he might be gone before they even realize what and who he is.

GARGAUTH: ROLEPLAYING TEMPLATE

NAME: Gargauth (Once-Treasurer of Hell, the Tenth Lord of the Nine, Lost Lord of the Pit, the Hidden Lord, the Outcast, the Lord Who Watches)

APPEARANCE: A shield of silvered, vanadium steel embellished with bronze decorations suggesting the horns, eyes, and fangs of a pit fiend.

QUOTE: “You have no idea the secrets which I could share with you! If you would only serve me!”

ROLEPLAYING:

• Wants nothing more than to be released from its prison.
• Craves power, with little care for what form it takes.
• Speaks in either a sibilant, seductive whisper or a baritone roar.

BACKGROUND: See “Lore of Gargauth” in Part 3B: Lore of the Vanthampur Investigations.

STAT BLOCK: See Descent Into Avernus, p. 225.

MEETING THE SHIELD OF THE HIDDEN LORD

When the PCs first find the Shield of the Hidden Lord, Gargauth will claim to be the Shield of Silvam and that the Vanthampurs stole him from the Hhune family.

The Shield of Silvam is one of the Kuldannorar artifacts once held by the Tethyrian royal line. A DC 16 Intelligence (History) check will reveal that the Shield of Silvam was created before the Eye Tyrant Wars, was lost during the Strohm Dynasty (between the 5^th and 9^th centuries), and briefly resurfaced in the 14^th century before vanishing again.

A DC 18 check will recall that the chronicles record that it was a mithral shield with an inset “eye” of crystal (i.e., not at all what the Shield of the Hidden Lord looks like). If confronted with this fact, Gargauth will at least initially attempt to claim that the Shield of Silvam recovered in the 14^th century was a forgery.

FREEING GARGAUTH

Gargauth’s overriding objective is to free himself from the shield, so let’s briefly discuss how he can do that.

First, he can fulfill the pact with Zariel by bringing thirteen cities to Hell. Having succeeded with Elturel (which may or may not be his first success), he’s now looking for the next viable target.

Second, the shield can be unmade in Bel’s Forge in Avernus. As it was originally created there, so can it be destroyed.

Third, Gargauth can be freed by Asmodeus or any Archduke or Archduchess of Hell who touches the shield and says his name.

Finally, Gargauth can be temporarily freed by casting dispel evil and good on the shield. Each casting has a 1% chance of freeing him for 1 minute. Using a higher level spell slot to cast the spell can either increase the percentage chance of him being freed (stepping 5%, 10%, 25%, 50% for each additional spell level), the duration of his release (stepping 10 minutes, 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours for each additional spell level), or a combination of both. (For example, a 9^th level spell slot could have a 10% chance of releasing him for 1 hour. Or a 50% chance of releasing him for 1 minute.)

Note: This section explicitly supercedes the “Freeing Gargauth” section of Decent Into Avernus.

THE MANY AGENDAS OF GARGAUTH

Gargauth is an incredibly clever, incredibly perceptive, and incredibly persuasive devil who is keenly aware of how vulnerable he is while trapped within the Shield of the Hidden Lord. He will adapt to whatever situation he finds himself in. He will deceive freely. He will prey on trust, but not abuse or alienate it needlessly. To be most effective, he needs to be in the possession of someone who will do what he says; but what he needs to avoid at all costs is to be stuck in a position where he cannot influence anyone around him. He will endure a weak position and bide his time for an opportunity to turn it to his advantage, rather than losing his temper and burning his bridges.

Upon encountering (and most likely being acquired by) the PCs, his first agenda will probably be to get away from them. He’s been around the block enough to know that wandering heroes who go around trying to save the world are terrible candidates for helping him achieve his goals, and Baldur’s Gate is filled with far more promising prospects.

Thus, his first strategy of posing as the Shield of Silvam so that they’ll return him to his “rightful owner.”

If that fails, another plausible strategy Gargauth might employ is using his telepathy to “call for help” from anyone nearby who might be more receptive to him. You can use this to justify the “Knights of the Shield” encounter in Part 4A: The Road to Candlekeep, for example, by assuming that at some point while they were walking through Baldur’s Gate with the Shield of the Hidden Lord, the PCs happened to pass a member of the Hhune family and Gargauth telepathically contacted them. (You can easily imagine any number of similar hijinks.)

If there comes a point where Gargauth perceives the PCs as perhaps being in a serious position to save Elturel, then he would be highly motivated to stop them from doing that. (Sucking cities to Hell is not particularly easy, he needs thirteen of them, and he put in 50+ years on this one.) My guess is he’d go for subtle misdirection and disinformation here.

In Part 4C: At the Threshold of Hell, when Sylvira says she’d like to keep the Shield of the Hidden Lord to study it, Gargauth might have one of two reactions: If he thinks it will be easier to take advantage of Sylvira’s fascination with the Nine Hells and corrupt her, he’ll happily jump ship. If he’s already got a good thing going with one or more of the PCs, on the other hand, he may make some strong offers to convince them to keep him.

On the other hand, when Traxigor tells the PCs that they should drop the shield into the River Styx in order to destroy it, Gargauth is going to get real serious real quick. He might telepathically reach out to Sylvira and offer to help her in her research, potentially seeding a debate about whether the shield should stay or go. Alternatively (or if that fails), he’ll try to make himself appear as useful as he possibly can to the PCs. (First up: He knows Avernus and can serve as a valuable guide.)

Once they’re in Avernus, Gargauth is likely going to try to get them to take him to Bel’s forge and then manipulate them into destroying the shield (and freeing him). One tactic might be to telepathically convince someone the PCs are interacting with to tell them how the shield can be destroyed at Bel’s forge (while conveniently not mentioning that this will free Gargauth, not destroy him). Another might be to simply take the PCs to Bel’s forge while pretending to guide them somewhere else (and then hoping he can spin the situation accordingly).

If the PCs are intransigent, Gargauth will probably continue trying to arrange for his escape. (Signaling nearby devils and ruining PCs’ attempts to sneak through Elturel, for example.)

If pushed absolutely to the wall (i.e., they’re on the banks of the Styx and about to throw him in), Gargauth will be willing to negotiate his knowledge for how to save Elturel. He’ll be able to tell them that they have to destroy the contract, destroy the chains, and arrange for Elturel to return to the Material Plane (see Part 7). He can even offer up his own services (if they free him!) in destroying the chains.

INTO THE RIVER STYX

What actually happens if the PCs do throw the Shield of the Hidden Lord into the River Styx? (Which is, I think, the most likely outcome.)

Option #1: It’s destroyed. Trapped in the shield as he is, Gargauth is entirely an entity of nous (or mind). His memories are thus the entirety of what he is, and when the shield is dipped into the River Styx he is utterly destroyed. As Gargauth is the source of the shield’s powers, all that is left is a well-crafted, mundane shield.

Option #2: A tabula rasa spirit. Gargauth’s mind is wiped clean. What’s left inside the shield is an incredibly powerful pit fiend with no memories and no innate form. In a campaign about Hell, damnation, and redemption, this has the potential to become a powerful thematic opportunity: How is this essentially newborn entity possessed of tremendous power influenced by the PCs and their actions? Is this new entity saddled with Gargauth’s sins? As this entity’s personality develops, does that influence what powers the shield manifests? If the PCs lead this new entity down a path to goodness and then later free it from the shield, what actually appears? A reformed pit fiend? An angel? Something else?

