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With Zariel’s story at the heart of Descent Into Darkness, the legions of Hell play a significant part in the campaign. In designing the Remix, I eventually reached the point where it felt necessary to actually nail down some of the details of how Hell’s military is organized.

My goal with these notes is not to be hyper-detailed or encyclopedic. In reality, any military with have dozens of minute distinctions within and countless exceptions to systems like this. And this is Hell itself — a fiendish bureaucracy with a legacy of aeons. Random Worldbuilding: Creating Noble Titles suggested a three-step process that will probably be useful to remember here:

1. Create a system that makes perfect sense.
2. Create two exceptions: One grandfathered in from some other system. Another that’s newfangled and recent.
3. Whenever the current system doesn’t quite work right for your current adventure… add an exception.

What I’m looking to establish here is a broad framework that will keep us oriented and consistent, while providing clear guideposts for improvising during play.

In my personal canon, the Legions of Hell are logically descended from the Legions of Heaven (because Asmodeus brought that military command with him when he betrayed Heaven to conquer Hell), which is why you’ll see broadly similar ranks in, for example, flashbacks to the Averniad.

Design Note: Our org-chart here takes inspiration from the legions of Rome, primarily because it provides a Latinate patina that feels stylistically appropriate for Heaven and Hell. Rome’s own military was reorganized countless times during its hundreds of years of history, and we’re not trying to accurately model the Roman military in any case. But if you’re looking to expand upon these ideas, you might look there for further inspiration.

If you want to add a lot of byzantine complexity, you might hypothesize that different blood legions use different org-charts (in, say, the fashion of the United States Army and Navy). In which case you could literally go Byzantine, by drawing inspiration from Byzantine military titles and the like.

BLOOD LEGIONS

There are eight blood legions – cruor legio – each commanded by one of the Dark Eight, the generals who serve the Archduke of Avernus.

Each blood legion is made up of an incredibly large number of individual legions. Some scholars cite a specific number (one hundred or one thousand or six hundred and sixty-six are popular choices); others claim there are hundreds, thousands, or even an infinite number of legions. (Thus the elven poet Suntithis famously describes the legions of Hell as the “eight infinities,” which may have inspired Aternicus to describe the apotheosis of Asmodeus as the “infinite betrayal, born eight times in blood.”) Let’s simply say “countless legions” and you can decide how much hyperbole is involved with that, if any.

There is presumably a High Command that serves as an interface between the Dark Eight and the individual legion commanders, but this strata of the military hierarchy is not particularly in our focus. If necessary, we can refer to these officers as Tribunes, with the understanding that there are many different types and gradations of the tribuni. (Members of the tribunate are perhaps further denoted by tiered honorifics that appear after their name, like augusta – e.g., Hastati Betrazalel Augusta is a devil named Betrazalel with the tribuni rank of Hastrati in the class of Augusta.)

Each legion is made up of cohorts, both of which are numbered, with cohorts (particularly cohorts on detached duty) often being identified by their number followed by the number of their legion. (For example, the 9^th Cohort of the 497^th Infantry Legion, also referred to as the 9/497.) Specific legions or cohorts may also have specific titles or nicknames, with varying degrees of “official” recognition. These can denote or be based on elements such as:

• Founding officers or notable historic leaders (e.g., the Belum legions founded by Archduke Bel, although some legions are also known as Belum or Belum Veterana because they are or were directly command by Bel)
• Important historic accomplishments (e.g. the Conquerors of Athalka)
• Awarded honorifics (e.g. triumphantes or perpessio)
• Descriptors of the legion (e.g., the Stygii legions of the fifth layer of Hell or barbazii legions made up entirely of bearded devils)

In other cases, or in addition to these elements, they can also just be adopted as cool names (e.g. Terror Incarnate).

Cohorts are specialized for specific roles or battlefields:

• Infantry
• Aerial
• Cavalry
• Aerial Cavalry
• Aquatic
• Subterrene

Most legions are formed from uniform cohorts and will be referred to similarly (e.g., the 497^th Infantry Legion), although some special legions will have diverse cohorts (for example, Zariel’s 5^th Legion is composed of the 3^rd Aerial Cohort, 7^th Infantry Cohort, and 9^th Cavalry Auxilary.)

Auxiliaries are similar to cohorts, but are either smaller in size, more limited in utility, or both. (Some auxiliaries will be highly specialized, veteran troops with extremely unique skills. Others are essentially trainee cohorts.)

KEY MILITARY RANKS

Optio (pl. optiones): Field officers who command small troop units.

Primus (pl. prima): Roughly equivalent to a lieutenant. They will either be in command of slightly larger troop units and/or have several optios reporting to them.

Triarius (pl. triarii): The commanding officer to which prima report to, and who reports to the leader of the cohort.

Signifier (pl. signifiers): A lesser leader of a cohort or auxiliary; a junior princeps.

Princeps (pl. principia): The leader of a cohort.

Legate (pl. legates): The commander of a legion. This title is sometimes translated as “General” in the Common tongue.

