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The revised background for the Dungeon of the Dead Three is covered in Part 3B: Lore of the Vanthampur Investigations. Short version: Duke Vanthampur discovered an ancient temple dedicated to the Dead Three under the Heapside neighborhood. She sealed off the connections to the sewers and built the Frolicking Nymph bathhouse on top of it in order to create a secret entrance. She has most recently offered the temple to the Dead Three cultists in exchange for their assistance (which currently takes the form of murdering refugees).

There are a number of elements in the Dungeon of the Dead Three that we’re going to be adjusting, polishing, or enhancing. We’ll start by looking at those issues in detail, then present a revised key, and round things out with an adversary roster.

THURSTWELL’S IMP SPIES

We’ll start in the very first room of the dungeon: D1, the Courtyard.

An invisible imp is perched on the southeast fountain. If the characters look as though they intend to cause trouble, the imp observes them quietly until they enter the bathhouse, then flies to Vanthampur Villa in the Upper City to alert Thurstwell Vanthampur, the oldest of Duke Thalamra Vanthampur’s sons. Thurstwell instructs the imp to return to its post but takes no further action, hoping that the characters dispose of his brother, Mortlock

Thurstwell’s imp spies actually turn up several times and they almost always do the same thing: They invisibly watch the PCs while taking no action. Then they fly to Thurstwell and report what they saw. And then Thurstwell doesn’t do anything with that knowledge.

Ever.

My first instinct when seeing an element that’s designed so that the PCs never become aware of it and which has no impact on anything the PCs will do or experience is to just delete it. (It’s actually kind of amazing how many published adventures include this sort of thing.) But there are a couple of clever imp interactions and the central idea of Thurstwell as a crippled spider stuck in his home, able to exercise his will upon the world only through his imp servitors while jealously observing his able-bodied siblings going out and about in the world, is a really great character beat.

So what we really need here is for the imp spies to become meaningful. Which primarily means that Thurstwell needs to take meaningful action in response to what the imps see. A few possibilities:

• He sends an imp to barter with the PCs. (He’d probably like them to kill one or both of his brothers. If he’s feeling daring, or if the PCs have already succeeded at eliminating his brothers, he might even ask them to kill his mother so that he can take her place at the head of the family. If the PCs were to go all in on this, you could have an alternate trajectory where, the job done, he asks them to take the infernal puzzlebox to Candlekeep and have it opened.)
• He sends a murder squad of Dead Three Cultists (Descent Into Avernus, p. 28) to kill the PCs.
• He sends an abduction squad to kidnap a refugee that the PCs care about so that he can use them as leverage. (Maybe to leverage them into an alliance. Maybe to force them to back off.)

Basically, if you play Thurstwell as proactive and Machiavellian, he can either become an unexpected ally or a hated enemy (or both).

WATER LEVELS

There are several text-to-map mismatches in the dungeon, but the most significant are those related to the flooding in the dungeon.

First, Area D8 is described as a “dry alcove”:

In addition to the coloring, the stairs should be placed NORTH of D8, not east.

The design of the dungeon actually does a good job of having the flooded portions of the dungeon consistently lower than the rest of the dungeon. Which is why the failure to color in Area D23 (which is correctly described as flooded in the text) is also an error:

You may want to mark your copy of the map to make sure you get these details right while running the adventure.

THE DEAD THREE DOORS

Let’s take a look at Area D9. There are four passages that lead out of this area: One comes from the entrance, while the others lead to cultists/shrines belonging to one of the Dead Three Gods (Bhaal, Bane, Myrkul).

There are also three doors in Area D9:

• East: Bane
• North: Bhaal
• South: Myrkul

Am I crazy or should the door to the north actually be to the west so that all of the themed doors match the themed content behind them?

In practice, this would mean that the PCs are likely to come in from the entrance and be presented with three creepy doors that they have to interpret and choose and between. Not only is this a cool moment that would set the tone for the entire dungeon, it’s also an opportunity for a meaningful choice. Instead, there’s just a random choice stripped of meaning.

The simple solution here is to just move the door (and you’ll see that in the revised key below), but we’ll also be delving more deeply into the possibilities here in Part 3G: Xandering the Dead Three.

DUNGEON GAS

Area D18 is filled with explosive gas.

The gas has these properties:

• Invisible
• Lighter than air
• Smells like rotten eggs

These are the properties of modern natural gas (which is actually odorless, but since 1880 has had the smell added through the use of an odorant called mercaptan). I’m fairly certain this is not a coincidence, and the designers probably just defaulted to the explosive gas they were most familiar with.

But it’s a choice worth examining. For example, D18 is actually the lowest point in the complex, so it might make more sense to go with a heavier-than-air gas that could CONCENTRATE here, rather than a lighter-than-air gas that dissipates. This would allow you to describe the faint smell elsewhere in the complex where the gas is entering the area (D13, D17, and D19 would be good choices).

This is about more than just being “logical” or having an “accurate simulation” (the layout of the dungeon is designed; you can design it however you want). It’s about meaningful choice and problem-solving: If the PCs can detect the presence of gas leaks before entering Area D18, it gives them the opportunity to gather information and then use that information.

(The adventure kind of does this by saying that any character approaching D18 detects the smell and can make a skill check to recognize its significance. But that’s just a bang-bang interaction; not an opportunity to think, analyze, and make meaningful choices.)

Similarly, D18 is a chokepoint. You have to walk through it to get from one side of the dungeon to the other. “Bringing a lit torch or other open flame into the gas-filled room triggers an explosion…” But: “Followers of the Dead Three carry torches…” Hmm.

The adventure notes that the cultists will extinguish their torches before passing through Area D18, but it’s probably a stronger choice to go one step further here and give them light sources that reflect the environment: Safety lamps or light spells, for example. PCs, seeing this, could realize the danger of an open flame.

In addition to problem-solving, this type of thing also gives the dungeon the feeling of a complete environment rather than just a bunch of disconnected, individual rooms.

So what we’re looking for is a gas with these properties:

• Invisible
• Heavier than air
• Has a distinctive smell (naturally, without the addition of odorants)

In researching safety lamps I discovered that the word dampf, in German, means “vapour.” In England, the term became used to describe a variety of gases encountered during mining:

• Firedamp refers to a flammable gas, most often methane.
• Whitedamp refers to a smothering, toxic gas (usually carbon monoxide resulting from burning coal). This is the gas which canaries were famously used to detect.
• Stinkdamp is hydrogen sulfide. Poisonous, corrosive, and very flammable, with the foul odor of rotten eggs.
• Afterdamp, the toxic mixture of gases left in the aftermath of an explosion. Could be any mixture of the above.

So we can look at that list and identify stinkdamp as the gas we’re looking for.

In remixing the dungeon, however, there are a few more things I’d consider.

First, the risk of an explosion in Area D15. (Looking at the map it seems logical that gas flowing down to D18 would also flow down to D15.) Whether the PCs encounter D18 or D15 first, even if they trigger one explosion they’ll have an opportunity to apply that lesson and avoid the next one. (Or, if they’ve figured out how to avoid the explosions, they potentially get twice the pay-off for it.)

Second, there should be some clear indications that the cultists are trying to fix the gas leak problem. (And probably the sewage flooding the place, too. Yuck. They’re not Moander worshippers.)

Third, I think it would be cool if the cultists were USING the gas for something. Experiments in the Morgue (D13) seem cool. So rather than using stinkdamp, we’re going to use corpsedamp. Usually extracted by necromancers from rotting corpses, corpsedamp can be useful to their work in a number of different ways. I’ve previously written about corpsedamp here, including stats for corpsedamp zombies. So we’ll also swap out some of the skeletons and replace them with these experimental undead.

ELUSIVE MORTLOCK

We’ll talk about this in more detail in Part 3G, but looking at the dungeon on a macro-level it’s relatively easy to see that it’s fairly linear: There are a couple of side branches and a couple of loops, but the design strongly funnels you through the full dungeon to Area D29, where the essential encounter with Mortlock that links you to the next scenario is located.

We talk about some of the other problems with this encounter in Part 3 of the Remix, but the thing to note here, once you identify D29 as the essential Must Have Encounter™ for the adventure to continue, is that the only way to get to Area D29 is through the secret door in Area D23:

I was initially going to describe this as a weird choice, but I think we can realistically describe it as simply being a bad choice. This is something I’ve talked about before, but you’ve created a chokepoint here which makes your scenario very fragile: If the PCs don’t find/go through that secret door, you literally have to toss out the next 232 pages of the book. So a secret door is a bad choice.

But they’ve also sort of tripled down on this bad choice:

• The secret door is in a weird location: Just sitting in the middle of a hallway. That actually makes it far more likely that the PCs will simply never think to look for a door there.
• They’ve put a cultist guard here who, upon spotting the PCs, runs off to a different area. This will have the effect of making the PCs chase him, making it even more likely that they won’t take the time to search this random chunk of hallway.
• They go to oddly great lengths at several points in this dungeon to specifically prevent the PCs from learning about this secret door. (Which, again, is absolutely necessary for the entire campaign to happen.) For example, in Area D14 there is a rat. They actually take the time to specifically tell the DM that if the PCs use speak with animals, this rat DEFINITELY won’t tell them about the secret door.

