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The eighth through eleventh adventures of Avernus Rising are a sequence of stand-alone, Tier 2 side quests with the PCs based out of Mahadi’s Emporium.

IN THE GARDEN OF EVIL (DDAL 09-08): This adventure has an interesting premise – a knight of Zariel’s crusade and her unicorn mount fled the battle and were chased down by devil outriders who forced the unicorn to make an infernal pact in exchange of the life of her knight and companion – but it doesn’t hold together.

In the Garden of Evil takes place in a forest which is supposed to be a primeval remnant of the paradise that Avernus was before the Blood War tore it apart, but this concept doesn’t really go anywhere. The forest is primarily “explored” through a series of random encounters, which are mostly confusing in their execution. The adventure states that the Ride of the Hellriders took place long ago, but nevertheless repeatedly frames encounters as if it happened like three days ago. (For example, with devils still hanging around the corpse of a fleeing Hellrider they pursued and killed.)

Meanwhile, the pact at the center of the story makes no sense: The devil promised to save the knight’s life in exchange for the unicorn submitting to captivity, but it didn’t actually do that. It killed the knight and “hid” the body like three feet away from the unicorn where the unicorn can clearly see it. Nevertheless, the unicorn remains imprisoned as if the pact were still in force until the PCs helpfully show up and tell her that she could leave at any time.

Which she does.

• Grade: D

RUINED PROSPECTS (DDAL 09-09): Is it just me, or is the rigid formatting of Adventurers League scenarios actually pretty awful? You can see this really clearly, I think, when an author just wants to present a simple dungeoncrawl and the format forces them to contort it into a weird linear-ish narrative built around “Story Objectives.” But even scenarios that would ostensibly be suited to the milestone-obsessed AL formatting nevertheless seem to founder on the rocky shores of its bloated, repetitive presentation (which never seems to sequence the information in a coherent fashion).

But I digress.

Ruined Prospects is a pretty straightforward dungeoncrawl in which the PCs are attempting to reach yet another errant survivor of the Charge of the Hellriders who wandered away from the battle and is now held in stasis within Weatherstone Keep. It’s quite literally a 5 Room Dungeon, following the recipe fairly strictly, but to good effect before culminating in an entertaining boss rush.

• Grade: C

TIPPING THE SCALES (DDAL 09-10): The PCs learn that there is an adult silver dragon who has been playing a game of chess against an ice devil for the past 1,000 years in an effort to win back the soul of his lady love. The PCs journey to the deep Avernian pit where the chess game is being played to intervene and rescue both dragon and lady love.

My favorite bit in this adventure is the bearded devil Sadazah, who carries with him a lemure in a bowl. The lemure was a devil who displeased their master and was demoted, but Sadazah hopes that their master “will eventually promote his friend once more. They had plans together.” The adventure has a lot of really nice details like this.

Where the adventure falls down, unfortunately, is the execution of its central premise.

When the PCs show up at the 1,000 year old chess match, they attempt a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. If they succeed, they realize the ice devil is cheating and can use this knowledge to force him into a wager for the souls of the dragon and his lady love. If they fail… I guess the PCs just shrug and go home?

Even the successful result on the check is kind of a head-scratcher, though: Despite the relative ease of a DC 15 check, we are told that the silver dragon – who, it should be noted, has a legendary action that specifically allows them to make Wisdom (Perception) checks – has simply never noticed (in a thousand years?!) that the devil is cheating!

I’ll note that, like In the Garden of Evil, Tipping the Scales involves trekking across a swamp to reach the devil lair. The swamp trek in In the Garden of Evil is significantly superior (in detail and structure), while the finale of this adventure is significantly more interesting (and its weaker bits relatively easy to salvage). You might considering breaking these down for parts and combining them into a single adventure using all the best bits.

• Grade: D

LOSING FAI (DDAL 09-11): “Fai Chen has gone missing from Mahadi’s Traveling Emporium.”

To be honest, my first reaction to that premise is, “Good riddance.”

This is not, however, James Introcaso’s fault. In Losing Fai he’s crafted a decent little mystery in which the PCs are given three leads to pursue, each of which can lead them to Fai Chen’s kidnapper, albeit with varied consequences depending on which leads they choose to pursue and how they pursue them.

These consequences, coupled to the camp politics surrounding Fai Chen’s disappearance, provide a nice amount of texture to the scenario. Everything wraps up with an utterly creeptacular boss fight against Fai Chen’s kidnapper.

• Grade: C+

The next three adventures – The Breath of Life, The Swarmed Heart, and The Vast Emptiness of Grace – form the Call for Aid series.