Option #3: Punt it down the road. Traxigor emphasizes that the shield has to be immersed in the Styx for several days (or a week or a month or whatever). The only realistic option is to just toss it into the deepest part of the river and walk away.

Go to the Avernus Remix

The Quiet Year is a map-making storytelling game by Avery Alder. The group will collectively tell the story of a community which, after a long war, has finally succeeded in driving off the Jackals. The community doesn’t know it, but they will have one quiet year — a time to come together, to rebuild, to prepare for the future — before the Frost Shepherds arrive and the game comes to an end.

The central focus of play is the map itself: We begin with a blank sheet in the middle of the table and a brief setup phase will see the group quickly sketch in the broad strokes of their community. We will also determine which Resources are important to our community, and which one of those Resources is in abundance (with all others being in scarcity).

(The Resources section of the setup phase is subtly brilliant: There are no predefined Resources. Instead, each player creates a Resource and adds it to the list. This, all by itself, radically alters the game each time you play it. A community in which Transportation, Solar Power, and Food are the key Resources is a completely different community than one in which Clean Water, Steel, and Mana are the key Resources.)

Once the setup phase is complete, the game proceeds in turns. On their turn a player will:

• Draw a card
• Advance active projects
• Take an action

CARDS: The game is played with a deck of standard playing cards. There are fifty-two weeks in a year and fifty-two cards in a deck, and thus each turn represents a week of time. Each suit of cards represents one season (hearts are Spring, diamonds are Summer, etc.), and each season of cards is randomized.

Generally speaking, each card you draw will offer you an option between two questions. The active player has to answer the question, which will also often mean adding to the map or updating the map. For example, if you draw the 10 of Hearts you must choose between:

• There’s another community somewhere on the map. Where are they? What sets them apart from you?
• What belief or practice helps to unify your community?

Whereas the 5 of Spades offers a choice of:

• Winter elements destroy a food source. If this was your only food source, add a Scarcity.
• Winter elements leave everyone cold, tired, and miserable. Project dice are not reduced this week.

The game ends immediately when the King of Spades is drawn (and the Frost Shepherds arrive). This can happen at any point in the last season of thirteen cards (even the very first week of winter), so as the year continues more and more uncertainty about how much time you have left will begin to creep in. (And this will naturally influence the group’s predilection towards breaking ground on new projects vs. other options.)

ACTIVE PROJECTS: Various cards and actions will establish projects. Most projects are entirely the creation of the player initiating them and will be given a timeline of 1-6 weeks (i.e., turns). These projects are tracked on the map using six-sided dice, and the dice count down one pip each week.

TAKE AN ACTION: Finally, a player can choose one of three actions. They can Start a Project; they can Discover Something New; or they can Hold a Discussion. Each of these influences the story of the community in different ways.

THINGS I DON’T LIKE

There’s one other “significant” mechanic in the game: Contempt tokens. I’ll let the rulebook explain them:

If you ever feel like you weren’t consulted or honoured in a decision-making process, you can take a piece of Contempt and place it in front of you. This is your outlet for expressing disagreement or tension.

(…)

If you ever want to act selfishly, to the known detriment of the community, you can discard a Contempt token to justify your behaviour. You decide whether your behaviour requires justification. This will often trigger others taking Contempt tokens in response.

And that’s it. As a mechanic, Contempt tokens are empty and meaningless. They’re also somewhat incoherent: The beginning of the rulebook specifically points out that we, as players, have two roles in the game: To represent the community itself and care about its fate and ALSO to “dispassionately introduce dilemmas … create tension and make the community’s successes feel real.” So how is acting to “the known detriment of the community” something that needs to be “justified”? Furthermore, there IS no “decision-making process” in which you can be consulted; the game explicitly tells you NOT to discuss the decisions you have to make in the game.

Having played with Contempt several times, I’m simply going to be dropping them from future sessions. They don’t add anything to the game and, worse yet, simply confuse new players due to their incoherence and lack of point.

THINGS I DO LIKE

Everything else.

The Quiet Year is a beautiful game that creates beautiful stories. The choices presented in each season are elegantly balanced to push play in particular directions without drowning out the creative input and interests of the players.

The storytelling engine is specific enough to push interesting events into the narrative, but general enough to never constrain you: You can set The Quiet Year in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a Martian colony, the African savannah, or a Middle Ages village just after it’s been scourged by the Black Death and never hit a discordant prompt.

You can learn The Quiet Year in about 15 minutes, you’ll get 3-4 hours of play before the Frost Shepherds arrive, and then — if you’re anything like the people I’ve played with — you’ll immediately begin trying to figure out when you can play it again.

(There’s also an alternate setup you can use for a shorter game if you’d like.)

A FEW OTHER DETAILS

The game is designed for 2-4 players, but I found that it expanded well to 5 or 6. (I did not play with only two players, although I am curious what that experience would look like.) The designer has noted in online discussions that the primary problem with a larger player count is the down time between turns, so this will be at least somewhat dependent on how much your group is entertained in the audience stance. (Players also often have narrative input on other players’ turns.)

In addition to an $8 PDF, The game is also available in a $50 bag that contains everything you need to play: Rulebook, custom cards (with the text printed on them so you don’t have to consult the tables in the rulebook), dice, and counters. I, personally, don’t think the experience offered by The Quiet Year is worth that much, but your mileage may vary.

A QUIET YEAR

I wasn’t sure how well The Quiet Year would play online in the Era of COVID-19, but it was actually a spectacular experience. You’ll obviously need some form of shared whiteboard for the group (I found that one built into Zoom worked just fine). You can try to get fancy with the playing cards, but I found it easy enough to just act as a facilitator with a physical deck of cards to one side of my keyboard.

The one thing I will say, is that I think post-apocalyptic narratives have a completely different feel when you’re playing them during an actual apocalypse. And this impact is particularly substantial if it’s an interactive medium.

To give you some sense of what The Quiet Year is capable of, this is the narrative of one game that I played: Our community collapsed completely and murdered each other in internecine warfare. (So the year was perhaps not as quiet as it might have been…)

Our village was located in a valley. At sunrise and sunset we all stopped and collectively meditated upon the passing of the days.

Some among us even went so far as to worship the Sun.

Expeditions beyond the mountains to the west returned with members horribly burned by a “bright light.” Clearly they had found the place where the Sun sets and been burned for their hubris.

The Sun Sect grew.

To the southeast there was a horrible Pit; a bottomless black void. It was surrounded by skulls and strange runes. No one had placed them there; no one dared to touch them.

One day a woman named Petra climbed naked out of the Pit and came to the village.

Other outsiders came who wore Moons on their clothes. They were ostracized.

Petra and another girl named Sibyl convinced many young members of the village to enter the Pit and learn its mysteries.

They did not return.

We reclaimed the mine to the southwest. Our supply of metal was abundant! But we discovered that those working at the site contracted a strange disease that made them incredibly pale. They were referred to by the slur of “moon-facers,” and this term was soon being used to also refer to those who wore the symbol of the Moon.

Around this time, a flood destroyed our food stores. Tensions grew between the Sun Sect and the Followers of the Moon.

Faced with this persecution, some of the Followers of the Moon assassinated three of the four Elders who led our village. They then fled to the northern end of the valley, leaving the last remaining Elder — a man named Jonas — in charge.

Jonas was a member of the Sun Sect. He took control of the citizen’s militia and reforged it as the Swords of Dawn.

A few weeks later, foresters heard the voices of Petra and Sibyl among the trees of the forest. Their words could not be understood, but they seemed filled with portent.