I’m not a big fan of this kind of needless stonewalling in any case, but here it’s basically perverse.

Now, the work we’ve done revising the revelation lists for the Vanthampur Investigations (see Part 3C) has greatly reduced the fragility of Act I of Descent Into Avernus overall, and this is no longer a Must Have Encounter™. However, it’s still structurally ideal for the PCs to confront Mortlock here: You don’t need to force it to happen, but it also doesn’t make a lot of sense to go out of your way to prevent it from happening.

One way we could remove the fragility of this secret door would be to use the same solution we’ve applied everywhere else: The Three Clue Rule. Simply add three clues pointing to the existence of the secret door, giving the players a robust opportunity to have the revelation that it exists and then track it down.

Another solution might be making it explicit that (a) Mortlock Vanthampur is in the dungeon and (b) you need to confront/kill him. That way if the PCs have seemingly cleared the entire dungeon but HAVEN’T found Mortlock yet, they’ll know that there must be a secret door and they can scour the place until they find it.

But in this case the solution is considerably simpler:

Get rid of the secret door.

There’s absolutely no reason for this door to be a secret door, so just make it a regular door.

CRAMPED CORRIDORS

This is actually not a complaint which I have about the scenario, but one which I’ve seen expressed by a number of GMs (including several who have contacted me directly about it): The Dungeon of the Dead Three is filled with 5-foot-wide corridors and relatively small rooms, and this results in unsatisfactory combat encounters.

I haven’t actually run the scenario (so take this with a grain of salt), but I’ve run enough similar dungeon compounds over the years that my initial reaction to this complaint is strong skepticism. The claustrophobic conditions of a dungeon like this present unique strategic challenges, but it behooves the players to turn those strategic challenges to their advantage (rather than vice versa).

With that being said, to make a dungeon like the Dungeon of the Dead Three really come alive, you need to break the preconception (that’s been subconsciously ground into you by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of encounters from published scenarios) that fights “belong” to a particular keyed room.

For example, if you look at the necromite fight keyed to Area D10:

… that looks like a really boring fight. A 15’ square? With three of those squares being occupied by NPCs?

But what you need to do is recognize that THIS is the real encounter area for the fight:

It’s particularly important to understand this if you’re using a battlemap! It’s very easy to hamstring an interesting encounter by artificially limiting what you actually draw or present as the battlemap for it.

(I talk about these issues more in Running the Campaign: Dungeon as Theater of Operations if you’re interested.)

With all that being said, if this is an issue that concerns you, it looks to me like you can just interpret the map as being drawn at a 10 foot scale instead of a 5 foot scale. Nothing seems to go particularly wonky in doing so.

CULTISTS DOING WEIRD SHIT

Is it weird that one of the cultists has decided to stand guard in D23 “standing in the water” when he could go up the nearby stairs and not have his feet rot off? Yes.

But the cultists down here are doing all kinds of nonsensical shit that I don’t really understand, so maybe it’s just a gimmick that I don’t grok. For example, two days ago they killed a guy and just left his corpse floating in the water for no apparent reason. Or there’s the room where three cultists are lying on the floor “pretending to be dead”… just for fun? On the off-chance somebody chooses this precise moment to stop by?

I don’t get it. Maybe you do. But if you don’t, it’s something you might want to think about before running the dungeon.

DEAD THREE LEADERS

One subtle thing that I almost forgot to talk about because I actually did it subconsciously: Although the local leaders of the Dead Three cults do appear to be named in Descent Into Avernus (Yignath, Flennis, and Vaaz), only one of them is explicitly identified as such. The Remix not only calls particular attention to their identity for the benefit of the DM, it also gives some methods for the PCs to learn their identities.

Identifying the leaders isn’t strictly essential, so I didn’t bother doing a full Three Clue Rule work up for it, but you’ll note that I’ve dropped their names into various pieces of correspondence and you should also make a point of having cultists blabber them out when questioned.

Giving the players an opportunity to figure out the bad guys’ hierarchy here will give them a target list to aim for. This not only gives them the satisfaction of figuring something out, it also gives the Dungeon of the Dead Three a structure in play that’s just slightly more meaningful than “clear the dungeon” (even if, in actual practice, they still end up clearing every room).

TIAMAT TREASURE

There’s this weird little, somewhat abortive subplot here where the Vanthampurs have somehow stolen treasure from the hoard of Tiamat in Avernus. Some of the treasure is here in the Dungeon of the Dead Three and some of it is in Vanthampur Manor. As the PCs leave the dungeon, they encounter Tiamat cultists who have come to retrieve the treasure.

The original intention appears to have been for this stolen treasure to be a significant plot point (Descent Into Avernus, p. 6): “By returning her stolen treasure, characters can convince Tiamat to break Elturel’s chains.” But it seems to have been dropped at some point during development (although mentioned in this opening summary, the treasure doesn’t actually factor into any negotiations the PCs have with Tiamat later in the scenario), leaving only some weird vestigial bits.

OPTION #1: My initial inclination was to basically finish expurgating the material from the adventure by removing the encounter with the Tiamat cultists and just not caring about where the cultists’ treasury came from. It feels like very little (if anything) is lost if you do this, and you can easily just excise the encounter if you’d like.

ESTABLISHING LORE: However, I did see an opportunity to use the Tiamat relic in the treasury to establish the key piece of lore that Tiamat is imprisoned in Avernus (since she will factor into the Avernus section of the campaign).

WHERE DID THE TREASURE COME FROM? The explanation (and significance) of how and why the treasure was stolen from Tiamat’s hoard appears to have been lost at some point during the campaign’s revision. Rebuilding all of that from scratch is probably more complication than I’m interested in dealing with, and if you’re going with Option #1 it’s largely irrelevant.

However, some of the additional material added to the Remix established that the Dead Three cult leader Yignath is easily distracted and may be pursuing projects other than the refugee murders. I decided this would include a burglary at Hhune Manor, in which he stole this treasure and also kidnapped Satiir Thione-Hhune. Mortlock allowed Yignath to keep the money, but has sent Satiir to Vanthampur Manor to be used as political leverage.

(Because the Shield of the Hidden Lord is no longer stolen from the Hhunes in the Remix, this also explains Satiir’s presence in Vanthampur Manor.)

OPTION #2: Having done all this, I realized that the Tiamat cultists had suddenly become both relevant and interesting again. In this option, the Hhune treasures included a number of Tiamat-related artifacts, including two pieces — a mask and a crown (see relevant lore below) — that were deeply desired by Arkhan the Cruel. Wards of the Hhune vaults had long hidden them from Arkhan’s sight, but once they were removed from the vault they became vulnerable and the cultists were sent to retrieve them.

• The cultists’ interest in the artifacts will direct or redirect the PCs attention to them, allowing us to emphasize the key piece of lore.
• If the PCs are aware that the mask has been removed from the cache and taken to Vanthampur Manor, they may be able to convince the Tiamat cultists to assist them in raiding the manor.
• Alternatively, the Tiamat cultists might figure out where the mask is independently and complicate the PCs’ raid by executing their own raid at the same time.
• If the PCs assist the cultists in retrieving the artifacts, they are thanked “on behalf of Arkhan the Cruel.” If they encounter Arkhan when they travel to Avernus, he will be more inclined to aid them.

RELEVANT TIAMAT LORE: The full history of Tiamat is a twisted knot that I’m not going to attempt to unravel at the moment. There are three key facts:

• She once ruled Avernus, but the evil dragons born of the vast spawning pits she created proved ineffective in the Blood War and Asmodeus deposed her. (This epoch of Avernus would have predated even Gargauth’s rule by eons.)
• Tiamat is somehow imprisoned in her lair, which also guards the entrance from Avernus to Dis, the second layer of Hell.
• In the Year of the Bloodbird (1346 DR), Untheric cultists successfully summoned an aspect of Tiamat in the form of the Dark Lady. When the Dark Lady first appeared, she wore a simple crown and mask. It is, in fact, this crown and mask which the cultists seek. (They have no magical powers; they are merely historical curiosities held in great reverence by those who have pledged their fealty to the Dragon Queen.)

Go to Part 3F-B: Dungeon of the Dead Three (Revised Key)

Go to Table of Contents

Forty years ago, the Poisoned Poseidon was a pirate ship that tormented the Sword Coast. Its captain was the warlock Kelton Hunter, who used his ill-gotten gains to fund his infernal spellcraft. In 1457 DR, the pirate warlock sailed the Poseidon at the head of a pirate fleet into the harbor of Baldur’s Gate itself. In a duel with local adventurers, powerful spells caused the massive ship to be washed ashore, leaving it high and dry nearly a hundred feet from shore in the Brampton neighborhood. Kelton himself is said to have vanished, although locals still tell the story of how devils dragged him through a portal to Hell itself.

No one wanted to pay to have the hulk removed, and so for several years it lay abandoned, slowly sinking into the muck while serving as a breeding ground for rats and a lair for various ne’er-do-wells. When the old retaining walls of the dock (damaged during the Spellplague) were finally repaired in the 1470s, however, the ground around the Poseidon stabilized and new construction sprang up around it. The ship itself was converted into a tannery.