THE BREATH OF LIFE (DDAL 09-12): In The Breath of Life, Dara informs the PCs that she has been given a divine vision of a dead angel’s skull that is being held by an archdevil and she needs the PCs to get it. Fortunately, the archdevil is holding a party and Mahadi has invitations, so the PCs just need to get themselves invited as Mahadi’s +1s and then perform an improvised heist once they’re inside.

Jared Fegan does a good job here, creating a multi-layered security system around the skull that the PCs can unravel if they pump the party guests for information. The party guests themselves are colorful, entertaining, and well-drawn.

I’m picky about party-based adventures and there are things I would certainly do to enhance this scenario if I were running it at my table. (Notably adding a main event line and some topics of conversation would go a long way. The latter, in particular, is a missed opportunity here, as the conversations could’ve been linked to other Avernus Rising adventures that the PCs might have been part of or will become part of in the next tier.) But what’s here on the page is good, and very ready to be built upon.

• Grade: B-

THE SWARMED HEART (DDAL 09-13): In Bianca Bickford’s The Swarmed Heart, Mahadi’s Emporium is attacked by a swarm of hellwasps and the PCs have to figure out why.

The main event here is invading the hellwasp hive, which is distinguished by being the best-realized dungeon I’ve seen in Season 9 so far. It’s got some light xandering, three-dimensionality, a solid key, and support for multiple approaches.

The only blemish on this adventure is a weird interlude where the PCs have to protect a cleric for multiple rounds of combat while the cleric casts plane shift… a spell with a casting time of 1 action.

This is definitely a highlight of the season, and I’ll most likely be looking to incorporate it in some fashion into the Remix

• Grade: B-

THE VAST EMPTINESS OF GRACE (DDAL 09-14): Over the past couple adventures, the PCs have brought a couple angel corpses back to Dara, who has used her mystic connection to Ilmater to return them to life. Both angels hear the tortured call of a third angel named Yuriall who calls out to them even across planar boundaries!

… so they definitely won’t be joining you in saving Yuriall. And, in fact, the only reason they’re bothering to send you to save Yuriall (who has been imprisoned and getting tortured for decades) is because they’re pretty sure he has an artifact that they need.

Celestials in this series are just the worst.

The thing I find almost overwhelming about this adventure is how broken its continuity is.

At a high level, the premise is that Descent Into Avernus is over and Elturel has been returned to the Material Plane… but the overarching plot of Season 9 nevertheless assumes that Zariel is still in charge of Avernus, which doesn’t seem to be the endorsed ending of Descent. The DM is told that they can choose to keep Elturel in Avernus if they want, but they’ll need to make a bunch of only semi-specified adjustments to the adventure. And then, later, the DM is instructed that they MUST do this (i.e., adapt the entire adventure on the fly) if the PCs are only playing Season 9… which makes sense, because the PCs are literally going to Elturel to retrieve an artifact that will help them get another resource in the next adventure which can help “turn the tide in the struggle to save Elturel.”

The whole thing is dizzying.

At the low level, there’s a constant stream of contradictions. One of my favorites is when a group of bandits is said to attack the PCs because they mistook them for undead, and then in the very next paragraph we’re told that they attacked the PCs so that they could murder them and steal their stuff. It also seems as if the PCs are assumed to know that the place they’re going is infested with vampires, even though, as far as I can tell, they have absolutely no way of knowing that. And so forth.

Other aspects of the adventure are inane. For example, there’s a locked door that requires the PCs to solve a puzzle to open it. The solution to the puzzle? Someone has conveniently nailed it to the door. Later, a system of random encounters is proposed in which the GM should check once each hour… for a dungeon with only six rooms that the PCs are virtually certain to clear out in less than an hour.

The Vast Emptiness of Grace, however, is not without its moments. For example, there’s a very atmospheric encounter with chain devils in a library where all the books are chained to the shelves. And the dungeon that the PCs are seeking (and eventually find) is a decent bit of horror, only somewhat sabotaged by poorly executed boxed text that is constantly telling the players what their characters are going to do.

• Grade: D

Go to the Avernus Remix – Go to Part 5: Doors and Corners

Go to Avernian Hex Key Index

E1. WEATHERSTONE KEEP

• Ruined Prospects

This outpost is occupied by abishai loyal to Tiamat, supported by a small force of legion devils (merregon).

The Lost Hellrider: Beneath Weatherstone Keep is an ancient, heretical Temple of Torm. After the defeat of the Zarielites during the Charge of the Hellriders, one of the fleeing Hellriders reached this Keep and, following the divine guidance of Torm, sought refuge in the temple. The Hellrider was placed into a state of suspended animation and remains there still, protected by Torm’s holy ground.

If the PCs awake the Hellrider, use Part 6D-L Questioning the Hellriders to determine what he knows.