A beam of purple energy shot out of the Pit. The faces of the others who had gone down into the Pit could be seen writhing within it. Petra herself emerged from the beam and declared herself a Priestess of the Moon.

Jonas died in his bed, pale as if moon-touched. The community was left leaderless. (Elders could only be nominated by existing Elders, Jonas had refrained from doing that, and now all the Elders were dead.) The Sun Sect moved into the power vacuum and the Swords of Dawn enforced order.

The Sun Sect declared that the Pit had grown ascendant because we had turned out back on the Sun. They decreed that a child must be taken to the highest mountain in the east and sacrificed to the rising sun.

This was done. Almost the entire Sun Sect marched up to the mountain peak.

But as the sacrifice was about to be performed, a huge avalanche wiped out the entire expedition.

Petra and the moon-facers took control of the village. A string of murders followed, leaving mutilated bodies in the woods. Then the beam of energy from the Pit washed across the sky, blotting out the Sun.

One of the last surviving members of the Sun Sect — angry, vindictive, and driven mad by this last divine sign — set fire to the forest! Our stores of lumber and the entire northern forest was destroyed.

When the envoys from the south arrived to trade their grain for our lumber, we were unable to pay them. Trade collapsed. The famine worsened.

But the morning after the fire, a beam of golden energy shot up into the sky from the site of the child sacrifice.

So there was a golden beam to the northeast and a purple-black beam to the southeast.

A new religious leader emerged: Wren argued that we had strayed too far from the Way of the Sun and we needed to sacrifice MORE children into the Sun’s golden beam, to at least match the number who had passed into the Pit.

Wren led a pilgrimage up into the mountains and they did, in fact, cast many children into the golden beam. The energy of the golden beam spread, blotting out the black dome that had shaded the valley and replacing it with a golden dome of sun-like light.

But the light shone 24/7.

Many in the village suffered from sleep deprivation as the eternal light shone on.

The valley was then hit with a plague, which further decimated the population. Then a massive thunderstorm rolled in. It rained for days and days and days. The river flooded, wiping out our village and forcing the population to scatter into the hills, creating a number of small, scattered “niche” communities.

As the waters receded in the valley below, we saw — in the burnt fields of the forest — what we at first thought were new trees. New trees that grew rapidly with the blessing of the Sun’s eternal light!

But what actually grew was strange: Purple-pink growths that fruited large, pear-shaped fruits that glowed with a bluish light.

Strange goliaths, of whose existence we had seen hints on our earlier expeditions, came from the west and settled among the strange trees, somehow feeding upon the glowing fruits.

An entire niche community vanished mysteriously overnight. When people from a neighboring community arrived, they found food still cooking over open fires. The only clue was the word RELLIK scratched into the dirt.

At the opposite end of the valley, it was discovered that the skulls and bones of the children sacrificed to the golden beam had appeared in the bone ring around the Pit. This connection between the two beams raised metaphysical questions that our desperate community had no time to properly consider.

A children’s crusade led almost all of our remaining children back down to the floor of the valley. There they ate of the glowing fruits.

Petra was badly beaten. She was forced into hiding, circulating from one family to another to hide her from the Sun Sect.

One of these families, seemingly driven mad, killed and ate her.

Other incidents of cannibalism forced the niche communities into armed compounds that no longer spoke to each other.

Strange changes were seen among the children eating of the purple pears.

The Swords of Dawn marched on the mine to wipe out that source of the “moon-faced plague.”

As the mine burned, the Frost Shepherds arrived.

A QUIET YEAR.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Author: Avery Alder
Publisher: Buried Without Ceremony
Cost: $8.00 (PDF)
Page Count: 15

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At this point the NPCs are going to give the players a huge infodump. This sort of thing can be really fraught with problems, not only provoking a lot of glazed eyes around the table, but also making it difficult for players to actually retain vital information.

So let’s talk about how we’re going to make it work.

First, we’ve already put a lot of work into the campaign before we ever got to this point. I talk about this in more detail in Random GM Tips: Getting the Players to Care, but if you’ve set things up so that the players have spent a half dozen or more sessions actively struggling to piece this information together, then they will be (a) actively invested in seeing it all come together and (b) incredibly excited to receive a glut of information after spending so much time fighting over little tiny scraps of data.

On a similar note, we’re going to deliberately frame this information as a reward: You worked hard to get the Shield of the Hidden Lord and the infernal puzzlebox to Candlekeep, and now you can turn in your plot coupons and get very specific rewards (in terms of information received) for each one.

Third, although I primarily frame stuff as “things Sylvira knows” for the sake of simplicity, the other reason I recommended in Part 4A that you should include Traxigor in this scene is that you can use the sequence of introducing new NPCs — Sylvira, then Traxigor, then Lulu — to break up the tidal wave of information.

There are also some places where I recommend that Sylvira and Traxigor disagree with each other, particularly over what course of action they recommend. Feel free to push that farther as you improvise the scene. (For example, Sylvira might say that Gargauth joined an alliance with Bane, Bhaal, and Loviatar to invade Hell. And then Traxigor says, “No, no, no. Lothiak’s Infernal Chronicle is quite clear on the point that Talona, the Lady of Poison, was also part of the alliance and an absolutely crucial part of the campaign.”) Not only will these back-and-forths between the NPCs break up the scene, they will (a) encourage the PCs to also engage with the scene as a conversation and (b) force the players to think about the disagreement and make their own decision about what they believe.

We’re also going to break up the infodump with some action (i.e., the infernal puzzlebox being cracked open and possibly Traxigor asking the PCs to help him find his planar tuning fork). You can enhance this option, if you’d like, by using the suggestion in Part 4A that opening the puzzlebox might take a full tenday (giving the PCs a chance to research topics at Candlekeep). That way you’d have a small infodump, a big break, and then another infodump (launching off the revelation of what’s inside the puzzlebox).

Finally, we’re going to proactively prompt PC expertise. Although the initial revelations obviously need to come from the Candlekeep experts (otherwise the PCs wouldn’t need to have come here in the first place), once those doors of knowledge have been unlocked, it’s quite possible that one or more of the PCs will have relevant knowledge. (For example, they might recognize the infernal contract inside the puzzlebox and know it’s significance.) This not only gives players another opportunity to be actively involved with the scene, it also frames the scene so that Sylvira and Traxigor are peers who are working with the PCs, not lecturers who are giving them a homework assignment.

Some of what’s summarized below appears elsewhere in the Remix. It’s comprehensively listed here so that it will be crystal clear exactly what information Sylvira, Traxigor, and Lulu give to the PCs (including the information they get wrong) and what information they don’t have.

SYLVIRA: THE SHIELD OF THE HIDDEN LORD

If shown the Shield of the Hidden Lord, Sylvira will recognize it as an infernal artifact:

• It was created by Gargauth, an archduke and demigod of Hell.
• Gargauth can speak through the shield.
• Anyone in contact with the shield is said to hear the Whisperings of the Hidden Lord. It’s unclear whether Gargauth can read or control the wearers’ thoughts, but it can definitely communicate telepathically with them.
• In some accounts, the wielder of the shield can create walls of fire and fireballs.
• It’s possible that there are multiple such shields, each allowing Gargauth to speak through it but perhaps manifesting a unique cluster of magical powers. In any case, the shield has turned up repeatedly throughout history, always as the instigator of great evil.