In 1492 DR, Dead Three cultists quietly took over the tannery. Other employees were cycled out and cultists were brought in. The Poseidon still operates as a profitable tannery, but serves as a front for cult activities.

LOCATION OF THE POSEIDON

 The Poisoned Poseidon is located here:

I’d originally looked at placing it on the far western edge of Brampton, but realized this would basically put it directly across the street from the Low Lantern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik). Nonetheless, we can see how the investigation is going to send the PCs tramping about in the Brampton neighborhood, so it’ll probably be a good idea to review the details on the neighborhood and see what else is in the area before running this session.

Of course, since I’m creating the Poisoned Poseidon out of whole cloth, it doesn’t actually appear on the map. But I did pick a section of the map that fit my general image for the tangled warren of buildings I imagined lying around the ship. (Take a peek at Random GM Tip: Visualizing City Block Maps.)

With a little bit of photoshopping, though, I was able to add the ship to Baldur’s Gate (and threw in Insight Park, too):

You can buy the high-resolution isometric map and top-down map from Mike Schley’s web store. The image above is a relatively tiny section of the isometric view, but I’ve maintained the same resolution so if you buy the map you should be able to add it seamlessly using any image manipulation program.

REFUGEES ON THE DOCKS: One of the reasons for using the Poisoned Poseidon and placing it on the Docks, is to provide an opportunity to view the Elturian refugee crisis from a different angle. The docks just to the east are crowded with refugees trying to find passage on already overbooked ships. Where to? For most of them, it almost doesn’t matter. They’re hoping that the situation will be better in Amn or Waterdeep or Daggerford or Neverwinter or almost anywhere. (Many of them might believe that whatever happened to Elturel is coming for Baldur’s Gate next and they just want to get as far away as possible. See Rumors of Elturel.)

MAPS OF THE POISONED POSEIDON

In creating the Poisoned Poseidon, I hacked together several different maps. First, to position the ship into the urban environment, I took Dyson Logos’ map of Mistshore from Dragon Heist (a slice of which you can see here) and hacked it together with the Third-Story Run map from his website.

For the lower decks of the ship, I grabbed one of Mike Schley’s maps from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, did some quick photoshopping to make it match the neighborhood map of the ship, and then added a Lower Hold from Dyson’s Buried at Sea:

Dyson’s map had actually been of an ersatz ship — a crypt that had been made to resemble a ship — but that didn’t matter: For our purposes, the Lower Hold is the part of the ship that had sunk into the muck. As some point, this unintentional “basement” was expanded by knocking a hole in the back of the ship.

(It was this image that actually decided me on the Poisoned Poseidon: When considering locations that could serve as a murder sites for the Dead Three cultists, Dyson’s Wolf Tower and Vanshiro Reliquary were also on the short list.)

And, of course, because we’re hacking maps together here, the “set dressing” is that of an active ship rather than one which has been converted into a tannery. The scale also changes from 10’ squares to 5’ squares.

KEYING THE POISONED POSEIDON

I’m going to describe the Poisoned Poseidon in broad strokes. If you want to write up a detailed key of each room, it should be a fairly straightforward extrapolation.

As the PCs explore the Poisoned Poseidon, they’ll also be exploring a medieval-style tannery. My primary reference for this was Kim Rendfeld’s short article “Odd Jobs — Tanning: A Medieval Dirty Job,”which I recommend checking out.

OUTBUILDINGS: A wooden staircase on the north side of the ship leads up to the deck. A number of buildings have been erected directly next to the old hull. These mostly contain supplies for the tannery (chemicals, blades, stretching racks, etc.).

MAIN DECK: The main deck is generally kept clear, but there might be a stack of tanned hides ready for sale. A crane has been installed on the poop deck that is used to raise and lower heavy material from street level.

MAIN DECK – CABINS: The Master of Souls’ quarters are found in the fore cabin. One of the aft cabins is a meeting room. The Poseidon Correspondence handout can be found here.

LOWER DECK: Most of the lower deck is used to store the untreated skins of slaughtered cattle that are delivered to the tannery, along with the blood, dirt, manure, hooves, and horns that come with them.

LOWER DECK – CABINS: The aft cabins are used as sleeping quarters for the murder squad. The smaller fore cabin has been converted into an armory. The larger fore cabin contains three small shrines, one dedicated to each of the Dead Three.

HOLD: The fore chamber is a work floor where skins are trimmed. The aft chamber has huge vats. Here skins are sprinkled with urine or soaked in an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime before being folded, hair-side in, and taken down to the Lower Hold.

In the main hold, skins which have been treated in the Lower Hold are brought back up and placed in stone treatment vats containing a solution made from the bark of spruce firs. They remain here for as long as a year before being ready for sale.

LOWER HOLD – CATACOMBS: The various niches lining the catacomb halls are stacked with urine-soaked skins (they are kept here until the rotting hair has loosened). The four iron doors lead to small cells where prisoners are held to various purpose.

LOWER HOLD: The lower hold is studded with wooden racks on which treated hides are spread. Special knives, which hang on the walls, are used to scrape the hair off one side and whatever flesh remains on the other. Several huge vats are then used for washing: A solution of pigeon droppings or dog shit removes the lime.

In the center of the Lower Hold is a table. Shohreh Netitia’s corpse lays there. A side table contains a disturbing variety of surgical instruments and three brands (each with the holy symbol of one of the Dead Three). The Poseidon Papers handout can be found amidst these instruments and Shohreh Netitia’s refugee papers can be found among her personal effects.

• Refugee Papers: A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

ADVERSARY ROSTER

* Remigio has already cast animate dead today, leaving him with only one 3^rd level spell.

Stat blocks for Dead Three cultists can be found in Descent Into Avernus, p. 231-235.
See Art of the Key: Adversary Rosters for details on using an adversary roster.

OBSERVING THE POSEIDON: PCs who place the Poisoned Poseidon under observation will be able to observe the regular routine of both the tannery and the murder operation.

• Fists of Bane and Necromites from the Lower Deck cabins relieving the watch on the main deck.
• Tannery workers collecting supplies from the outbuildings.
• A shipment of raw cattle hides being delivered from the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse.
• Tanned hides being loaded onto a cart and taken to the Wide for sale.
• The reaper leaving to go to the Frolicking Nymph Bathhouse (see Part 3F: Dungeon of the Dead Three) and then returning with written instructions. (He’s likely to then meet with the Master of Souls in the Main Deck cabins.)
• A necromite and two Fists of Bane leaving with Shohneh Letitia’s corpse (to be dumped in Insight Park).
• A messenger from the Frolicking Nymph Bathhouse carrying a letter indicating that they’ve located Iolanthe Oshrat. (The messenger then returns to the Dungeon of the Dead Three.)
• A necromite and two Fists of Bane leaving to kidnap Iolanthe Oshrat (their next victim).

QUESTIONING CULTISTS: Cult members can be interrogated, although they won’t cooperate easily. All of them know that their instructions come from the cult leaders at the Frolicking Nymph bathhouse. Only the Master of Souls knows that they are specifically targeting Elturian knights.

(The tannery workers are also Dead Three worshippers. They know the murders are happening, but they aren’t “read in,” so to speak. They do know that instructions come from some other cell of the cult, specifying who the targets are.)

Some names you can use for cultists, if needed:

• Fahul (a Fist of Bane)
• Thando Ora
• Joslyn Ifa
• Zangaroa

POSEIDON CORRESPONDENCE

Remigio—

I’m not really surprised to hear that Fahul is complaining about living in a tannery, the fastidious little weasel. I’m pretty sure Vaaz just wanted him out of his hair when he assigned him to you. If he keeps giving you a headache, remind him what the alternative is. I doubt he’ll find the noxious fumes of this sewer we’ve been gifted under the bathhouse any better.

                                                                                                                Flennis

Remigio—

Expect more Fists from the Frolicking Nymph within the tenday. And probably a couple of Night Blades. Now that the Agent has his operation fully established, he should be able to start feeding us targets at a faster clip.

                                                                                                                Flennis

Master of Souls,

I hope all things are well. I have heard complaints from one of my Fists, but I assure you that neither I nor the Emissary lend it any credence. The Emissary does suggest, however, that your minions begin dumping the bodies farther afield. He wants us to “spread the terror,” and is also concerned that the park may become a security concern.

                                                                                                                Vaaz

POSEIDON PAPERS

SHOHREH NETITIA

Hazel skin. Green eyes. Dark brown hair braided in two tresses.

Residence: Cuiric’s Boarding House

Relation: Great-Grandmother

She lives near the Frolicking Nymph. An abduction squad or observers could be sent from the bathhouse if it would be easier.

FOLLOWING UP: Cuiric’s been dead for a hundred years, but his boarding house is run by his great-granddaughter Laila. She found the door to Shohreh’s room broken down and reported it to the Flaming Fist, but there’s been no follow-up. Shohreh’s great-grandmother was a Hellrider, but there’s no clear way of discovering that (unless, of course, the PCs get clever). The relevant clue here is that whoever is feeding names to the Dead Three cultists is interested in who they’re related to (which might prompt the PCs to ask questions when backtracking the other victims, see Part 3D: Investigating the Murders).