E2. TENTACULAR MINE

A huge, open pit surrounded by fields of reddish slag is ringed with colossal, writhing tentacles.

The pit is a mine for green Baatorian steel. The tentacles are the groping extremities of a carcinomatous baatorian buried here. Its squirming extremities pose a constant danger to the miners.

Baatorian Steel: Baatorian steel can only be mined on Avernus, and its supply is often limited due to the logistical difficulties created by the Blood War. A piercing or slashing weapon crafted from Baatorian steel deals +1 damage and has a +1 bonus to attack rolls. (This is not a magical enhancement and does not stack with magical bonuses.)

Green baatorian steel is even rarer. It has the same properties, but can also be more easily crafted into swords of wounding (and so most green Baatorian steel blades are such).

Baatorian Dream Machine: In the depths of the mine there is a technomantic device, built on somewhat similar principles to Mad Maggie’s dream machine, which keeps the cancroid baatorian dormant in a slumbering dream. Its effective range is limited, however, which is why the tentacles are most active (and dangerous) at the surface.

The machine includes a Nirvanan cogbox. If the cogbox is removed (or the machine otherwise disabled), however, the baatorian will awake and rip the mine apart.

E3. HELLWASP NEST

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 95

No changes from the published text.

E4. TOWER OF URM

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 97

There is a 1 in 4 chance that the tower is present (check per day if the PCs camp out at the site).

If the tower is not present, the iron foundations should be considered a Hidden location unless the PCs are specifically traveling along the edge of the lake or on the island itself. Spotting the foundations from the shores of the lake requires a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check.

Mordenkainen can provide a Heartstone or Phlegethosian sand. His asking price for either is 30 soul coins, unless the PCs have done him some form of great service (like saving his life from an assassin).

Assassination/Kidnapping: Why not both? The assembled devils include both those secretly plotting to assassinate Mordenkainen and those who will kidnap the PCs if that seems advantageous.

Tower Maps: Ideally, we would also like to prep maps of Mordenkainen’s tower. Dance of Deathless Frost includes some notes for potential features and security measures.

E5. SIBRIEX

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 116

The sibriex knows:

• The location of the nine adamantine rods (as described in the adventure).
• Leads on a location for each of the four dream machine components (roll on the Dream Machine Component Rumors table in Part 7I).
• A brief précis of the Averniad and Zariel’s Long March (see Part 6D).

E6. DISCORDANT SPIRE

• Infernal Encounters, p. 34

A strange obelisk 30 foot square that rises 80 feet into the air. It is formed from some native Avernian stone; a scintillating shade of red that seems alien to mortal eyes. Each side of the obelisk bares dozens of mouths singing a discordant tune.

Phalaeraphe: Within the obelisk (which is actually a tower), lives a devil with a beautiful singing voice. She operates a small, private lounge where powerful and influential devils come to hear her sing, drink from a rich selection of blood-liquors, and socialize. If given the proper incentive, she can quietly arrange private meetings with influential devils. (Not warlords, no such fiendish filth would be welcome here. Zariel? Too high. But people who know Zariel? Bel? Signifier Hraxioch, commander of the 9^th Cohort (Hex J6)? Quite possibly.)

F1. DROGOLOTH MINES

• Vysianter’s Guide to the Red Wastes

These mines of adamantine and orichalcum are worked by still-living mortals who have been captured by devil slave-gangs or who have been bound to service through ill-conceived bargains. Caravans drag the raw ore to the Purple City (Hex F2), from whence it is shipped downriver to Bel’s Forge (Hex H2) to be made into weapons for the front lines of the Blood War.

F2. THE PURPLE CITY

• Tyrant of the Purple City
• On River

Baron Barur Tolmanen: The Lord of the Purple City served with Zariel in the Rift War. In addition to telling the tales of the Rift War often during his disturbing, gluttonous feasts, various memorials around the city glorify the events of the Rift War (and Tolmanen’s role in it).

The March: Lux Arakxis, the leader of this criminal organization, has been obsessed with finding the Sword of Zariel, mounting numerous expeditions to little effect over the years. He knows the Sword was lost after the Charge of the Hellriders, and he will wax rhapsodic about the tale of their ride into Hell (recounting the identities of the Three Generals and events following the kidnapping of Yael, who he’s certain took the Sword from the final battle… although his personal theory is that she stole it and betrayed Zariel.)

The March also uses heartstones for planning their heists.

Archmagi of Thraxai: Agamemnova Hex, the leader of the Archmagi of Thraxai, once met Lulu while Lulu was imprisoned in the Wandering Emporium.

F3. VALE OF DEMONS

• Infernal Encounters, p. 5

A valley filled with hundreds of demon heads placed on tall pikes. Ten of the demon heads have been transformed into vargouilles (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, p. 195).