She’s also passingly familiar with Gargauth himself:

• He was once the Archduke of Avernus, the first level of Hell, as one of the Lords of the Nine.
• He was overthrown by a devil named Bel (who was, in turn, overthrown by Zariel, the current ruler of Avernus).
• Gargauth became known as the Tenth Lord of the Nine and the Lost Lord of the Pit, among other titles.
• While wandering the material plane, Gargauth feuded with a demon named Astaroth who was seeking to become a god. Gargauth slew Astaroth before that could happen and actually assumed Astaroth’s mantle for himself, effectively impersonating the dead demon and receiving the worship of Astaroth’s cultists.
• Gargauth later joined an alliance with the Dark Gods (Bane, Bhaal, Loviatar, and Talona) when they attempted to invade Hell itself and seize it from Asmodeus. The effort failed.
• Ever since then, Gargauth has been seeking power here on Toril. He’s known to work with Astarothian cultists (who still hear him as the voice of their God) and Dead Three cultists (who honor him for his alliance with the Dark Gods). In one notable instance in the 11^th century, Dead Three cultists summoned Gargauth as part of an assault on the Sign of the Silver Harp, an inn that was used as a gathering place for the Harpers. (In that instance, it turned out the whole thing had been an elaborate trap staged by Elminster and the Blackstaff Khelben Arunsun. Gargauth and the cultists were defeated.)
• His agents have been frequently reported to have a great interest in the Imaskari Empire, for reasons which are unclear.
• If the PCs think/know that he was working with the Cult of Zariel, Sylvira will consider it an odd development given his antagonistic history with Asmodeus.

SYLVIRA’S RECOMMENDATION: Initially, Sylvira will be eager to take the Shield of the Hidden Lord into her own custody for study. (Traxigor might argue that it should instead be locked up in Candlekeep’s vaults and forgotten. “It’s too dangerous.”)

Regardless of what the PCs decide at this point, when it later becomes clear that they’re heading to Avernus, Sylvira will tell them that the shield should be thrown into the River Styx. She believes that this will destroy its link to Gargauth and end its legacy of harm. (She’s more right than she knows: Since Gargauth is actually trapped within the shield, being plunged into the Styx will erase all of his memories. See Addendum: Playing Gargauth.)

Design Note: Sylvira’s understanding of the Shield of the Hidden Lord is deliberately incorrect/incomplete, skewing closer to the item’s original continuity. The key thing being withheld here is that Gargauth is actually IN the shield, not just communicating through it. The PCs might discover more accurate information by researching Gargauth and/or the shield at Candlekeep, and will also have the opportunity to unravel more of Gargauth’s story once they go to Hell.

SYLVIRA: THE INFERNAL PUZZLEBOX

Sylvira is familiar with infernal puzzleboxes and has opened several of them in the past.

• They are crafted by devils of the Nine Hells.
• They are usually made of infernal iron, but some are made of bone or horn.
• They are designed to safeguard their contents, but also as infernal temptations. “Any lock can be picked. But a puzzle entices.”
• The process of solving the incredibly intricate puzzles which seal the box, if done incorrectly, can lure a person into unwittingly performing an infernal rite that will bind them to the devil who made the box.

Sylvira has perfected several spells and/or technomantic equipment that will allow her to open the puzzlebox safely.

MECHANICS: A creature that spends 1 hour trying to open an infernal puzzlebox can make a DC 30 Intelligence (Investigation) check. If the check succeeds, the creature figures out the trick or sequence of steps needed to open the box (and can do so reliably in the future without a check). If the check fails by 5 or more, the creature must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw, taking 12d6 psychic damage on a failed save (or half as much on a successful one). If this damage would drop the creature’s hit points to 0, it instead results in the creature becoming affected as per the dominate person spell by the devil who created the box: The devil can communicate with them telepathically across any distance and the victim is particularly susceptible at night (when the devil can control their body like a puppet unless they succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw). This acts as a curse, as per the bestow curse spell with a permanent duration.

SYLVIRA: THE INFERNAL CONTRACT

Inside the infernal puzzlebox is a platinum tablet inscribed with Infernal characters. One side of the tablet is jagged and rough, as if it had been ripped apart through some tremendous force.

THE TEXT: The text on the tablet is the Pact signed between High Watcher Bellandi and Zariel (see Part 4B).

INFERNAL CONTRACTS: Anyone making a DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) or Intelligence (Religion) check will recognize this as an infernal contract. A DC 16 test reveals the following information. Sylvira is familiar with this information in any case and can brief the PCs if none of them are familiar with infernal contracts.

• Infernal contracts are magically binding agreements between mortals and devils, almost always involving the mortal’s soul being forfeit in return for some service or gift.
• When infernal contracts are signed, there are two identical copies written on the same medium (a tablet, scroll, skull, or whatever else). These are then split apart, with the mortal keeping one copy and the devil keeping the other.
• The contract can only be destroyed if BOTH copies of the contract are brought together, and even then the wards upon the contract make it quite difficult to actually do it. (Sylvira will suggest that the fire of an ancient dragon might do the trick. Traxigor will suggest dropping the conjoined contract into the River Styx, causing its contents to be forgotten. A wish spell would also work.)

Design Note: I chose to have the tablet made from platinum because it was alchemically believed to represent the durability of a union or agreement.

HISTORY OF ELTUREL: PCs can also make a DC 14 Intelligence (History) check to recall pertinent details from Elturian history. (Some of this they are likely to have already picked up, if it wasn’t part of their character backgrounds to begin with.)

• High Watcher Naja Bellandi became the first High Observer of Elturel.
• High Rider Klav Ikaia was the ruler of Elturel in 1444 DR when he was revealed to be a vampire lord. On the Night of the Red Coup, High Rider Ikaia and his vampires began a reign of terror which plagued the city for fourteen days.
• On the fourteenth night, the Companion — believed to be a gift from some unnamed god — appeared in the sky above Elturel as a second sun. Its light destroyed the vampires.
• Naja Bellandi, who had led one of the major groups of resistance fighters, was hailed as a hero and became the first High Observer.
• She was assassinated a couple years later and replaced by High Observer Cathasach Restat, who had been one of the founding members of the Order of the Companion.

GM Tip: You might want to prep these chunks of information as handouts you can give to players who make these skill checks, allowing them to brief the other PCs in-character.

WHAT NEXT?

There are two key revelations here:

1. Elturel was NOT destroyed. It’s trapped in Hell.
2. The Pact which traps Elturel in Hell cannot be broken unless the two halves of the contract are brought together.

These are major twists. Give the players some time to think about them and really process this new information. If all goes well, they’ll reach the crucial conclusion by themselves: Even if the people in Elturel are fighting to save themselves, their cause is hopeless. Nothing they do can save the city unless someone takes THIS half of the contract to Avernus. The PCs have the key (or, at least, one half of the key) to saving the city.

Otherwise, one of the NPCs can lay this out for them.

If Reya Mantlemorn is here, she’s a strong candidate for this. “Take it to the High Knights at the High Hall!” She’ll have complete faith that the High Knights will be able to save the day if she and the PCs can just get the tablet to them.

TIME TO GO: Once the PCs decide to go to Avernus, Traxigor will ask them to help him find his tuning fork. (He’ll accompany them out of Candlekeep so that he can cast plane shift and take them to Elturel.)

MAP OF AVERNUS: While the PCs (or some of the PCs) are helping Traxigor find his tuning fork, Sylvira will dig out the Avernus poster map. She’ll explain that:

• There’s no guarantee that it will even be the right part of the Avernian plains, but it’s one of the few known maps of Avernus in existence and the only one in her possession.
• It was created by the cartographer Nico Sovanna, an infernal researcher (much like Sylvira herself) who was interested in the Charge of the Hellriders and actually journeyed to the location in the Nine Hells where he believed it took place.
• Unfortunately, Sovanna went quite mad as a result of his expedition.