Go to Part 3F: Dungeon of the Dead Three

Go to Table of Contents

Whether the PCs learn of the refugee murders from Flame Zodge or through the alternate hook of the refugees themselves, don’t be surprised if they decide to investigate the murders for themselves. If they’ve been recruited by Zodge, this might happen before they go to the Elfsong Tavern to meet with Tarina. The PCs might also detour to investigate after meeting Tarina but before going to the Poisoned Poseidon. Or they might backtrack and start investigating the bodies after (or during) any of the early Vanthampur nodes (although the rewards for doing so will rapidly taper off).

THE VICTIMS

There have been six victims:

• Edmao Eduarda
• Wemba Oshrat
• Madhuri Akhila
• Leiv Diomidis
• Aneta Diomidis
• Annika Silverleaf

Each body was found in Insight Park. All of them were then taken to Candulhallow’s mortuarium (DIA, p. 187) to be prepared for burial. More details on each victim can be found below in “Canvassing Victims.”

ADDITIONAL VICTIMS: It’s overwhelmingly likely that the PCs will shut down the murder operation out of the Poisoned Poseidon within twenty-four hours of taking the case. If for some reason that doesn’t happen, additional victims will turn up (probably one per day):

• Shohreh Letitia
• Iolanthe Oshrat (sister of Wemba Oshrat, the second victim)
• Valeria Nuska
• Weronika Nuska (sisters)

These victims are most likely to appear if the PCs have somehow gotten lost or confused in their investigation. So use them to aggressively push increasingly obvious clues to the Poisoned Poseidon and Amrik.

Note that, as the scenario begins, Shohreh has already been killed and her body is in the Poisoned Poseidon. Valeria and Weronika are both taken at the same time, but Weronika might still be rescued from the Poisoned Poseidon after Valeria’s body turns up.

If it becomes clear that corpses cannot be safely dumped in Insight Park, the cultists will start dropping them in random locations around the city.

INSIGHT PARK

Insight Park is described on p. 189 of Descent Into Avernus. It takes up a fairly large plot of steep, gullied land that backs up directly onto the wall in the southeast corner of Baldur’s Gate, south of Cliffgate. Forty years ago it was an illegal junkyard, but a druid named Torimesh used magic to cause the rusting piles of refuse to become overgrown by a verdant forest overnight.

At the center of the park is the Drawing Tree, which Torimesh can use to produce prophetic images (see the write-up in the book for details).

Note: The published version of the park is significantly smaller than what I’m describing here. But the map doesn’t really match the description in the book, either.

TIMELINE: See “Candulhallow’s Mortuarium,” below, for a description of the corpses (which, for example, Torimesh would know).

• 10 Days Ago: The first victim, Edmao Eduarda, is found by Torimesh at the foot of the Drawing Tree.
• 8 Days Ago: Wemba Oshrat’s body is found in a clearing up near the wall by a halfling named Marvias Fleecefoot who was out for a morning walk.
• 5 Days Ago: The bodies of Madhuri Akhila and Leiv Diomidis are found Torimesh. They’d been dumped in separate gullies. (Madhuri Akhila was actually dumped the day before, she just wasn’t found until today.)
• 3 Days Ago: A fisherman named Zendreya Vereni who was tying up her boat on the piers near where the park meets the Dock Road spotted the body of Aneta Diomidis (Leiv’s sister) just inside the park boundary.
• 1 Day Ago: Annika Silverleaf’s body was found, once again in front of the Drawing Tree.

You may need to adjust this timeline somewhat depending on how quickly the PCs reach Baldur’s Gate / how long it takes them to get involved. The important detail is that the murders CANNOT start before Elturel’s Fall.

In fact you should adjust this timeline so that the first murder literally happens on the same day as Elturel’s disappearance. (The cultists knew it was coming.) Savvy players will likely pick up on the “coincidence.”

TORIMESH THE DRUID: Torimesh the druid is an elderly man now. He is both furious and heartsick about the bodies being dumped in the park. He’ll rage about the fact that the Flaming Fist has done nothing (“Nothing!”) to put a stop to it.

Torimesh can tell them:

• The timeline and identities of the victims found.
• He’s never seen any of the victims in the park before.
• The bodies were marked with ritualistic carvings he knows to be associated with the Dead Three.
• The corpses were collected by the corpse carts of Candulhallow’s Mortuarium.

He can also act as a guide, taking them to each of the sites where bodies were found.

DRAWING TREE: If the PCs don’t alienate Torimesh, he’ll offer to reveal a prophetic image from the Drawing Tree (see Descent Into Avernus, p. 190). Or, if you want it to feel more portentous, the bark of tree might simply start cracking and peeling back when they draw near.

The resulting image depicts:

• A large sword being held aloft by an angelic figure with feathered wings.
• The arms of the angelic figure are bound with chains.
• Below the figure is a large tablet or slab of some kind that is cracking into two pieces while being consumed by flames.

Note: You could swap this image out for something that would provide a more immediate clue to the murders. (And perhaps if the PCs bring one of the victims’ family members back here and ask Torimesh to do a divination for them, that could happen.) But we’ve got a pretty solid revelation list and it will be more interesting to present a prophecy that evocatively indicates the end of the campaign. See Foreshadowing in RPGs.

SEARCHING THE PARK: There are two clues to be found in Insight Park. You can predetermine which murder scenes they’re located at, put them at the first location (or first two locations) the PCs search, etc. Whatever works. The refugee papers should not belong to Annika Silverleaf or Wemba Oshrat, as their papers can be found at Candulhallow’s Mortuarium.

If you’re predetermining their placement, I recommend NOT putting either clue at the Drawing Tree. You can then put the refugee papers at another location and the tanner’s fluid at two different murder scenes. That gives you a cool interaction with the prophecy at the Drawing Tree, clues at three of the other four locations, and then a fourth location with nothing to be found (giving you a pretty good variety of experience).

CLUE 1 – TANNER’S FLUID: On the ground at or near a murder scene, a PC making a DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check can find a strange alchymical substance on the ground (or rubbed up against a tree or whatever).

Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Medicine)

• DC 12: It’s an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime.
• DC 15: This alcyhmical is often used in tanneries to rotten and loosen the hair of hides.

They can similarly identify the substance and its likely origin by following up with any plausible authority in the city. The nearest tannery to Insight Park is the Poisoned Poseidon.

CLUE 2 – REFUGEE PAPERS: These can be found blown into a bush or thicket near where one of the bodies was found. The papers appear to authorize the refugee to enter and reside in Baldur’s Gate. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

A DC 12 Charisma (Investigation) check can be used to ask questions around town about the forged papers. On a success, the PCs are directed to Amrik Vanthampur at the Low Lantern tavern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik).

STAKING OUT THE PARK: If the PCs decide to stake out the park, they’ll likely spot two Fists of Bane (DIA, p. 232; passive Perception DC 10 to spot them) dumping Shohreh Letitia’s body. They can be either questioned or followed back to the Poisoned Poseidon. (Shohreh could also easily have her refugee papers or a tanner’s fluid stain on her clothing to provide additional or reinforcing clues.)

CANDULHALLOW’S MORTUARIUM

All of the bodies were picked up by corpse carts from Candulhallow’s Mortuarium (see Descent Into Avernus, p. 187) and taken back to their morgue. Since they’re part of an ongoing investigation, gentle repose spells have been used to preserve the corpses in the Candulhallow morgue. The PCs can discover this by asking Zodge, Torimesh (at Insight Park), the victims’ families (who have been notified where their kin are being kept), or just by making general inquiries about where bodies are typically taken. (In the latter case, the PCs might also end up checking Harborside Hospital (p. 189) or the Shrine of Suffering (p. 192).

Option: You could also have the bodies split up among the three different locations, with perhaps the oldest bodies already interred in the Cliffside Cemetery. Any bodies taken to the Shrine of Suffering would have likely been at least partially devoured by the rats in the crypts already.

RITUAL CARVINGS: All of the bodies have been sliced into with a sharp knife or razor. These grisly ritual carvings are primarily in lokharic characters (the alphabet used for the Draconic and various arcane languages), but there are also other pentagrammic sigils and glyph circles suggestive of some terrible, bloody rite. In addition, each victim has a brand at the base of their spine depicting three symbols in a roughly triangular pattern (see graphic).

Intelligence (Arcana/Religion)

• DC 10: The runes are choral praises to dark gods, invoking their right of dominion over all of the mortal plane. “All cities shall fall to darkness,” “that which was foretold in the Prophecies of Blood is upon us,” “the Spawn shall rise from mortal flesh,” “none shall live save those who offer their kin unto the heirs of Jergal,” and that sort of thing.
• DC 15: Although to an untrained eye the symbols would appear to belong to some arcane rite or spell, the arcane components are just nonsense. They don’t really mean anything or do anything, and seem to have been carved for effect rather than purpose.

Intelligence (Religion)

• DC 10: The branded symbols are the holy symbols of Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal; the three gods who raised themselves to divinity by slaying Jergal, the ancient God of Death.

Wisdom (Medicine) – DC 12: The brands were inflicted post mortem.

TANNER’S FLUID: A DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a strange alchymical substance staining the clothes of one of the victims.

Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Medicine)

• DC 12: It’s an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime.
• DC 15: This alcyhmical is often used in tanneries to rotten and loosen the hair of hides.

They can similarly identify the substance and its likely origin by following up with any likely authority in the city. The nearest tannery to Insight Park is the Poisoned Poseidon.

REFUGEE PAPERS: Annika Silverleaf and Wemba Oshrat’s personal effects include their refugee papers, authorizing them to enter and reside in Baldur’s Gate. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

A DC 12 Charisma (Investigation) check can be used to ask questions around town about the forged papers. On a success, the PCs are directed to Amrik Vanthampur at the Low Lantern tavern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik).

Option: The Baldur’s Gate gazetteer in Descent Into Avernus does an exceptional job of seeding the locations in the city with cool scenario concepts that a DM can quickly expand on. Candulhallow’s is no exception, with the Candulhallows engaged in a variety of necromantic scams, including corpse theft. PCs coming around to ask after specific corpses (that Leylenna Candulhallow may have used to replace more high profile corpses that she’s claimed for her experiements) is an excellent opportunity to accidentally reveal the corruption, and it would be relatively easy to spin this off as a small side quest (albeit with some small risk of becoming a red herring that completely derails the PCs from the main investigation).

CANVASSING VICTIMS

If the PCs backtrack the victims they’ll be able to find friends and/or family who can provide them with background information on the victims. You can prep this material ahead of time, but with the brief biographical sketches and key information summarized below it should be fairly easy to simply improvise the interactions.

Things to think about during these improvisations:

• If they’re refugees, think about the stories that might be told about how they got from Elturel to Baldur’s Gate.
• What’s a notable experience they had as refugees after reaching Baldur’s Gate?
• How were they kidnapped by the Dead Three cultists? Were there witnesses or evidence left behind that could be used to describe the kidnapping? (Actual witnesses should be rare, but could confirm that there were definitely Dead Three cultists involved.)

In addition, there are three key clues that the PCs can acquire here:

• Forged refugee papers pointing back at Amrik. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).
• Verbal reports that the victims were smuggled into the city by Amrik.
• A variety of clues indicating that all of the victims were either Elturgadian knights or related to them.

Each victim’s description includes a brief summary of the pertinent clues.

EDMAO EDUARDA: The first victim. Taken from his home ten days ago. Unlike the later victims, Eduarda was a native of Baldur’s Gate. He’s survived by elven wife Neske and his half-elven son Luus.

• Hanging on the wall above Eduarda’s fireplace is the mantle of a Hellrider. It belonged to Norbaer Eduarda, Edmao’s father, who retired to Baldur’s Gate after he married (and before Edmao was born).

WEMBA OSHRAT: Wemba’s sister, Iolanthe, was an apprentice to a wizard name Bèr Nölmien in Elturel. When the crisis began, Bèr used a teleportation circle to evacuate Iolanthe, Wemba, and about a dozen other refugees directly to Baldur’s Gate. Wemba vanished just one day after arriving in Baldur’s Gate and his body was found the next day.

• Iolanthe and Wemba were among the first refugees who got their papers from Amrik. (The gates hadn’t been closed yet, but they still needed proper documentation and Amrik offered to get it for them at a fraction of the price using his “connections at High Hall.”) Iolanthe still has hers; Wemba’s are with his personal effects at Candulhallow’s.
• Iolanthe can also describe the final minutes before Elturel’s Fall. Her master Bèr would have realized that the entire city was being influenced by some incredibly powerful magical field. Notably, they were expecting more people (including Bèr) to follow them. A second circle opened, but then abruptly winked out of existence (Elturel had just been sent to Hell, disrupting the spell). A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check might indicate that the spell winking out like that would be consistent with a counterspell, an antimagic field suddenly coming into effect, or one end of the portal being shifted outside the range of the spell.
• Iolanthe and Wemba’s mother is a knight of the Order of the Companion.

MADHURI AKHILA: Madhuri arrived in Baldur’s Gate in the first wave of refugees, catching a ride on a boat heading downstream. He has no other family in the city, but had been bunking with Sjang and Albaer, two other refugees who came in on the same boat. They found the door broken down and Madhuri missing seven days ago.

• Like Iolanthe and Wemba Oshrat, they were among the first refugees to get their papers from Amrik. (The gates weren’t closed yet, but they still needed proper documentation.)
• Madhuri’s paperwork was left behind in the room he shared with Sjang and Albaer. It would turn up if the PCs look through his meager personal belongings. (Sjang and Albaer also have their papers.)
• Madhuri’s father was a Hellrider. (Sjang and Albaer might mention this if asked about next of kin; or just spontaneously lament that they don’t even know how to contact him… assuming he’s still alive. Madhuri had mentioned his father on the boat ride down from Elturel.)

LEIV & ANETA DIOMIDIS: Leiv and Aneta were siblings; they were also both Hellriders. Supposedly there has been a Diomidis in the Hellriders since the legendary Charge of the Hellriders. Like the PCs, they led a caravan of refugees down the river to Baldur’s Gate only to find the gates closed. They disappeared six days ago.

• Many of the refugees they helped will report that Leiv and Aneta had helped them get their papers from Amrik Vanthampur, getting all of them into the city despite the gates being closed.

ANNIKA SILVERLEAF: Annika Silverleaf was a half-elf knight of the Order of the Companion. She’d been organizing fundraising in the city for relief supplies to be delivered to the camps outside. When she disappeared two days ago, she’d been negotiating with the Captain’s Guild to ship refugees south to Amn or north to Waterdeep as a humanitarian effort.

• She’d also been working closely with Amrik Vanthampur, connecting refugees in the camps to his services. (It’s uncertain if she knew his papers were forgeries, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if she did.)
• Her own papers are with her personal effects at Candulhallow’s.
• Annika was one of the founding members of the Order of the Companion. She joined High Watcher Naja Bellandi’s resistance on the Night of the Red Coup, her elven father having been turned into a vampire by High Rider Ikaia (see Part 4B).

Go to Part 3E: The Poisoned Poseidon

Go to Table of Contents

As we discussed in Part 3, the Vanthampur Investigations consist of three nodes:

• Dungeon of the Dead Three
• Amrik Vanthampur @ the Low Lantern
• Vanthampur Manor

To these we’re going to add a fourth node:

• The Poisoned Poseidon

The Poisoned Poseidon is a beached ship that’s been repurposed into a tannery. It’s also the location where the Dead Three cultists are killing refugees before dumping their bodies. There are a couple of reasons why we’re adding this node to the scenario:

First, as we’ll see in “Portyr Politics” below, I wanted to enhance this section of the campaign by giving the PCs a window into the evolving political situation in Baldur’s Gate (and how that ties into both the refugees they care about and Vanthampur’s schemes). The most effective structure for that material required an extra “beat” before the Dungeon of the Dead Three, which means that we need an extra node.

Second, extensive feedback from DMs online suggests that the Dungeon of the Dead Three is a better experience for 3^rd level PCs than for 2^nd level PCs. Adding an extra node here also provides a natural opportunity for a milestone. In Act I of the campaign, the PCs should level up after:

• Reaching Baldur’s Gate
• Poisoned Poseidon OR Amrik Vanthampur (whichever they do first)
• Dungeon of the Dead Three
• Vanthampur Estate

Meaning they’ll be 5^th level when they head to Candlekeep (and, subsequently, Avernus).

REMIXING THE CONSPIRACY

There’s a million and one ways to create a thing, but generally the first thing I do when designing an adventure or campaign is to simply brainstorm ideas. (I describe a quick version of this in 5 Node Mystery.) We’re remixing the raw material from Descent Into Avernus here, so we can largely skip that step.

When it comes to the actual design work — when I start thinking about how a particular scenario is going to work in play — however, the first thing I’ll do is focus on how the scenario works in the game world. Once I know that, I can start figuring out what sort of scenario structures to use, how the PCs can get hooked into the scenario, and so forth. (Along the way, I’ll almost certainly tweak how the game world is arranged in order to facilitate the table experience, but balancing these factors of simulation, challenge, drama, practicality, scope, etc. — and which ones are more important or more valued — is (a) a matter of personal taste, (b) dependent on circumstance, and (c) a bag of worms I’m not going to dive into today.)

Long story short, in the Remix, this is how the Vanthampur conspiracy to kill descendants of Hellriders and knights of the Order of the Companion works in the game world:

• Amrik Vanthampur has set himself up as a black market resource for smuggling refugees into Baldur’s Gate. His agents circulate through the refugee camps outside of the city and he holds court at the Low Lantern, fleecing refugees who want to bring their loved ones inside the city. (This will be described in Part 3H.)
• This puts Amrik in a position to identify and track refugees of the desired bloodlines.
• Duke Vanthampur, with the aid of Thavius Kreeg and Gargauth, has cut a deal with the Dead Three Cultists to actually carry out the murders. (See Part 3B.)
• The operation is overseen by Mortlock and the Dead Three cult leaders at the Dungeon of the Dead Three. Once Amrik has identified a target, he sends word to Mortlock, who instructs the Dead Three cultists to put the target under surveillance. (See Part 3F.)
• The actual murders are carried out by Dead Three cultists operating out of the Poisoned Poseidon. Once a target’s location and identity have been confirmed, the surveillance teams will report that information to the Poisoned Poseidon. (See Part 3E.)
• A Poseidon strike team will then kidnap the victim, bring them back to the slaughterhouse, kill them, and dump the body in Insight Park. (See Part 3D.)