F4. BLOODY CYST

• Visible
• Descent Into Avernus, p. 134

There are several important changes to this location:

• The citadel cannot be seen; it is completely subsumed by the Cyst.
• No one knows that this is where the Sword of Zariel lies hidden. As noted previously, this secret is held only in Lulu’s lost memories.
• Therefore, there are no devils or demons here excavating the site. (You could have them here just harvesting the bloody pulp of the cyst for one reason or another, but you’d want to make significant changes to the key.)
• Yael’s ghost does not give the PCs’ visions of Idyllglen. (They already experienced those in the Dream Machine.) See Part 6D-L for what happens when the PCs encounter her.

Design Note: As mentioned previously, the goal is for the PCs to recognize the Bloody Cyst so that the moment that it’s revealed as the hiding place of the Sword of Zariel it’s a cool revelation and not a, “Wait? Where?” moment. (It’s okay if they need to follow up on their vision; lots of people in this area of Avernus know the location of the Bloody Cyst and can direct them – it’s just not ideal.)

It’s positioned in Hex F4 because (a) characters crossing the bridge in Hex G5a will likely run into it and (b) this also makes it a convenient landmark for NPCs to use while giving directions.

One of my patrons also recommended that Mahadi’s Emporium could be camped out at the base of the Bloody Cyst at some point.

F5. THAT’S A BIG SPEAR

• Infernal Encounters, p. 10

An immense spear, nearly 100 feet in length, is impaled into the ground; the skeletal hand of whatever colossal creature once wielded it still clutches the cracked leather wrapped around its shaft.

F6. RUINS OF A WARLORD’S LAIR

• Map by Dyson Logos

This stronghold carved into the side of the mountain was once the lair of the warlord Jevvka of Osternia. Her gang crossed the Powers That Be in Avernus and a cohort of the Blood Legions sacked the compound, leaving it in ruins. Jevvka herself was crucified to the back wall. Her corpse hangs there still, along with a warning painted in her own blood:

WITNESS THE WRATH OF BEL. LET IT STAND AS WARNING TO THOSE WHO DOUBT HIS POWER.

Go to Hexes G1 thru H6

Go to Part 1

The next three adventures – Faces of Fortune, Infernal Insurgency, and The Diabolical Dive – form the Behind Infernal Lines series.

FACES OF FORTUNE – THE STORY OF FAI CHEN (DDAL 09-05): At the end of our last adventure a couple celestials revealed that they had been hiding among Elturian refugees from the very beginning! A mission to Hell is proposed… and apparently the celestials immediately bow out. A conversation which I imagine going something like this:

Celestials: Our work here is done.

PCs: You did nothing.

Celestials And you’re welcome!

PCs: People are dead.

Celestials: Celestials out, bitches!

In any case, the PCs and ten-year-old Dara are heading to Hell to rescue the trapped souls of innocent Hellriders. So they all hop in a cart drawn by a goat and driven by somebody named Fai Chen and somehow they all end up in Hell.

I’m so in the weeds on Fai Chen!

Some research indicates he also showed up in Season 8 of the Adventurers League, but even with this information I’m at a loss: Who is he? What does he want? How did he know to show up in Baldur’s Gate (but then not know anything about Dara or her celestial connections in this adventure)? What power does he possess to bring people to (and from?) Hell?

No idea.

Which seems particularly perverse given the subtitle of this adventure.

This was a frequent malady back in the ‘90s, when RPG supplements were more heavily driven by serialized metaplots which would slowly evolve their worlds over time. Often these metaplots were driven by J.J. Abrams-style mystery boxes and, in order to preserve the sense of enigma, these secrets were even kept from the GM reading the book. Which becomes a problem when the GM lacks the context necessary to understand how they’re supposed to be running the adventure at the table. That’s what happens here: I don’t know what Fai Chen wants, so I don’t know how he’d respond to anything the PCs might do or say. I don’t even know what he is, so if he gets into a fight (with the PCs or anybody else) I don’t even have the tools to resolve it.

But Fai Chen does, in fact, bring everyone to Avernus. At which point, apparently, Dara reveals she has no plan whatsoever. She doesn’t even have a plan to make a plan. So Fai Chen shrugs and says, “Weird. Well, I guess we’re all heading to Mahadi’s Emporium, renting a stall, and joining the flea market!”

Which is what this adventure is all about.

The frankly surreal framing aside, Ted Atkinson carries off the adventure itself adroitly.

The one thing we do discover about Fai Chen is that he’s basically the Han Solo to Mahadi’s Lando Calrissian. As the PCs approach Mahadi’s Emporium they’re attacked by an Avernian warlord gang, and after fighting their way through they discover that this warlord has been regularly harassing travel to and from the Emporium. Mahadi believes that there’s a traitor within the Emporium who’s assisting the warlord and he wants the problem solved.