Design Note: More on the map in Part 7 of the Remix. Mostly I’m providing a plausible explanation for why a random map of an infinite plane just happens to be of exactly the right region.

MAP OF ELTUREL: The PCs might like to get a map of Elturel before they go. They can dig one up in the archives of Candlekeep easily enough and copy it. (Or, if you prefer, Sylvira can just give them this map, too.)

What you’ll want for this, obviously, is a pre-Avernus map of the city. You can find one in Forgotten Realms Adventures. (Unfortunately, the resolution in the scanned PDF WotC is currently selling isn’t great.)

The mismatch between this map and the reality they find on the other side of the plane shift will lead to some potentially cool navigation and a visceral sense of the disaster. On the other hand, it will give them a notable advantage in Elturel and so you may not want them to automatically get the map (so that they only gain the advantage if they earn it for themselves).

INTRODUCING LULU

If Lulu is not being played as a PC (see Part 2), this will be the moment when she’s introduced. We’ll be doing a comprehensive look at Lulu’s background (and straightening out all of the continuity problems it has) in Part 6D of the Remix, but for right now this is the key information:

• Lulu’s earliest memory is of waking up in the red sands of the Avernian wastelands.
• She wandered down the River Styx for several years, having many adventures before finally returning to Toril.
• Sylvira became aware of a hollyphant in Amn who could tell tales of the Nine Hells. She made a special journey south and tracked Lulu down. The two hit it off and Lulu decided to come back with Sylvira to Candlekeep to continue assisting her with her research; the two of them are now good friends.
• Lulu has a few fragmentary memories of the time before her memory loss: She particularly remembers that she was friends with a beautiful warrior angel, who came to the city of Elturel long ago and led the knights of that city on a charge into Hell itself. (“I don’t remember the actual battle,” Lulu says. “But we must have lost. I guess that’s how I lost my memories.”) Sylvira is 100% convinced that Lulu was actually at the famous Charge of the Hellriders and she’s been trying to figure out how to help Lulu get more of her memories back, particularly about that event. (Because Lulu has this connection to Elturel, she’ll be particularly interested by any PCs who come from Elturel and to learn anything they know about the city’s disappearance.)

I recommend having Lulu flutter into the lab somewhere in the middle of the infodump; this will provide a nice change of pace, but should definitely happen before the infernal puzzlebox is opened. To demonstrate her familiarity with the Nine Hells, have her drop useful commentary. For example:

• She might be the one to mention Gargauth’s other titles (Tenth Lord of the Nine, Lost Lord of the Pit, etc.) because she met a devil who absolutely loathed him for his betrayal of Asmodeus.
• She likely recognizes the infernal puzzlebox for what it is, and could babble excitedly about how much she loves seeing Sylvira open them. (“It’s like getting a Caravance gift!”)
• She could be the one to reveal how infernal contracts can be destroyed… but then have no memory of why she knows that.

Here’s the key bit, though. When the infernal contract is read out loud, Lulu will suddenly recover a key bit of her memory:

“Zariel! That was the name of my angel!”

And this is mind-blowing (to Sylvira and Traxigor if nobody else). The angel who led the Charge of the Hellriders is Zariel, the Archduchess of Hell? And Lulu was her good friend?

Yes! Yes! I remember! Through the gate we went, tearing through devils like a song through the air! And Zariel was singing songs, with the knights joining her celestial voice!

But then… we were betrayed? Yes. I remember the betrayal. But who? I don’t know. I just… No. I don’t know.

And that’s all she remembers. (For now.)

Of course, when the PCs decide to take the infernal contract to Avernus, Lulu will volunteer to go with them: She’s the only one there with first hand experience of the Nine Hells, and she wants to help however she can. (If the PCs turn her down, she’ll insist. And then she’ll try to sneak into their bags.)

Go to Part 5: Hellturel

Go to Part 1

Here’s my random tip for using Idea rolls as a GM:

Don’t.

Let me start by explaining what I’m talking about: In Call of Cthulhu, an Idea roll “represents hunches and the ability to interpret the obvious.” In some of the older scenarios published for the game, this roll would actually be used to prevent players from having their characters take certain courses of action because the character wouldn’t know to do them — sort of aggressively preventing player expertise form trumping character expertise.

There are some obvious problems with that, too, but what I’m interested in right now is the far more common technique of using the Idea roll to tell players what they “should” be doing. For example, if the players are talking about how they can get an audience with a casino owner, the GM might call for an Idea roll and say, “You could disguise yourselves as high rollers.” Or when the PCs stumble onto a bloodstained altar in the center of a stone circle, the GM might call for an Idea roll and then say, “You could try putting that idol you found earlier on the altar!”

Even in games that lack a specific mechanic like this, you may see similar techniques improvised (usually with some form of Intelligence check).

GM-INITIATED IDEA ROLLS

The basic function of the Idea roll is essentially like using a walkthrough in a video game: You don’t know what to do, so you have to consult a guide that can get you past the point where you’re stuck. A GM-initiated Idea roll, though, is often more like having an obnoxious friend sitting with you who’s played the game before and simply WILL NOT shut up and let you play the game for yourself.

If you’re a GM prepping a scenario and you come to a place where you think an Idea roll will be necessary, that’s a really clear sign that you need to DO BETTER. Saying, “I need an Idea roll here,” is basically saying, “I have designed a scenario where the players are going to get stuck here.” Instead of prepping an Idea roll, figure out some way to redesign the scenario so that the players won’t get stuck there. (The Three Clue Rule will often help.)

What about run-time Idea rolls? In other words, you’re currently running the session, you can see that the players are irreparably stuck, and you need to fix the problem. Well, there are two possibilities:

First, they’re not actually stuck, in which case you don’t need to use an Idea roll.

Second, they ARE stuck and definitely need help to get unstuck. In which case, you shouldn’t be rolling the dice because failure is not actually an option: You need to give them information. Therefore you should not be rolling to see whether or not they get it.

PLAYER-INITIATED IDEA ROLLS

On the other side of the screen, a player-initiated Idea roll is generally more viable: This is basically the players sending up an emergency flare and saying, “We’re lost! Please send help!” To return to our analogy of the video game walkthrough, this is the player who has been stymied to the point where they’re no longer having fun and just want to be able to move on in the game.

In my experience, it should be noted, what such players are looking for is often not the solution; what they are looking for is an action. They feel stuck because they don’t know what they should be doing. A Matryoshka search technique, therefore, is often a great way to respond to this.

Something else to look for is the clue that they’ve overlooked. Not necessarily a clue they haven’t found, but one which they don’t realize is actually a clue, which they’ve radically misinterpreted, or which they’ve completely forgotten they have. For example:

• “You realize that patent leather can also be used for furniture, not just shoes.”
• “While S.O.S. could be a cry for help, couldn’t it also be someone’s initials?”
• “You suddenly remember that you still have Suzy’s diary in the pocket of your trench coat. Didn’t she mention something about the color purple, too?”

Trail of Cthulhu innovated a cool mechanic along these lines for its Cthulhu Mythos skill: You can use this skill to “put together the pieces and draw upon the terrible knowledge that you have been subconsciously suppressing, achieving a horrific epiphany. The Keeper provides you with the result of your intuition, sketching out the Mythos implications of the events you have uncovered.”

There are two important features to this mechanic: First, it doesn’t require a roll. (Again, if the players need help, then denying it to them on the basis of a dice roll doesn’t make sense.)