At this point, we could put together a little diagram of how the scenario works:

Refugees go to Amrik for help, Amrik gives their information to the Dungeon of the Dead Three, who passes the target information to the Poisoned Poseidon, who kill the targeted refugees.

(You don’t necessarily need to actually draw this out on a sheet of paper, but you may find visualizing it useful.)

Note that this has nothing to do with the PCs or their involvement in the scenario. I’m not focused on that at all right now. All of my attention is on figuring out the practical details of the situation in the game world.

The nature of these practical details can also vary a lot. In situations like this where the bad guys are in the middle of an ongoing project, though, the result will usually be some sort of logistical map for information, money, people, etc. This usually lends itself naturally to node-based scenario design.

Option: On p. 197 of Descent Into Avernus, there’s a group of Dead Three cultists based out of the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse who are ALSO murdering people across the city for vague and unspecified reasons and then dumping their bodies at the Smilin’ Boar tavern. I’d originally planned to just scoop them up and add them to the Vanthampur conspiracy, but realized I couldn’t quite make it work: The Slaughterhouse is outside the city because no hooved animals are allowed inside the walls, and it doesn’t make sense for the Dead Three to smuggle refugees OUT of the city, murder them, and then smuggle them back INTO the city to dump the bodies.

However, if you wanted to add more complexity to this section of the campaign you could still scoop up this material. Now there would effectively be two Dead Three operations hunting refugees: One inside the city walls and one outside the city walls. (Both operations are probably still linked to Amrik.)

(I even had a cool clue for the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse that I didn’t get to use: Blue blood on one of the victim’s clothes. In Baldur’s Gate, only the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse practices the slaughter of giant spiders.)

HOOKS

Once we understand the scenario, we can start looking at how the PCs can get involved. Because we’re not prepping a plot, we could theoretically generate lots and lots of scenario hooks, pointing them at any or all of the nodes we’ve designed. In practice, however, this is the point where we’ll usually start thinking about the scenario structurally in terms of how the PCs interact with it, which in the case of a conspiracy usually translates into a hook pointing somewhere at the periphery of the conspiracy (so that the PCs can learn more and more about the conspiracy as they work their way towards its center).

In this case, our little flowchart is a perfect loop: What’s the periphery? Well, we know that the Dungeon of the Dead Three is the control hub for the conspiracy. And, structurally, it will also be where the major leads to the next section of the campaign (Vanthampur Manor) will be found. Therefore, we can look at the point furthest from the Dungeon of the Dead Three: The refugees.

Once we’ve made that determination, a clear structure kind of leaps out at me: From the murdered refugees, the PCs can work their way up the ladder in either direction (or both).

It can also be useful to remember that the form of the hook and the content of the hook are two different things. For example, in the published adventure Flame Zodge tells the PCs to talk to Tarina, who tells them to go to the Dungeon of the Dead Three. But Zodge could just as easily tell them to go to the Poisoned Poseidon or investigate the dead refugees or question Amrik or even just go straight to Vanthampur Manor.

So even though we’re shifting where the hook points us, we don’t need to abandon the basic structure of the hook.

ZODGE’S BRIEFING: Zodge is actually going to point the PCs in two directions. As detailed in Part 1, he makes a deal with the PCs to investigate the killings:

• The city is in chaos. Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard is missing; presumed dead in the fall of Elturel. (He could mention a few Rumors of Elturel he’s heard.)
• Some people blame the Elturians; others think the refugees have a secret agenda; tensions are high, violence is everywhere, and the Flaming Fist is stretched thin trying to keep the city from falling apart.
• Someone is killing refugees. Zodge thinks it’s a coordinated effort, but the Flaming Fist doesn’t have the manpower to mount a proper investigation or response.
• If the PCs agree to investigate the murders and bring the perpetrators to justice, he will immediately allow the refugees from their caravan to enter the city.
• Beyond that, the refugees will be on their own: They’ll have to make whatever arrangements they can. (But it will certainly be better than the refugee camp outside, where conditions are getting more desperate every day.)

Note: If the PCs make exceptionally good time to Baldur’s Gate with their refugees, you may want to have them spend a day or two with the refugees stuck in the camp before Zodge tracks them down (or vice versa) so that there’s enough time for the killings to start.

Once the PCs agree to the deal (or even if they just ask questions), he’ll give them a full briefing:

• A half dozen bodies have been dumped in Insight Park, located in the Brampton neighborhood south of Cliffgate.
• Ritual symbols associated with the Dead Three – the gods Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul – have been carved into the bodies. Zodge isn’t sure if it’s actually followers of the Dead Three or if someone is just using them as a scapegoat.
• The PCs are authorized, as deputies, to kill whoever is responsible on sight.
• A Flaming Fist informant named Tarina has sent word to Zodge that she has a lead on the killings. The PCs are to meet at the Elfsong Tavern tonight, find out what she knows, and then follow up on whatever lead she has.
• Zodge gives them a bag with 50gp to pay Tarina for the information.
• They should keep him apprised of their progress.

The briefing actually gives the PCs two leads: They’re likely to go and meet with Tarina, but they could also decide to independently investigate the murders.

TARINA’S LEAD: The lead Tarina gives the PCs in the Elfsong Tavern is straightforward: She’s seen Dead Three cultists around the Poisoned Poseidon in the Brampton docks.

INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS: If the PCs decide to investigate the murders themselves, they have several options. We’ll discuss this in Part 3D.

LEADS (THE SCENARIO SOLVE)

In Advanced Node-Based Design, I talk about the two prongs of mystery scenarios: There are the clues you need to figure out the fundamental truths or revelations about what’s really happening (the concept solve) and there are the clues (or leads) that tell you where to look for more clues (another location or character or event; the scenario solve).

The concept solve is the answer you’re trying to figure out; the scenario solve is what you actually do.

The revelation list for the scenario solve is generally identical (or nearly identical) to the node list. In the case of the Vanthampur Investigations, we have five scenario solve revelations:

• Poisoned Poseidon
• Amrik Vanthampur
• Dungeon of the Dead Three
• Vanthampur Manor
• Infernal Puzzlebox

(The infernal puzzlebox is a scenario solve because it’s the structural link to Part 4: Candlekeep.)

Let’s take a closer look at this revelation list. Because this is a revelation list, we’ll be listing the clues that point to each node; not the clues that are found in those nodes. The location of each clue is indicated in parentheses. (I typically wouldn’t provide descriptions of each clue on a revelation list; but I’m doing so here to make the design process clearer.)

THE POISONED POSEIDON

• Tarina’s Lead. Tarina tells the PCs to go check out the Poisoned Poseidon.
• Tanner’s Fluid (Investigating the Murders). One of the victims has an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime staining her clothes, an alchymical used to rotten and loosen the hair of hides. (The nearest tannery is the Poisoned Poseidon.)
• Staking Out the Murder Scene (Investigating the Murders). When the next corpse is dumped, the PCs can follow the murderers back to the Poisoned Poseidon or question them.
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Correspondence from Poseidon and notations on the genealogical reports. Amrik can also be questioned to this effect.

AMRIK VANTHAMPUR

• Refugee Papers (Investigating the Murders). Forged refugee paperwork found at the murder scene and on bodies in the morgue can be traced back to Amrik.
• Canvassing Victims (Investigating the Murders). Those who knew the victims can report that they’d been smuggled into the city by Amrik.
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three).
• Assassin’s Orders (Dungeon of the Dead Three). The assassin targeting Mortlock carries a note with instructions from Amrik. The assassin could also be questioned to similar effect.

DUNGEON OF THE DEAD THREE

• Questioning Killers (Investigating the Murders). If the PCs stake out Insight Park, they can question the cultists dumping the bodies.
• Poseidon Correspondence (Poisoned Poseidon). Reports from the Dead Three leadership mention the bathhouse.
• Poseidon Cultists (Poisoned Poseidon). Following or questioning Poseidon cultists can lead to the bathhouse.
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Amrik is sending reports and receiving instructions from the Dead Three leadership. He can be questioned to similar effect.

VANTHAMPUR MANOR

• Vanthampur Boys (Trafficking Amrik/Dungeon of the Dead Three). Knowing that one or more Vanthampur heirs are involved can be enough to trigger an investigation of Vanthampur Manor all by itself.
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Amrik has correspondence from his brother Thurstwell.
• Mortlock’s Correspondence (Dungeon of the Dead Three). A letter from his mother detailing how to access the dungeons beneath the bathhouse. Mortlock can be questioned to similar effect.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Correspondence from Thavius Kreeg, passing on instructions from Gargauth to the Dead Three leaders (and inadvertently revealing its presence in Vanthampur Manor).

INFERNAL PUZZLEBOX

• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). Amrik’s correspondence with his brother Thurstwell mentions the infernal puzzlebox (Thurstwell has removed it from the family’s vaults where it had been secured because he was fascinated by it).
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). The missives also mention the puzzlebox.
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Mortlock knows that a powerful cult leader escaped from Elturel just before its fall and that his mother is protecting him in the basement of Vanthampur Manor. The cult leader brought two powerful artifacts with him, one of which was locked in a box (or maybe the box is the artifact? Mortlock isn’t sure).
• Finding the Box (Vanthampur Manor). Oh. Hey! There it is!