This “traitor within” plot has a significant similarity to the one found in Hungry Shadows. This creates an interesting thematic resonance (the evils of the Material Plane are echoed in Hell), but the contrast largely just serves to demonstrate how this sort of plot can be handled without making your eyeteeth ache.

Mahadi’s Emporium is detailed and enhanced with a dozen or so colorful and well-rounded inhabitants, there are several side-quests designed to both accent the main quest and draw the PCs further into the social circles of the Emporium, and the whole thing is studded with some flavorful combat encounters.

Faces of Fortune is just solid adventure design, and well worth grabbing for any campaign that will be featuring Mahadi’s Emporium.

• Grade: B

INFERNAL INSURGENCY (DDAL 09-06): Fai Chen can now infinitely duplicate himself and the PCs are suddenly not allowed to leave the Emporium so they need to sneak out. (This will never be mentioned again.)

Would someone please hire a continuity editor for the Adventurers League?

Speaking of poor continuity, the Firesnake Forge from Descent Into Avernus which became Gears of War in DDAL 09-05 is now the Gearbox. Other than that, all the Emporium NPCs and locations which have been previously established are abruptly swapped out for a completely new roster. (The silver lining here is that you can pillage from both scenarios to flesh out your version of the Emporium.)

Weird inter-adventure continuity aside, Infernal Insurgency is a pretty good scenario. The concept is that the PCs need to raid an Avernian munitions dump. Their goal is to wreak enough havoc (i.e., blow stuff up) to pull devils away from a nearby facility (leading into scenario DDAL 09-07). The scenario struggles a bit as it gets awkwardly forced into an inappropriate structure, but a simple adversary roster and just ignoring the scripted elements of the ending will go a long way here.

• Grade: C

THE DIABOLICAL DIVE (DDAL 09-07): Having successfully drawn defenders away from Plagueshield Point in the previous adventure, the PCs are now ready to raid Plagueshield Point and steal the original battleplan used by the Hellriders when they charged into Hell! They then promptly discover that nobody knows where Plagueshield Point is, so they’ll have to start by finding someone who does.

… uhhh. If the people planning this operation don’t know where Plagueshield Point is, how did they know that raiding the munitions dump in the previous adventure would pull defenders away from it?

Seriously. Continuity editor. Look into it.

There’s a number of internal continuity errors and other oddities, too, like a creature without telepathy inexplicably communicating telepathically.

Once again, annoying continuity glitches aside, The Diabolical Dive is a rather nice adventure featuring two modest dungeon crawls. The first, Shadowswimmer Tower, is rather cleverly designed to be handled through either a frontal assault, social maneuvering, or sneaky stealth. It also features some nicely evocative touches of lore which help bring to life its owner’s obsession with studying the arcane properties of the River Styx.

The second location, Plagueshield Point, is starkly memorable in its concept: A drow citadel built around a magical geode which serves as a prison and which has been transported to the bottom of the Styx as part of an infernal bargain gone wrong.

• Grade: B-

Go to the Avernus Remix – Go to Part 4: Interlude at Mahadi’s

Go to Avernian Hex Key Index

C1. MONUMENT OF TIAMAT

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 112

Through the mouth of a colossal dragon’s skull, a tunnel passes back to Tiamat’s Lair. The tunnel is really more of a highway. (The size of the dragon skull really cannot be overstated.) Arkhan the Cruel and his followers are currently in a camp just down the hill from the dragon skull.

Tiamat’s Lair: The mountain is a prison, although Tiamat has successfully tested the limits of that prison many times. Her lair is like an onion, with layers upon layers of caverns always worming their way deeper and deeper towards her five lairs (and many false lairs). Some of these tunnels actually ooze across planar boundaries. In one place, for example, her lair is connected or consanguineous with the Dragonspawn Pits of Azharul (another draconic deity whom Tiamat destroyed and subsumed a century ago).

The highway leads to the outer fortifications of Tiamat’s lair, which stand guard upon the Gate Tower of Dis. This fluted tower stands in the middle of a truly mammoth cavern, surrounded by temporary merchant camps and stockyard-type infrastructure. The tower actually pierces through the planar boundaries between the layers of Hell. Inside the tower, a huge ramp leads down for a seemingly absurd distance (it takes several hours to descend) before emerging out of a tower on the outskirts of Dis, the infernal city which is the second layer of Hell.

At the opposite end of the lair, atop the mountain peaks, are five towers – one for each of Tiamat’s chromatic heads – which rear up into the sky in a crown-shaped redoubt. These towers serve as entrances for draconic followers of Tiamat.