Second, it has a cost: The sudden insight into the terrible realities of the universe will cost you Stability and, quite possibly, Sanity. Importantly, this cost is NOT exacted “if the player deduces the horrible truth without actually using [the] Cthulhu Mythos ability.” The cost, in my experience, not only dissuades players from relying on the mechanic instead of their own ingenuity, it also enhances the sense of accomplishment they feel when they solve the mystery or gain the insight without using the mechanic.

The 7^th Edition of Call of Cthulhu has similarly modernized the Idea roll, using a fail forward technique where a failure still gets the PCs the necessary clue/course of action, but also results in some sort of negative consequence: Getting the clue might bring you to the attention of the bad guys; or you might waste weeks of time digging through a library before finally stumbling across the right reference; or, like Trail of Cthulhu, the insight might force a Sanity check.

Another cool technique it suggests, particularly in the case of failing forward, is to aggressively reframe the scene: Jump directly to the point where the PCs have followed the lead and gotten themselves into trouble as a result.

A final interesting variant here is to make the Idea roll concept diegetic instead of non-diegetic; i.e., to make it a decision the character makes instead of the player. In a fantasy setting, for example, the character might literally make a sacrifice to the Goddess of Knowledge in order to receive a divine vision.

GM DON’T LIST #10.1: TELLING PLAYERS THE PLAN

Like an aggressive Idea roll on steroids, some GMs will go so far as to just literally tell the players what their characters will be doing for the entire scenario.

For example, I was playing in a convention one-shot where we were street samurai who got hired to be ringers on a Blood Bowl team in order to rig a high-stakes game. This was a really cool premise, turning the usual expectations of the game on its head and giving us an opportunity to explore how the PCs’ heist-oriented abilities could be used in a completely novel environment.

Unfortunately, the session quickly went completely off the rails. Rather than letting the players make any meaningful decisions, the GM had pre-scripted every play of the game: We were reduced to simply rolling whatever skill had been scripted for us. (It didn’t help that the rolls themselves were essentially pointless since the outcome of every drive and most of the plays had ALSO been planned ahead of time.)

This was an extreme example of something closely related to GM Don’t List #7: Preempting Investigation, but I bring it up here mostly because I’ve seen several GMs who use Idea rolls to similar (albeit usually less absurd) ends. These game are characterized by the players making an endless stream of Idea rolls, with the GM constantly saying things like, “Pierre [your character] thinks he should come back and check out the Le Petit Pont after dark.” Or, “You could probably get a pretty good view from the top of Notre Dame. You’ll need to figure out some way to get up to the top of the towers.” Or even, as literally happened in one game, “Rebecca thinks she should stab the Archbishop in the chest.” (“No, really, she thinks this is really important.”)

Basically: Don’t do this. Present your players with problems, not solutions. Give them the space to mull over a situation and figure out what they want to do (or what they think they need to do) in response to that situation.

Go to Part 11: Description-on-Demand

Go to Table of Contents

We’ve finally arrived at the big moment: The PCs are going to discover what really happened to the holy city of Elturel and then they’re going to descend into the depths of Hell!

(If we were to look at the campaign in terms of three-point plotting, the destruction of Elturel is the DISRUPTION that the characters MUST deal with and the revelations at Candlekeep are the REVERSAL, the moment where the whole campaign becomes an entirely different campaign.)

There are a couple of problems we need to address here.

First, as discussed in Part 3, we lack a clear vision of how the pact that sent Elturel to Hell works. On the one hand, the metaphysics of the pact (literally how it works) is simply underdeveloped to the point where it’s mostly just vigorous handwaving. On the other hand, the historical background on how it happened (who made the pact, what their relationship was with Elturel, when the pact was made, etc.) is riddled with continuity errors (both in terms of Descent Into Avernus itself and also in relation to preexisting continuity).

Second: We’ve reached the point where the PCs plane shift to the Nine Hells!

The book so blithely presents this as the next thing that happens (it’s the name of the book!) that it might take you a moment to realize that the PCs have absolutely no reason to do this.

“But they’ve just learned that the city of Elturel has been transported to Hell!”

Uh huh. So what?

They’re 5^th level PCs. They have no special resources or knowledge that put them in a unique position to solve this problem and we’ve already established that Elturel is filled with high-level paladins, spellcasters, and others that obviously haven’t been able to solve the problem. In fact, since the PCs have no idea how to solve the problem, the solution could just as easily be found in Waterdeep or the Elturian crater or Iriaebor as in Avernus!

Frodo taking the One Ring to Mordor? Sure. He has a unique vector for destroying Sauron’s power that no one else in the world has.

Some random halfling without the One Ring heading to Mordor to “save the day”? It makes no sense. It’s suicide.

Yes, there are some NPCs standing right there who can say, “I have received a message from the Great DM in the Sky! Thou art supposed to get on the train!” if the players haven’t intuited the rails. But we can do better than that.

LORE OF THE PACT OF ELTUREL

Note: As with other “Lore” sections of the Remix, this material should be considered authoritative. Any place where it contradicts the published version of Descent Into Avernus is a deliberate change. Ignore the published version and use the continuity described here.

At this point we’re going to be providing a broad overview for both the metaphysics of Elturel’s fall (providing a framework for how this could be done to any city) and the history of Elturel’s fall (i.e., the specific events for how it actually happened).

As we dive into the history of Elturel, it may be useful to know that a lot of this is based on a mistake: When writing the 4^th Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, Rich Baker confused Elversult (which had an artificial sun) with Elturel (which now ended up with an artificial sun). See Addendum: A Textual History of Elturel for more details.

THE HISTORY OF ELTUREL’S FALL

In 1439 DR, High Rider Klav Ikaia led an expedition of Hellriders into the High Moor. A feral vampire had begun turning large numbers of orcs, trolls, and ogres into vampire spawn which were threatening the peace of border communities that had been placed under the protection of Elturel’s Guard. The expedition was a success and the feral vampire, along with most of its spawn, was destroyed. Unbeknownst to the rest of the expedition, however, High Rider Ikaia had become infected.

The new vampire lord of Elturel kept his true nature hidden, but the darkness of his curse ate at the city like a cancer. In 1444 DR, the secret was discovered by Naja Bellandi, the High Watcher of Helm. Naja managed to escape from the High Hall before she was turned into a vampire herself, fled through the moonlit shadows of the Garden, and ultimately eluded the vampires hunting her by diving from the Maiden’s Leap into the canal below.

Naja’s discovery and subsequent escape triggered the Night of the Red Coup: High Rider Ikaia and his vampires had already infiltrated the highest ranks of the government; now they swept through what remained, killing or converting dozens. The Hellriders themselves were betrayed, caught off guard, and slaughtered in a vampiric frenzy.

Naja Bellandi, having dragged herself from the canal, returned to Helm’s Shieldhall only to find it an abattoir. She gathered any survivors she could find and sent word to the patrols still operating outside the city. A siege was raised, but the Hellriders were ill-equipped for such an action and their one-time allies had been alienated by High Rider Ikaia’s imperial actions (even before he became a vampire). Inside the city walls, Bellandi ran one of several guerilla resistance groups, but for fourteen days a reign of vampiric terror gripped the city.

THE CULT OF ZARIEL: There was a Cult of Zariel in Elturel at this time, being led by Gargauth. In this chaos Gargauth saw an opportunity. Members of the cult approached High Watcher Bellandi and told her that Zariel could help her… all she had to do was agree to a Pact.