(If you’re wondering how this revelation list was designed: I literally listed the five revelations and then started adding clues to each one, following the logic of the game world and our intention of being able to follow the leads “up the ladder” in both directions.)

CONCEPT SOLVE

As we’ve discussed previously, there are several core concepts that the PCs should figure out during the Vanthampur Investigations, but which are not actually required for them to proceed:

• The murder victims are descended from knights of Elturgard (either Hellriders or the Order of Companions).
• The Shield of the Hidden Lord is hidden in Vanthampur Manor. (Ideally, this results in them finding and taking the shield.)
• Thavius Kreeg is a cultist.
• Elturel was destroyed by devils.

VICTIMS DESCENDED FROM KNIGHTS OF ELTURGARD

• Canvassing Victims (Investigating the Murders). In speaking with those who knew the victims, the fact that they either were knights or were related to them will be a common theme players might notice. One victim is notably NOT a refugee; in their house hangs the mantle of a Hellrider (their father’s).
• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). His paperwork includes the genealogical records he’s cross-referencing.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). The missives also reveal that the Dead Three cultists must “seek the blood of the holy orders of Elturgard.”
• Thurstwell’s Correspondence (Vanthampur Manor). Includes queries from Amrik regarding Thurstwell’s efforts to assist him.

GARGAUTH / SHIELD OF THE HIDDEN LORD

• Interrogating Cultists (Dungeon of the Dead Three). They know the history of Gargauth and know that the Vanthampurs hold the Shield of the Hidden Lord.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Name says its all.
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Mortlock knows that a powerful cult leader escaped from Elturel just before its fall and that his mother is protecting him in the basement of Vanthampur Manor. The cult leader brought two powerful artifacts with him, one of which was a shield in the likeness of a demonic face.
• Finding the Shield. Oh. Hey! There it is!

KREEG’S A CULTIST

(Most of these clues are more oblique. It’s fairly possible for the PCs to NOT realize that Kreeg is a cultist, instead “rescuing” him from the Vanthampurs.)

• Amrik’s Paperwork (Trafficking Amrik). The genealogical records Amrik is using come from Thavius Kreeg’s office in Elturel.
• Missives of the Hidden Lord (Dungeon of the Dead Three). These are signed with the initials “TK.”
• Questioning Mortlock (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Mortlock knows that a powerful cult leader escaped from Elturel just before its fall and that his mother is protecting him in the basement of Vanthampur Manor.
• Encountering Kreeg (Vanthampur Manor). Uh… Hi. Nice to meet you. Whatchu doin’ down here?

ELTUREL WAS DESTROYED BY DEVILS

• Rumors of Elturel
• Altar Prophecies/Adulation (Dungeon of the Dead Three). Tales and prophecies of Elturel’s fall can be found in the chapels of the Dead Three.
• Questioning Gargauth, Kreeg, or Duke Vanthampur (Vanthampur Manor). All three of these NPCs know the truth (that Elturel was taken to Hell). All three of them will lie obliquely, referring to Elturel’s Fall and — if pushed to it! — that the legions of Zariel “fell upon the city” (and similar euphemisms).

PORTYR POLITICS

The last thing I want to layer in here is the wider impact of current events in Baldur’s Gate: In addition to the refugee crisis itself, the emerging ducal politics of how the power vacuum left by Grand Duke Ravengard’s apparent death is going to shake out is not only really interesting, it’s also immediately relevant to Duke Vanthampur’s schemes.

As the campaign begins, you have the position of Grand Duke, an empty ducal seat, AND Marshal of the Flaming Fists all up for grabs. These might go to the same person OR three different people. Then, over in the Adventurers’ League scenarios, Duke Portyr is assassinated just AFTER putting his niece in a position where she might be able to become Marshal of the Flaming Fists.

Can she consolidate that position? Or does the whole Portyr power base fall apart?

How can we bring this into the campaign? How can we give the PCs (and players) a window into what’s happening?

Our mechanism is going to be Zodge. We have five potential interactions with Zodge (when he hires them and then once after each of the four nodes in the Vanthampur Investigations as the PCs check in with him), and we’re going to use them like this:

FIRST INTERACTION. Zodge hires them.

SECOND INTERACTION. Blaze Portyr has arrived in Baldur’s Gate. It’s probably most dramatic for her to sweep into Zodge’s office while the PCs are in the middle of briefing him, but maybe she’s already in situ discussing strategy with him when the PCs show up.

See the “Topics of Conversation” in Part 2B and figure out how many of the rumors about rival claimants to the position of Marshal are true. (Could be all of them, could be none of them, or anything in between.) Portyr’s current agenda is securing the allegiance of Flames (like Zodge) in her own bid for Marshal.

It’s important to establish that Blaze Portyr is the niece of Duke Portyr in this scene. You can do that by having Zodge say something like, “I’m assuming your uncle is supporting you? Duke Dillard’s political backing will make the difference in the Upper City.” (But whatever works.)

Tip: Either way, Zodge won’t have had time to brief Portyr on the PCs’ investigation. When Portyr wants to know what’s going on, have her ask the PCs instead of Zodge. Let your players brief her in: Not only does it make them the active protagonists of the interaction; it will also be a great way to organically make them remind themselves of what they know and what their goals are.

If you want the players to like her, have her enthusiastically endorse Zodge’s initiative in seeking justice for the refugees.

THIRD INTERACTION: This interaction is optional, or it might happen after the Fourth Interaction, depending on the sequence in which the PCs go to the various nodes and whether or not they check in after each node. Portyr and Zodge are still plotting together.

• She’s declared herself Marshal.
• Flame Zodge has been promoted to Blaze.
• One of the rivals established in the Second Interaction has been eliminated. (For example, Blaze Beldroth has been arrested. Or Blaze Mukar of Wyrm’s Rock has sworn allegiance to Portyr. Or she’s gained the Eltan family’s support by having her uncle buy back their shares in the Flaming Fist for them.) Even if you’re going with the “lots of rivals” options, only have one of them get resolved here. (It’s a project in progress, not the whole enchilada.)

FOURTH INTERACTION: At the end of Part 3F: Dungeon of the Dead Three, we’ll discover that Duke Vanthampur has ordered the Dead Three cultists to assassinate Duke Portyr. The PCs rush to the political rally where Duke Portyr is being targeted, but they’re almost certainly too late.

When Marshal Portyr learns that Duke Vanthampur is responsible for her uncle’s death, she asks the PCs to wipe out the Vanthampur family. For political reasons, they’ll be disavowed. But if they succeed, she’ll offer them either promotions within the Flaming Fist or a big cash reward (whatever appeals to them more).

Note: It’s a relatively minor thing, but in the adventure as published it’s a little odd that the PCs are assumed to murder one of the Four Dukes and the response of the Flaming Fist is a collective shrug. Here we’ve contextualized the action within the general political crisis in the city (all of it flowing directly out of Elturel’s disappearance and the loss of the Grand Duke) and also given the PCs’ a clear agenda heading into Vanthampur Manor.

FIFTH INTERACTION: After the PCs assassinate Duke Vanthampur, Marshal Portyr will suggest/encourage/support them getting out of Baldur’s Gate for awhile until the political complications arising from Vanthampur’s death are settled. (More details on this in Part 4: Candlekeep.)

Note: When the PCs get back from Hell and bring a probably totally still alive Grand Duke Ravengard back to Baldur’s Gate only to discover that he’s been “replaced”… Well, that’s when politics are going to get REALLY interesting.

ALTERNATIVE HOOK

In Part 2B, I mentioned the possibility of the PCs figuring out an end-run around Flame Zodge and using the murder of one of their refugees to pull them into Part 3D: Investigating the Murders as an alternative hook to the campaign.

If you use this alternative hook, does it mean you miss out on the Portyr Politics?

Not necessarily.

First, if the PCs have avoided Zodge entirely, he might get wind of their investigation after the first or second node they’ve explored. He might approach them directly or through Tarina (who is most likely to have identified the PCs) to figure out what they’re up to (and potentially bring them onboard in an official capacity).

Second, if the PCs turned down Zodge’s offer, they’re still likely to run into Marshal Portyr after her uncle has been assassinated. She’ll want to know what their investigation has uncovered so far, and you should be able to weave in a few details of her current schemes to secure control of the Flaming Fists into the resulting scene.

Failing all that, these events will still provide some great background events for bringing Baldur’s Gate to life.

Go to Part 3D: Investigating the Murders

Go to Table of Contents

We’ll be cleaning up the lore and structure of the Vanthampur Investigations. For the purposes of the Remix, this post should be considered authoritative: Any place where this material contradicts the published version of Descent Into Avernus is almost certainly a deliberate change made to fix continuity problems. Ignore the published version and use the continuity described here.