C2. PILLAR OF SKULLS

• Visible 1 (Visible 2 on a clear day, as per a mountain)

A terrifying tower of demon skulls, stacked more than a mile high. These are trophy-skulls claimed during the Blood War and placed in this monument during the time when the frontlines were located along the River Styx.

The Rift Mound: Near the base of the Pillar of Skulls is a second mound, reaching perhaps fifty feet high. These skulls were piled here during the Rift War. Inspection will reveal that they are not demonic (they are actually baatorian, although a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check is necessary to recognize that).

On an obsidian sarsen at the base of the mound are carved the following words in Infernal:

FORGET NOT THE GLORIES OF THE BATTLE OF LOST MEMORIES. SEE BEFORE YOU THE ENEMIES OF HELL AND REMEMBER THEIR FOLLY. WE HONOR FOREVER THE DEEDS OF ZARIEL, SHE WHO ROSE BY HER BLADE. SHE WHO TRIUMPHED IN THE RIFT WAR. SHE WHO IS NEW-CROWNED ARCHDUCHESS OF AVERNUS.

C3. BAAZIT’S CAGE

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 100
• On the Edge of the Pit of Shummrath

There are a dozen iron cages suspended over the edge of the Pit of Shummrath and designed to dunk their occupants into the demonic goo. When the PCs first arrive here, one of them is occupied by Baazit (DIA, p. 100). On future visits, there is a 1 in 4 chance of a new prisoner (which can be generated using the wandering encounter tables for Avernus).

C4. TEMPLE OF DAK-THAEL

• Vysianter’s Guide to the Red Wastes

These ruins were once the sanctum of the Queen of Lilies, who ruled over a verdant paradise before it was swept away by the sands of Avernus.

Design Note: As written, the Queen of Lilies was an ancient Archduchess of Avernus. You might position her as having served in the armies of Ashmedai (i.e., Asmodeus) when he conquered the plane. Alternatively, with even greater revision, the Queen of Lilies might have ruled here BEFORE the Fall of Avernus and the paradise described here is what Avernus was like prior to the events of the Averniad.

C5. CRYPT OF THE HELLRIDERS

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 101-3

MEETING OLANTHIUS / QUESTIONING THE GHOSTS: These conversations are detailed in Part 6D-L: Questioning the Hellriders.

C6. AVERNUS THAT WAS

• Map by Dyson Logos

A narrow crack in the rock leads to a stone stair leading deep into the earth. At the heart of this shrine is a small, verdant patch of the glorious paradise which Avernus once was. Just fifty feet across, this patch of the Avernus That Was has been preserved for eons.

Lore of the Averniad is preserved here, speaking of how the forces of many different planes sought to claim Avernus for themselves; and of Asmodeus’ betrayal that led to Avernus becoming aligned with Hell.

This place is anathema to those with fiendish blood, who simply cannot enter (as if presented with an impenetrable invisible wall upon the threshold). Full fiends cannot even perceive the place unless forced to do so (for example, if they see someone else passing within).

D1. MALIGNANT TRIBUTARY

• Encounters in Avernus, p. 14
• On River

The tributary of the Styx shown on the hexmap here is known as the Malignant Tributary and has strange effects on those who drink from it (as described in Encounters in Avernus).

D2a. WARLORD LAIR: CAROL D’VOWN

• Warlords of Avernus, p. 4
• Map by Dyson Logos
• On the Styx

D’vown has a Heartstone, which she uses in her alchemical experiments.

Carol’s tower squats on the banks of the Styx near where a tributary from the Pit of Shummrath joins the river. She takes samples from the Styx, the Pit, and the effluvium mixture of the two and experiments to see what alchemical “delights” she can discover from them.

Carol is in a relationship with Feonor (Hex I2), having met her at Mahadi’s Wandering Emporium years ago. There is a 1 in 6 chance that Feonor and 1d4-1 members of her gang are visiting Carol here.

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

D2b. THE SHUMMRATH DAM

A huge dam has been erected at one end of the Pit of Shummrath, preventing the ooze from flowing out into the Styx. (Stygian waters are periodically let into the Pit through a similar dam at the other end.) Sometimes the dam leaks and sometimes it overflows; the river canyons beyond this dam are thus lined with a sickly sludge made up Stygian water and Shummrathian ooze, leading to strange mutations amongst the flora and fauna.

D3. DEMON ZAPPER

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 106

A Nirvanan cogbox is part of the apparatus which imprisons the unicorn. Removing the cogbox without damaging it is a DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) check. Removing the cogbox disables the device.

D4. BLOODY CRESCENT

• Bitter Rivals, p. 5

An enormous rock shaped like a semicircle, providing a sort of half-pipe. The Warlords of Avernus use it for stunt duels on their infernal war-machines.