Bellandi initially rebuffed their offer, but then came the High Harvest Slaughter: Vampires broke into High Harvest Home, the temple of Chauntea, and murdered the entire congregation which had taken refuge there. Hundreds of men, women, and children were killed and the worship of Chauntea in the city was virtually wiped out.

The Zarielites came again, and this time Bellandi accepted their offer. She formed a Pact with Zariel, accepting the Archduchess’ help in overthrowing High Rider Ikaia. In return, the entire city would be forfeit to Zariel in fifty years. (Bellandi believed she had bargained well in gaining the fifty years, but in reality Zariel needed that time anyway to secure her grip on the city.)

That night the Companion arrived in the sky above Elturel. The vampires were taken by surprise and most were destroyed by its “holy” light, although High Rider Ikaia himself escaped into the catacombs beneath the city.

Note: The inner mystery of the Cult of Zariel claims that they have been secret puppetmasters in Elturel ever since Zariel first rode into Avernus in the Charge of the Hellriders. Although it is perhaps possible that the local cult dates back that far in one form or another, if they had actually been pulling strings the entire time, the city probably would have fallen to Hell long ago.

AFTER THE COMPANION: High Watcher Bellandi became High Observer Bellandi and began the painful process of reconstruction. Only she and the Cult of Zariel knew of the Pact that had been made, and in her hubris Bellandi believed that in the fifty years she had left that she would either be able to find a way of breaking the Pact or, perhaps, evacuate the city or find some other solution for the people to escape Zariel’s snare.

In 1446 DR, the Cult of Zariel had Bellandi assassinated.

Bellandi was replaced by High Observer Cathasach Restat, one of the founding members of the Order of the Companion. Restat was a good man, completely ignorant of the Pact that had been made. In 1448 DR he converted to the religion of Torm, a god of order and righteousness who was growing popular in a city desperately craving such things. It was under Restat that Elturel became increasingly theocratic, with the Order of the Companion becoming ascendant over the Hellriders, the High Hall reconsecrated as a temple to Torm, and Restat himself becoming not merely the High Observer, but the High Observer of Torm.

The reign of High Rider Ikaia had been a true gift to the Cult of Zariel. With the vampires’ death, all the upper levels of the Elturian government had been stripped away. The cult stepped into the power vacuum, placing their people in key positions throughout the new government. Although High Observer Restat was not a Zarielite, this process only accelerated after Bellandi’s assassination, and they also established auxiliary cults in the cities conquered by the newly christened empire of Elturgard. Eventually they were ready to take the next step.

High Observer Restat’s heir apparent was a popular paladin named Tamal Thent. In 1479 DR, she and her entire retinue mysteriously disappeared near the Boareskyr Bridge. (They were ambushed by a company of Zarielite Hellriders.) When Restat died in 1481 DR, Thavius Kreeg, a member of the Cult of Zariel, became the new High Observer instead. He’s ruled the city for the past thirteen years.

Design Note: If you wanted to keep more strictly consistent with the idea from Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide that Thavius Kreeg has been High Observer for forty years, you can eliminate Cathasach Restat from this timeline: Bellandi is assassinated, it looks like Tamal Thent is going to succeed her, but then she mysteriously vanishes and Kreeg gets the position instead.

Since the continuity is a mess anyway, I felt comfortable making this change, however. Primarily I think it’s more interesting if the person who makes the pact with Zariel ISN’T a cultist, but then that person can’t stick around too long. I also think it’s more interesting if Thavius Kreeg is a younger man and the heir of a decades-long scheme, rather than the mastermind who has orchestrated Elturel’s fall from the beginning. This creates a gap which has to be filled, and I also think Elturgard has a bit more heft as a political entity if there’s an actual succession of rulers (as opposed to it being a one-generation gimmick). I also found it was a lot easier to explain the rise of Torm in Elturel once Restat was in the picture.

I also played with the idea of simply abandoning the city’s unexplained conversion from Helm to Torm, particularly once I realized how natural the High Watcher → High Observer progression was. But the Torm stuff is pretty baked in at this point, and I think this version works well.

THE METAPHYSICS OF ELTUREL’S FALL

The goal of Zariel and Gargauth is to have a mass recruitment of new devils for the Blood War. They do this in two ways:

1. They corrupt the oaths of the Hellriders and the Order of the Companion. When the Pact’s term comes due, any high knights in Elturel are immediately claimed by Zariel. As detailed in Part 3B, this is also true for any of these knights (or their descendants) who die on the Material Plane before Elturel sinks into the Styx (and the Pact is completed).
2. When Elturel sinks into the Styx, the waters of the river will wash over the city. Not only will everyone in the city be drowned, but their minds will be wiped clean. Dying in this immediate state of tabula rasa at the very moment that the Pact completes will allow Zariel to scoop up the souls of everyone in Elturel, giving her 40,000 new foot soldiers to throw into the Blood War.

THE COMPANION: The role of the Companion in Zariel’s scheme is multifaceted. First, of course, it was the price paid to High Watcher Bellandi to form the Pact, and its light was, indeed, malefic to the undead.

Second, the Companion was the source for all the “holy” spells cast by the false clerics and “paladins” of the Cult of Zariel. Although this could only be done within the Companion’s light, it allowed them to infiltrate churches and organizations in Elturgard that would have otherwise been inaccessible to them. (Note that the Companion could be seen as far away as Boareskyr Bridge and Berdusk as a bright star hanging low in the sky.) This effect was achieved due to the planetar trapped within the Solar Insidiator (aka, the Companion): The artifact effectively “borrowed” the planetar’s energy signature, harvesting and manipulating it not only to create the “holy” spells, but also to mask Zarielites from common divinations that would otherwise have exposed them.

Third, transporting an entire city to another plane takes a lot of magical mojo. The Companion’s light, having bathed Elturel for fifty years, slowly infused the buildings, streets, and even people. This created an incredibly huge negative etheric charge. When the Pact came to an end, Zariel flipped the “polarity” of the Companion, snapping the charge back to neutral in an instant and releasing a huge wave of energy that helped propel the entire city into Hell.

Note: This effect, although quite vast, was also quite subtle. It’s possible that various arcanists became aware of something strange in the Ethereal Plane around Elturel, particularly in later years. Some might have even begun researching it. If so, they would have been either assassinated or discredited by the Cult of Zariel.

RELIGIOUS SUBVERSION: There was one last and extremely vital requirement for Zariel’s plan: Elturel had to be stripped of its divine protection. If the forces of Hell just swoop down, kidnap thousands of a god’s followers, and whisk them off to Avernus, they’re inviting the god (and probably a bunch of their pantheonic friends) to intervene. Maybe you can do it in a pinch, but it’s a lot easier if you can first nudge those people out of the god’s column so that the god no longer has divine standing (like legal standing, but more complicated) to come stomp on Avernus.

Of course, you also have to be subtle about all of this. Otherwise, gods like Helm and Torm will send visions to their meddlesome priests and tell them to start looking that second gift sun in the mouth. So Zariel’s plan proceeded gradually across several years:

• Start by sowing confusion about the origin of the Companion. Let every god just kind of assume that some other god must have been responsible.
• Institutionalize and escalate this with the Creed Resolute, which — in the name of Unity — forbids any who take the oath from claiming that the Companion was the gift of any particular god. Let that belief seep into the general populace: The Companion was a gift from all because it was a gift from none. It is simultaneously divine, but not of any god.
• Spend decades infiltrating every major religion in Elturel. Slowly corrupt their religious services (either from the top down or bottom up) so that they are venerating the Companion. (A fairly typical form is to give some form of thanks to the divine gift of the second sun, which “walks beside us every day, a constant companion to us in times of trouble.” Importantly, it’s a divine gift which custom and, increasingly, engrained belief says you cannot ascribe to your own god. So your religious rites are now venerating a “divine” thing which is not your god.)