LORE OF GARGAUTH

Gargauth (referred to in some ancient texts as Gargoth) is currently trapped in the Shield of the Hidden Lord, which is being carried by High Observer Kreeg. A quick overview of his history:

• Gargauth first rose to prominence in Hell in the early days of the Blood War when he discovered that the demon Astaroth had infiltrated Asmodeus’ court and actually managed to become Treasurer of Hell. With his deception revealed, Astaroth fled. As a reward, Asmodeus made Gargauth the new Treasurer of Hell.
• Gargauth’s rise continued until he was named an Archduke, ruling over Avernus as one of the Lords of the Nine.
• He was overthrown by Bel, who had risen from a lowly lemure before engineering the coup that left him in charge of Avernus. (Bel, in turn, would be overthrown by Zariel.)
• Gargauth then chose to leave Hell and journey on the Material Plane. He became known as the Tenth Lord of the Nine, the Lost Lord of the Pit, the Hidden Lord, the Outcast, and the Lord Who Watches.
• Gargauth’s ancient feud with Astaroth had never truly ended. Astaroth, for his part, had become a demigod in his own right and was on the cusp of achieving godhood itself, with a number of cults scattered across Faerûn. Gargauth sought out Astaroth and slew him before he could immanentize his divinity. (Some claimed that this was done at Asmodeus’ behest, and that Gargauth, despite having been “cast out” of Hell, was actually still loyal to Asmodeus.)
• Gargauth actually assumed Astaroth’s mantle for himself, effectively impersonating the dead demon and receiving the worship of Astaroth’s cultists. It was Gargauth’s first taste of godhood.
• Perhaps overconfident in his new power, Gargauth joined an alliance of the Dark Gods (Bane, Bhaal, Loviatar, and Talona) to invade Hell itself and seize it from Asmodeus.
• The invasion failed. Gargauth himself was captured. Asmodeus offered him a choice between utter destruction and a pact. Gargauth chose the pact and Asmodeus bound him into the Shield of the Hidden Lord. In order to be freed from this bondage, Gargauth must bring thirteen cities to Hell.
• The Shield was then given to Bel, who was then in charge of the Dock of Fallen Cities (see Part 5; the charge has since passed to Zariel). He cast Gargauth out onto the Material Plane, and Gargauth has been working on his charge ever since. (Elturel may or may not have been his first success. Perhaps cities far from the Sword Coast have been taken. Or it is possible that there are, in fact, many Shields of the Hidden Lord, with Gargauth’s essence refracted across a multitude of Material Planes.)
• In the case of Faerûnian history, the Shield has been prized by Astarothian cultists (who still hear the voice of their God in it), Dead Three cultists (who honor Gargauth for his alliance with the Dark Gods), and the Cult of Zariel (see below).
• In one notable instance, Dead Three cultists managed to temporarily free Gargauth from the Shield (or possibly just manifest his Avatar from it) 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 the 11^th It turned out the entire affair was an elaborate trap set by Elminster and Khelben Arunsun, and Gargauth ended up defeated and back in the Shield. (See Code of the Harpers, p. 27.)
• In the early 14^th century, Gargauth infiltrated the Knights of the Shield. The Knights had originally been dedicated to the Shield of Silvam (one of the Kuldannorar artifacts once held by the Tethyrian royal line, see Lands of Intrigue: Book Three, p. 26), but Gargauth corrupted an inner cabal of the Knights. Because the original Shield of Silvam had been lost, this inner cabal was able to create a “secret history” that Duke Tithkar Illehhune in the 9^th century had brought the shield to be safeguarded by the Knights in their sanctum. Those inducted into the “inner mysteries” of the Knights believed that the Shield of the Hidden Lord was actually the Shield of Silvam, and Gargauth became the object of their veneration.
• Gargauth has historically been interested in seeking out the method by which Toril was sealed from the other planes during the Time of Troubles, believing that if he could replicate this it would both free him from the Shield and perhaps allow him to seize a great deal of divine power while the other powers are cut off from the Realms. His agents are reportedly scouring many ancient ruins of the Imaskari Empire, whose wizards managed long ago to partially bar the Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons from entering the Realms (see Powers and Pantheons, p. 23).
• Gargauth has most recently been working with the Cult of Zariel in Elturel (see below). The Shield was taken to Elturel by a member of the Hhune family (who were part of the inner cabal of the Knights of the Shield).

Option: If you’d rather cleave a little closer to the established history of Gargauth — which, as we described in Part 3, featured him being an unfettered demigod until during or sometime after the Spellplague — simply flip him out for a completely different pit fiend with the same backstory described here. For more on Gargauth, check out Powers & Pantheons (p. 23).

We’re also going with Descent Into Avernus’ version of the history between Bel and Zariel. It’s completely inverted from Guide to Hell (p. 39), Book of Vile Darkness (p. 143) Fiendish Codex II (p. 35), and Rise of Tiamat (p. 10) in which Bel overthrew Zariel (the original Lord of Avernus!) and not the other way around, because the original version of the continuity is completely incompatible with the story of Descent Into Avernus. What I’ve done here is essentially insert Gargauth into the original role of Zariel in the story, creating a chain of succession from Gargauth to Bel to Zariel which, through the Shield, gives the PCs a window into the politics of Hell. 

If you want to instead maintain the “Zariel was the original ruler of Avernus” continuity, replace Zariel’s role in Descent with a different Archdevil; one of the Dark Eight would work well because they’re regularly killed and replaced (making it easy for the fallen celestial who led the Charge of the Hellriders to have become one of Avernus’ generals).

THE CULT OF ZARIEL

The Cult of Zariel is briefly described in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (p. 21). As Archduchess of Avernus, Zariel oversees the armies fighting at the front lines of the Blood War, and her focus is usually on the corruption of knights, mercenaries, and soldiers who can most aid her cause. It is particularly effective to corrupt entire knightly orders or mercenary companies, institutionalizing Hell’s recruitment, and it’s not unusual to find the Cult of Zariel working from within such organizations, often having hollowed out the original leadership and purpose.

There are actually two different Zariel cults in the Remix, although they’re working together closely enough that the PCs may not make the distinction between them. (They don’t really need to.)

The Vanthampur cult in Baldur’s Gate is relatively new. Their primary goal is to seize power in Baldur’s Gate. In addition to all the normal advantages to be gained from such temporal power, they particularly want to corrupt the Flaming Fist and turn the whole mercenary company into a recruitment drive for the Blood War. Towards this end, Duke Vanthampur arranged for Grand Duke Ravengard to be present in Elturel when it was sucked into Hell. She’s also planning to assassinate Duke Portyr in order to further the power vacuum.

The Cult of the Companion has been secretly wielding power in Elturel for generations. They forged the original pact with Zariel for the Companion (see Part 4B), and their current leader is High Observer Thavius Kreeg himself. They have been guided in these actions from the beginning by Gargauth, speaking from the Shield of the Hidden Lord, which has been a prized artifact of the cult.

THE MURDERS

Having been utterly triumphant in their schemes, the Cult of the Companion is now working mop up.

We’ll discuss the details and specific history of the infernal pact that doomed Elturel in Part 4, but there’s one thing we need to know now: Anyone descended from a Hellrider or a member of the Order of the Companion has had their soul forfeited to serve as a devil in Zariel’s armies after their death. Those who were in Elturel at the time of its fall have already been taken, but a number of descendants either escaped the city or weren’t in the city at the time of its fall. If they die before Elturel sinks into the Styx (and the pact is completed), however, then their souls will also be sucked to Hell.

The Cult of the Companion is therefore working with the Vanthampur cult to hunt down Hellriders and their descendants in Baldur’s Gate and murder them. Think of it as a final recruitment drive.

DEAD THREE CULTISTS

The Cult of Zariel has reached out to local Dead Three cultists for the manpower they need to identify, locate, track, and murder Hellrider descendants. This alliance was primarily forged because the Dead Three cultists still venerate the Shield of the Hidden Lord and view Gargauth’s pronouncements as coming from their dark gods, but Duke Vanthampur was able to sweeten the deal by offering them an ancient temple site dedicated to the Dead Three.

Duke Vanthampur, who manages the city’s water utilities and sewer system, originally became aware of this temple when a sewer work crew accidentally broke into it. She had the sewer breach sealed, killed the workers who’d done it, built a bathhouse over the temple site in order to gain access to it, and then killed the workers who’d done that work, too.

She didn’t really have a specific purpose for it at the time, but figured having a private underground lair would come in useful at some point. The complex has been used at various times to store drugs, slaves, and other illicit goods. The Vanthampurs have also used it to hold and torture prisoners. Unfortunately, the contamination of the air by subterranean gases (see Part 3F) has limited its utility and, therefore, value. The Dead Three cultists nevertheless consider the restoration of this holy site an almost incomparable gift, putting them deeply in Duke Vanthampur’s debt.

Note: In the adventure as published, the relationship between the Dead Three cultists and the Vanthampurs is confused. In some places it’s suggested they’re allied to common purpose (although it’s not certain what that is); in other places the Vanthampurs are just paying the Dead Three cultists to kill people. But if the Dead Three cultists are just mercenaries, then it’s unclear why the Vanthampurs have built a temple dedicated to the Dead Three in the dungeon they found/own. The revision of lore found here attempts to simplify, straighten out, and strengthen this continuity.

Go to Part 3C: The Vanthampur Revelations