D5. ULDRAK’S GRAVE

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 109

Uldrak was the son of Gond. The interior of his helmet has been transformed into a tinker’s shop, serving as a pit stop for infernal machines that need cheap repairs. Among his supplies are a set of astral pistons.

There’s a 1 in 6 chance that 1d4 riders from a warlord’s band are here getting their machines checked out. If so, there is an additional 1 in 6 chance that the warlord themself is present.

D6. ELDER TEMPEST

• Dance of Deathless Frost

A mighty, elemental storm rages around this mountain peak to a distance of 1d6+4 miles. At the eye of the storm is the Tree of Life, beneath which lies Kostchtchie’s phylactery, as described in the module.

Go to Hexes E1 thru F6

Go to Part 1

ESCAPE FROM ELTURGARD (DDAL 09-01): It’s not really surprising that both I (in the Avernus Remix) and Rich Lescouflair in Escape From Elturgard conclude that the best way to start the saga of Elturel’s fall is in a refugee caravan heading from the outskirts of the fallen city to Baldur’s Gate. There’s just no better or more immediate way of introducing the PCs to the crisis and, importantly, the lives most dramatically affected by.

Escape from Elturgard employs a clever design that can be used as four stand-alone, one-hour sessions or one longer, cohesive session with the caravan encountering multiple challenges. Three of the scenarios involve gathering supplies for the caravan before it departs, while the fourth takes place on the road.

The custom illustrations of every significant NPC in the caravan are a particularly nice touch and a great resource for this kind of adventure.

The grit in the wheel here, however, are the continuity errors. None of them are particularly large or fundamentally crippling, but they are everywhere – a constant, pervasive annoyance that never really goes away.

A good example of what I mean is the opening paragraphs of the second interlude/adventure, which has the quest giver say, “See that cart? It belongs to Ippon the Miller. Take it to the mill and gather supplies.” So the PCs walk over to Ippon and he says, “See this cart that definitely doesn’t belong to me? I think we should take it.” You can see how that doesn’t really break anything, but is nevertheless remarkably jarring.

The three “prep the caravan” sections of Escape From Elturgard are the scenario’s best parts and easily scavengable for a Remix campaign, with a couple provisos: First, the wacky “go on a shopping trip for paper and ink for a poet who otherwise refuses to join the refugee caravan” is, in my opinion, tonally inappropriate for the post-apocalyptic setting. Second, some of the adventures include devils roaming the countryside around Elturel as if they had “attacked” the city, but the continuity leading to that is a little hazy. (Elturel was sucked into Hell; it wasn’t attacked by devils.)

The fourth section of the scenario involves a secret cultist in the caravan murdering one of the other refugees and the PCs needing to solve the crime. This section of the adventure is not very good. The mystery is simply not handled very well, in no small part because the murder doesn’t actually make any sense.

• Grade: C-

The next three adventures – Stopped at the Gate, Hungry Shadows, and The Day of the Devil – form the Betrayal in Blood series.

STOPPED AT THE GATE (DDAL 09-02): Like other seasons of the Adventurers Guild, Season 9 reflects the events of that year’s major campaign book, in this case Descent Into Avernus. But this one reflects the campaign book rather more closely than other seasons that I’m familiar with, and, frankly, the effect is rather ludicrous.

Whereas Descent Into Avernus features the PCs being hired by a Flame of the Flaming Fist to investigate a Cult of Zariel in Baldur’s Gate murdering refugees under the instructions of a devil named Gargauth, these Adventurers League scenarios feature the PCs being hired by a different Flame of the Flaming Fist to investigate a different Cult of Zariel in Baldur’s Gate who are also murdering refugees for a different reason while being instructed by a different devil whose name starts with G (Gharizol).

With all the fascinating stories that could be told within the period of upheaval created by the Fall of Elturel in both Elturgard and Baldur’s Gate, the fact that the only thing the Adventurers Guild could think of was, “I dunno… I guess just the exact same story?” is not only incredibly disappointing, but also a huge disservice to anyone playing in both an AL and Descent Into Avernus campaign.

And it’s a millstone that none of the individual scenario writers are really capable of overcoming.

In Stopped at the Gate, the PCs need to investigate the murder of Marcus Hallgate. The poor design of the mystery can be exemplified by the first scene. The PCs can get two clues, both delivered by the victim’s wife:

• There have been other murders. The PCs are not expected to investigate any of these, but they can talk to a city watchman who “knows more.” (He doesn’t.)
• A friend of the Hallgates purchased a gift for the wife several days ago. (The gift has absolutely no connection to the murder, but apparently the PCs are supposed to follow up on this out of desperation.)