To seal the deal, three years ago in 1491 DR Thavius Kreeg passed the Unity Laws. These subtly torqued the, by now well-established, Elturian belief that Unity meant not ascribing the Companion to any god so that Unity now meant explicitly giving thanks to the Companion before your god.

Unity Prayers were to be given before any public event. These were initially limited to non-religious events, but, without any explicit government action, the Zarielites within the churches soon added them to most religious services, too. Their forms varied, but were typically something like:

Before all, we give thanks to the Companion, whose light gives us the bounty of the fields and shields us from the dark; whose eternal presence is a constant ally against all those who would threaten Elturgard. Let all those who stand within its blessing remember that it is a beacon of righteousness, which we will follow to our greater glory.

Unity Tributes were erected in various public spaces — small sculptures of the Companion or the emblazoning of the twin sun heraldry of the Order of the Companion. Although labeled “tributes,” it would be more accurate to call them shrines. Coins were often dropped into unity fountains for good fortune. In some cases, people would “pay tribute” by leaving small effigies of themselves under an idol of the Companion — a custom which started with knights leaving Elturel to go on patrol (so that they could symbolically always be within the Companion’s light), was picked up by merchants similarly leaving the city on various journeys, and eventually spread to the population in general even if they weren’t going anywhere. Eventually, these tributes were added outside (or even inside) churches and temples throughout the city.

You can’t quite legislate a requirement that people say things like, “Bless the Companion!” when they receive good fortune; or “We thank the Companion for our refection” before a meal; or “If Sajra agrees to marry me, I swear I’ll never leave the Companion’s light!”, but you can certainly lead the horse to water.

The end result of all this was that the churches of Elturgard were suborned into a form of idolatry aimed at the Companion. To be clear, at the time of Elturel’s Fall there were many people who actually were still true and faithful followers of various gods (and many more who thought they were faithful followers and could probably be guided back onto the true path if given the right leadership). Just not enough of them. Distanced from Elturel so slowly that they didn’t even notice it was happening, none of the gods saw what was coming and none were left with divine standing when the final hour came.

Design Note: The religious subversion stuff is getting a lot more attention here than seems immediately warranted. It doesn’t play an essential role in the Fall of Elturel and, unlike the other metaphysical aspects, the PCs don’t really need to understand any of this to make the scenario work. However, I found it interesting. I think it will also have an impact as the PCs begin exploring Elturel; and I think it also ends up being insightful for roleplaying Elturian characters.

THE PACT

On this, the fifteenth day of Flamerule, in the one thousandth, four hundredth, and forty-fourth year of the Dale Reckoning, I, Naja Bellandi, by my authority as the High Watcher of Helm and the highest surviving mortal authority in the city of Elturel, do swear this Oath to pledge my soul and the entire city of Elturel unto the Archduchess Zariel, to be so passed into her custody at the end of fifty years, the latter to be transported to Avernus and the former to be taken into her service.

In exchange for which, Zariel, the Archduchess of Avernus and faithful representative of Asmodeus, the Archfiend, Lord of the Ninth and Nessus, Supreme Master of the Nine Hells, bestows the Gift of the Companion, a Solar Insidiator which shall be placed in the sky above Elturel for at least the term of this agreement and whose light will scourge the undead from the city. She further swears to render whatever aid may be necessary to end High Rider Klav Ikaia’s reign if the Gift of the Companion prove insufficient to this task.

In consideration and honor of these mutual covenants, we sign in blood upon the day and year first written above,

Zariel, Archduchess of Avernus

High Watcher Naja Bellandi of Elturel

CREED RESOLUTE: The Creed Resolute was the founding document of the Order of the Companions, but in the 1470’s it was also “adopted” by the Hellriders. (This was actually somewhat controversial at the time, and it was more forced on them by the High Observer of Torm than freely taken up. By 1494 DR, however, this controversy is largely forgotten and the Hellriders mostly embrace the Creed enthusiastically.) The full Creed is actually a lengthy document proscribing and prescribing various courses of action that are “right and proper” for a knight. This includes some guidance that’s ethical and moral (mostly chivalric code-type stuff), and other guidance that’s more practical (like codes of dress and the list of arms and armor which any follower of the Creed must maintain). Even Elturians who haven’t sworn the oath to uphold the Creed Resolute will often say things like “recall the Creed.”

The crucial bit in terms of Elturel’s Fall, however, is the oath the knights swear to uphold the Creed:

I solemnly pledge my soul and blood and blade to serve as a knight of Elturel and share the Oath of the High Observer in honoring the Gift of the Companion. I shall guard the realm of Elturgard and all those lands which lie under Elturel’s Shield, upholding the laws of Elturgard and the commands of the High Observer. I shall live my life in strict accord to the Creed Resolute, placing it and this oath above all other doctrines. I shall be bound to all others who swear this oath, declaring them now and forevermore, whether in life or beyond the veil of death, to be my brothers in arms. To ensure the perfect harmony of our brotherhood, I shall permit no difference in faith to come between us, but rather hold the Companion, which I shall never attribute to one god or another, as our common star.

Metaphysically, there are two important things to note:

• They pledge their soul to “share the Oath of the High Observer.” The implication is that this is the oath to uphold the Creed Resolute, but, of course, that’s not the case. It’s actually the oath that High Observer Bellandi made to Zariel in the Pact. Everyone swearing this Oath sells their soul to Zariel, just like Bellandi did.
• They also pledge their “blood.” This is the clause that damns all of their offspring and leads directly to the murders described in Part 3.

Pro tip, kids: Don’t swear to oaths you’ve never seen.

Design Note: I don’t know if this was intentional (I don’t think it was), but in Middle English the word “resolute” also meant “paid,” in the sense that one had paid a debt.

TOME OF THE CREED RESOLUTE

Everyone who swears the formal oath to the Creed Resolute pricks their thumb and places their blood-mark in the Tome of the Creed Resolute. Their signature then magically appears within the book (which also magically gains pages whenever needed). The Tome dates back to the founding of the Order of the Companion and thus contains the signature and blood-mark of every knight who has ever sworn the oath.

The first page of the Tome has the text of the Oath. The next several pages contain the current text of the full Creed Resolute. The particulars of the Creed (but not the Oath) can be modified by the High Observer and the High Knights of Elturel, and has been on several occasions over the last several decades.

What no one living knows is that if you rip the Tome apart, you will find the full text of the Pact between Zariel and Naja Bellandi written in golden ink (actually the blood of a celestial) on the inside of the book’s spine. The Tome of the Creed Resolute is not a true infernal pact, but it is an important focus for binding the soul and blood of those who swear the Oath to the original Pact. Importantly, it prevents anyone who has sworn the oath from forswearing it and, thus, escaping Zariel’s claim to their soul.

If you destroy the Tome of the Creed Resolute, it will not free those who have already been claimed by Zariel. But it will:

• Free the descendants of Elturian knights.
• Stop Elturian knights from turning into devils the moment that they die in Avernus (see Part 5).
• Allow Elturian knights to free themselves entirely by forswearing the oath they swore and receiving the benefit of a remove curse

Pherria Jynks currently has the Tome of the Creed Resolute in the High Hall of Elturel.

Go to Part 4C: At the Threshold of Hell