THINKING IN RANKS

As a practical, but completely non-binding, design guideline, I’m going to think of these ranks in the following terms at the table:

• An encounter with a couple of devil soldiers probably doesn’t feature a commanding officer.
• When encountering a squad made up uniformly of one type of devil (e.g., 6 bearded devils), I’ll generally have them led by an optio.
• A primus will generally be a slightly more powerful devil leading a squad of less powerful devils. (For example, you might have a chain devil primus leading a squad of 6 bearded devils.) Alternatively, you might use an alternative stat block from the Enhanced Devils supplement, which are handily designed not to make devils more powerful, but to make them more varied. (For example, you might have a bearded devil squadron led by a bearded devil primus with innate spellcasting.)
• A triarius is usually going to be a significant CR bump above whatever the baseline troops are. If you’ve got an infantry legion of bearded devils, then perhaps the triarius is an erinyes or horned devil. Conversely, if it’s a legion of lemures or imps, then the bearded devils might be triarii.

Legates, Princeps, and Signifiers are probably all significant characters that you would be placing with some care and thought. It would be in no way inappropriate to see pit fiend legates, although less powerful (i.e., slayable) legates are quite possible.

Go to the Avernus Remix

Go to Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

• Grade: B+

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Grade: B-

REMIXING SEASON 9

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A few things:

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

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

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

Go to the Avernus Remix

Go to Avernian Hex Key Index

I1. MIRROR OF MEPHISTAR

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 99

Rigorath can offer the PCs knowledge about:

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

I2. WARLORD LAIR: FEONOR’S LAIR

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

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

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

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

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

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

I3. CIRCLE OF FLAMES

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

I4. FORT KNUCKLEBONES

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 80

See Part 6C.

I5. SPAWNING TREES

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 96

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

I6. SHADOWSWIMMER TOWER

• The Diabolical Dive
• On River

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

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

J1. SIEGEWORKS OF DIS

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

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

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

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

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

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

J2. KOSTCHTCHIE’S MAW

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 104

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

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

J3. WARLORD LAIR: GOREGUTS GANG

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

J4. TEMPLE OF THE BROKEN PRINCE

• Temple of the Broken Prince

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

J5. WARLORD LAIR: THE EIGHTH REMNANT

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

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

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

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

J6. CAMP OF THE 9th COHORT

• Encounters in Avernus, p. 5
• Visible

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

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

Go to Part 7D: Raid on the Flying Fortress

Go to Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Grade: F

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Grade: F

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

Horst Atheraice will tell the PCs:

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

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

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

Wow! That’s incredibly convenient amnesia!

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

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

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

What the actual fuck?

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Grade: F

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Grade: F

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

Go to Avernian Hex Key Index

G1. ADJUNCT COURT OF HELL

A tall, perfectly square tower filled with a Kafka-esque bureaucracy. Although lower staff members are devils of various sorts, the judges and upper management are Rilmani – perfect embodiments of neutrality who oversee and resolve disputes over infernal contracts.

These courts operate under the authority of Primus, as established in the Trial of Asmodeus. (The history of the Trial, along with “fun” facts like Zariel’s small part in that ancient history, can likely be established if anyone asks questions.)

Research at the court can also provide useful information about how infernal contracts (like the contract Zariel uses to hold Elturel in Avernus) can be broken. PCs might think to litigate the Elturian contract, but that probably won’t pan out unless the PCs go to truly extraordinary efforts of deception (which will almost certainly earn them the eternal enmity of the forces of neutrality if it is ever discovered): the contract is, legally speaking, impregnable.

G2a. DRETCH CRACK

• Encounters in Avernus, p. 8

One of the narrow cracks in the ground here leads to a large cavern filled with dretches.

G2b. STYGIAN RAMPS

• On River

There are a pair of ramps facing each other across the Styx. Those riding  infernal war machines can leap the river here. (Although if you miss, of course, you’ll end up splashing down in the waters of the Styx, most likely ruining both your machine and your mind.)

G3. HARUMAN’S HILL

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 92
• On River

MEETING HARUMAN / QUESTIONING HELLRIDERS: See Part 6D-L: Questioning the Hellriders.

G4. POOL OF ICHOR

• Encounters in Avernus, p. 10

“The ongoing Blood War has left substantial pools of demon ichor all over Avernus.”

G5a. ZARIEL’S BRIDGE

A bridge spans the Styx here, guarded on each end by a Styx Watchtower (DIA, p. 124). The original bridge which stood here was destroyed during the Rift War and the new bridge was dedicated to Zariel’s glorious victory and ascension to Archduchess. Bas reliefs along the bridge depict various incidents from Zariel’s life, accompanied by infernal inscriptions:

• Averniad: Zariel is depicted (anachronistically in her fiendish form) in the midst of a lush, verdant paradise. (Inscription: “She served in the armies of the Lord of the Nine in the younger days, when Avernus had not yet become the Ninth.”)
• Zariel & Lulu: Zariel (anachronistically in her fiendish form) is depicted with Lulu, Yael, Haruman, and five devils. Their names are listed in Infernal cartouches (the otherwise unknown devil’s names being given as Zilannen, Tozromon, Brullmerath, Xilka, and Venthroxoth). (Inscription: “In memory of her comrades lost over the long eons of struggle.”)
• Zariel’s Fall: Zariel is depicted kneeling before Asmodeus, her wings aflame as her “impurities” are burnt away. (Inscription: “At the feet of the Archfiend her heart was opened to the truth, and she ascended to the ranks of the esteemed.”)
• Zariel’s Imprisonment: Zariel is depicted in chains. Above her are the five heads of Tiamat. (Inscription: “At the false word of the coward Bel, she was sealed in the prisons of the Progenitor.” Note: One of Tiamat’s titles is the Progenitor of Hell.)
• Second Avernian March: Zariel is on the front lines of a titanic battle between devils and strange creatures which seem neither demon nor devil. A DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognizes the creatures as baatorians. (Inscription: “In glory did she triumph where false Bel failed, in the name of the Lord of Nessus.”)
• Zariel Becomes Archduchess: Zariel is crowned by Asmodeus. (“All hail the Archduchess of Avernus, may she rule eternal at the left hand of the Archfiend.”)

G5b. PLAGUESHIELD POINT

• The Diabolical Dive
• On the Styx (under the river)

A drow citadel which was built around a magical geode (which now serves as a demonic prison) and was sucked into Hell, where it fell to the bottom of the Styx.

Commander Ljubomir, who now oversees the tower, is enjoying considerable prestige from the bargain he wrought which resulted in the tower’s capture. As it’s a recent acquisition, its function as a secure holding facility for demons near the front lines of the Blood War is only just being spun up.

Geode Prison: The large geode at the heart of Plagueshield Point contains multitudes. It’s not exactly larger on the inside than the outside. Rather, every version of its “inside” is out of phase with the others and can be accessed only one at a time. (However, gazing through different facets of the geode reveals the others.)

Demonologist’s Tower: When Respen (see Shadowswimmer Tower, Hex I6) worked here, he used a heartstone in his research and it can still be found here.

G6. WRECKED FLYING FORTRESS

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 118

The flying fortresses are built to a standard plan and have been for aeons. By thoroughly exploring the wreck, the PCs can learn the layout of the fortresses (which may assist them if they wish to mount a raid or heist on Zariel’s fortress).

H1. THE DUMP

• Infernal Insurgency
• On River

The Dump was once the Void Chateau, a strange house in Waterdeep owned by a mage known as Chalice Void. The chateau eventually vanished from Waterdeep and reappeared in various towns along the Sword Coast, before settling once more on a hill outside of the village of Amphail. One morning there was a terrible howling sound and the chateau vanished from the Material Plane forever.

It had somehow become embedded in the banks of the River Styx. It now serves as a munitions dump, supplying materiel to the frontlines of the Blood War.

The Dump contains an unkeyed keystone to the Arches of Ulloch (hex A4), which can be rekeyed with only 10 soul coins of raw materials.

H2. BEL’S FORGE

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 113

Bel’s Forge is too small. You should either:

• Revise the lore so that this is just one of many such forward-positioned forges that serve the front lines of the Blood War. (Bel could perhaps have been specifically banished to this demeaning frontier posting by Zariel, information which could be seeded into the rumor tables.)
• Significantly revise the Forge so that it is a much, much larger complex with tunnels and workshops riddling the entire volcano.

Bel’s Forge uses Phlegethosian sand to quench certain types of infernal blades.

H3. DOCK OF FALLEN CITIES / ELTUREL

See Part 5 and Part 6B.

H4. STYGIAN DOCK

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 123
• On River

Bazelsteen has a set of astral pistons that he keeps for repairing antique infernal machines, which he’ll exchange for assistance with Test Run 221 (DIA, p. 124).

50% chance that a flying fortress is docked. 1 in 3 chance that it’s Zariel’s.

Design Note: Developing the commanders of the other two flying fortresses currently making regular pit stops at this dock might be something worth pursuing.

H5. ELEMENTAL GALLEON

• Abyssal Incursion, p. 4
• On River

The Mirror’s Edge, an elemental galleon from the world of Eberron, has crashed on the shores of the Styx.

H6. MODRON OUTPOST

• Visible 2 (volcano) / Hidden (outpost, see below)

Clinging to the inside wall of a volcano’s caldera is a modron outpost. A huge geothermal spike thrusts down into the volcano below, powering a clockwork menagerie of technomantic marvels within the outpost. Upon occasion, the outpost extends an astral antenna above the rim of the volcano to take readings and also broadcast transplanar reports. The antenna can also provide access to the outpost.

(When this antenna is raised, it can be visible to a great distance. The outpost should otherwise be considered a Hidden location.)

The modrons use this outpost to monitor the Blood War. Its presence is known to the local Blood Legions and tolerated: partly because they’ve learned that if they destroy these monitoring outposts, the modrons just build more; partly because the modrons have also been known to trade valuable technomantic items upon occasion.

The modrons have a supply of Nivanan cogboxes.

Go to Hexes I1 thru J6