So the PCs leave the scene with two clues (sort of), and then this happens:

If the characters choose to see Dovis first, he’s at his post by the Heap Gate (Scene C). If they choose to go to Harwin’s shop first (Scene D), they end up encountering Dovis before they get there.

It’s not just that it’s railroading. It’s that the railroading is both transparent and completely pointless. In any case, they (hopefully) go to Harwin’s shop and his assistant tells them:

A couple of days ago, Harwin left to check on the shearing operations outside of town. This was strange; they had wool and Harwin didn’t like the sheep. Harwin must have left before Zook got to the shop this morning, since the tea in Harwin’s mug was still warm.

So he left a couple of days ago, but the tea in his mug was still warm this morning?

It turns out that Harwin is being controlled by a devil named Gharizol. Gharizol hatched a “brilliant” plan for killing Marcus Hallgate:

• Make a fancy dress for Marcus’ wife so that she would go dancing!
• She will not, of course, take her husband to go dancing with her!
• Then, having gotten his wife out of the way, kill Marcus… while he is walking down a busy street and in no way in a location where his wife’s presence or absence would be meaningful!

Just… astounding.

In my opinion, this scenario is completely unusable.

• Grade: F-

HUNGRY SHADOWS (DDAL 09-03): In Hungry Shadows, the PCs are engaged to investigate another murder related to the Cult of Zariel.

The fundamental problem here is the continuity. Initially, I thought it was just presented in an utterly baffling fashion, but having read backwards and forwards through this thing several times, I’m forced to conclude that the whole thing is, in fact, utter nonsense.

A cultist has been “murdered” in their own home with all the doors and windows locked. How did he die? Well, either some sort of devil broke down his door and killed him (what all the evidence says) OR he was casting a summoning spell, it went wrong, and something appeared in the room with him and killed him (which is what the appendix says).

Who found the body inside the locked house that no one had been inside? No idea. The adventure doesn’t say. What we DO know is that the first members of the Flaming Fist on site are actually moles who are loyal to the cult. So what do they do? Well, first they report the murder to their superior officer and wait for the PCs to be called in. And THEN they arrange a meeting with a cult member at a local tavern to tell them that they need to cover up all the evidence of the cult’s involvement.

Where is the cult located? UNDER THE MURDER VICTIM’S HOUSE.

“Features” of this adventure also include:

• A group of moles working within the Flaming Fists who conveniently self-identify themselves as moles by all wearing black kerchiefs around their necks.
• A dungeon map that not only lacks a numbered key, but also labels of any kind, making it ludicrously and unnecessarily cumbersome to run.
• A serious recommendation that PCs pause in the middle of a six room dungeon to take an eight hour long rest while the cultists in the next room politely wait before starting their ritual to summon a devil to fight the PCs.

I would consider this scenario nigh unusable, and certainly not worth the effort required to salvage something vaguely serviceable out of it.

• Grade: F

THE DAY OF THE DEVIL (DDAL 09-04): I talk about this adventure in Part 3J of the Remix, where I loosely adapt the continuity around Duke Portyr’s assassination. And the reason I wanted to adapt it is because M.T. Black has done a bang up job of it.

The Day of the Devil opens with the PCs listening to Duke Portyr give a speech to a large crowd. Midway through the speech, he’s shot by an infernal arrow that causes his body to explode as several devils leap out of it. The PCs’ first order of business is to deal with the devils in the midst of a panicking crowd. It’s both an explosive opening (pun intended), but also handled with great elegance through a combat complications table that neatly captures the chaotic nature of the scene in an easy-to-run mechanic.

This is followed by the revelation that the cultists are also targeting some of the refugees the PCs have befriended, triggering a great chase sequence across Baldur’s Gate to reach the warehouse where the refugees have been staying in time to stop further tragedy. This is followed by a decent siege scenario (with the PCs defending the warehouse from cultists and devils).

The only real false step with the adventure are the loose ties to the other AL adventures, which mostly crop up in the final scene: Dara, who was the leader of the refugee caravan in Escape From Elturgard, has confusingly de-aged into a ten-year-old girl (this is just a continuity error). Then she reveals that two other refugees have secretly been celestials this whole time, she has just been consecrated as a priestess of Ilmater (as a ten-year-old child?), and they’re all heading to Avernus to rescue some souls.

At which point a character the PCs have never seen before blows up one wall of the warehouse (that the PCs have just bled to defend and which the refugees are still living in) and comes riding in on a mule-drawn cart, offering to give them all a ride to Hell.

All of which I recognize is supposed to elicit a response of, “WTF?” But I suspect not quite in the tone of derision I have for it.

But, honestly, if you just ignore that entire tacked-on ending, it’s a good adventure. (It does not, however, bode well for where the series is heading.)

• Grade: B-

Go to the Avernus Remix – Go to Part 3: Behind Infernal Lines