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The Avernian hex key is going to be one of the “hands on” sections of the Remix: We’re going to set up the scaffold here, but there’ll be some finishing work you’ll probably want to do before running it.

To stock the Avernian hexcrawl, I will be:

• drawing locations from Descent Into Avernus,
• pulling material from a variety of Avernus-related supplements on the DMs Guild, and
• creating original content.

Most of the locations in Descent Into Avernus were originally and primarily designed to be part of the Choose Your Railroad structure that the campaign is built around. The key below assumes that you’ll have access to the Descent Into Avernus book, but will be providing notes focused on how these locations should be adapted in the absence of this railroad.

In cases where I’m using material from the DMs Guild, you will similarly need to either obtain the original supplement or swap those hexes out for your own creations. The notes below, once again, focus primarily on how you can adapt the published material to good effect. (Harvesting published scenarios like this is something I almost always do when stocking hexcrawls.)

Original content is also unlikely to be a in a play-ready state, but should be sufficiently detailed that you’ll be able to flesh out the details.

Throughout these locations we will be seeding:

• The four components required to repair the dream machine.
• Clues related to Lulu’s memory mystery.
• Clues related to the Avernian Quest.

INDEX

Hexes A1 thru B6
Hexes C1 thru D6
Hexes E1 thru F6
Hexes G1 thru H6
Hexes I1 thru J6

A1. AVERNIAN TARPIT

A vast tarpit several hundred feet across. The is hot enough to burn (1d6 fire damage) and it is constantly bubbling. Dangers include:

• A large gas bubble explodes, spattering those within 10 feet with hot tar. DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or 1d6 fire damage.
• Getting stuck in the tar. (It counts as difficult terrain and requires a DC 14 Strength check to pass safely or a DC 18 Strength check to escape once stuck. If stuck, the victim will slowly sink into the tar, becoming submerged 3d6 rounds later.)
• Jets of flame spontaneously erupt from particularly strong outgassing.
• The gas itself can be toxic, requiring a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, characters are affected as per a confusion spell, rolling on the custom table below once per minute to determine their actions. At the end of each minute, they can attempt another saving throw.

There are several small outcroppings of rock and solid-ish land dotted throughout the tarpit. On one of these is a giant boulder of gold that gleams in the strange, reddish light of Avernus. (The boulder is actually pyrite; fool’s gold.)

A2. OBELISK OF UBBALUX

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 98.

A set of astral pistons within the obelisk are intrinsic to Ubbalux’ prison. The pistons can only be accessed if Ubbalux is freed.

FREEING UBBALUX:

• As described in Descent Into Avernus, Ubbalux has heard of the Mirror of Mephistar (Hex I1) and believes Mephistopheles can unravel the riddle.
• Bel built the prison and could free him. Ubbalux can also point them towards Bel’s Forge (Hex H2). (If it seems reasonable, Ubbalux might still be under the impression that Bel is the Archduke of Hell.)
• You can also solve Bel’s original “riddle” (see below).

INVESTIGATING THE STONES: Bel told Ubbalux that the secret to escaping the prison was hidden in the arcane runes etched across the standing stones. The trick is that crucial information is located on the outside of the stones, where Ubbalux can’t see it.

• A DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana) check indicates that each of the outer standing stones is associated with one of the schools of magic.
• A character who speaks Infernal or succeeds on a DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana) check will notice that each standing stone has a cartouche containing two syllables, one of which is either the first or second syllable of the associated school of magic in Infernal and the other appears to be a nonsense syllable.
• A similar cartouche appear on the inside of the stone (where Ubbalux can see it, although you can also look across the circle and see them from outside) with a similar pairing of the first or second syllable of the associated school of magic in Infernal (whichever one isn’t on the outside) and a nonsense syllable.

SOLVING THE RIDDLE: Combining the two “nonsense” syllables on each stone forms a command word associated with that stone. You can intuit the correct order of the syllables by looking at the matched syllable from the school of magic. (So the syllable in the cartouche with the first syllable of the school of magic should be the first syllable of the command word and the second syllable should be the second.)

To release Ubbalux, you need to place your hand on each stone and speak the associated command word (suffering the effect described on pg. 98 of Decent Into Avernus). Once this has been done with all eight stones, the energy field drops: Ubbalux is freed and the central obelisk can be accessed.

A3. OOZE HARVESTERS

• Pit of Shummrath
• Map by Dyson Logos

Treacherous stone steps are carved into the cliff face surrounding the Pit of Shummrath, leading down to a miserable village which has been built upon a shelf of rock that thrusts out into the green ooze.

A pair of piscoloths and a gaggle of sahuagin overseers dominate a population of enslaved half-fiend goblins who dredge sludge from the Pit and bottle it. These are shipped to the piscolothian cities in the dark waters beneath the ice of Stygia, where the oil-slick-like telepathic emanations of the sludge are a kind of delicacy used to spice food.

Asmodean Cavern: The mouth of a cave at the base of the cliffs in the goblin village leads to several chambers containing ancient fiendish pillars. The four faces of each pillar are covered with worn runes in an archaic form of Infernal and the bas reliefs of various devil faces. Touching the runes causes the devil faces on the matching pillar to animate and recite them. Collectively they tell of the Trial of Asmodeus and the rights given to Asmodeus under the First Law by the ruling of Primus, Lord of the Modrons. This site is recorded as being one of sixty-six such memorials erected to record this epochal event.

The goblins lived in these caverns, but several years ago they were flooded by a sudden undulation of the Pit. Shummrathian ooze still lingers in the depths of the cave, creating a hostile environment for the goblins who still squat here.

A4. ARCHES OF ULLOCH

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 103

The Arches of Ulloch allow the mass transport of entire armies, but they require the use of a tuned keystone (similar to the planar tuning fork required for a plane shift spell) to align them with a particular plane of existence.

One of the arches currently has an ancient Avernian keystone, allowing teleportation to anywhere within Avernus.

Creating a new tuned keystone requires:

• Either the original plans (located in Bel’s Fortress, Hex H2) or a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check to reverse engineer the existing keystone.
• 50 soul coins worth of raw materials.
• An appropriate workshop (such as those located in Bel’s Fortress, Fort Knucklebones, or other Warlord armories).

Note: There is an unkeyed keystone in the Dump (Hex H1).

A5. WARLORD LAIR: THE LOST GOLGARI

• Warlords of Avernus, p. 8
• Map by Dyson Logos

This is the lair of Kolasiah, the Infernal Medusa, and the Lost Golgari, who have come to Avernus from Ravnica. Kolasiah seeks a way of returning home and would value any news of a powerful spellcaster not allied with Zariel.

Entrance Ramp: Infernal war machines come roaring down the ramp and are parked in a cluster around the central stone pillar.

Forge: In the central pillar of the rock at the bottom of the entrance ramp there is a forge and garage run by Malargan the Oni. See Forges of Avernus, p. 4. A set of astral pistons can be found here.

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

Design Note: As written in Warlords of Avernus, the Lost Golgari have been reduced to a fraction of their former strength. You can either lean into that (with chunks of their base here being deserted) or I would potentially go the other way and bolster her to have a larger number of infernal machines and riders.

A6. WARLORD LAIR: BITTER BREATH’S MARAUDERS

• Bitter Rivals, p. 5
• Descent Into Avernus, p. 90

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

B1. ARKHAN’S TOWER

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 110

For Arkhan’s Tower, we would like to prep:

• A complete map of the tower.
• An adversary roster of the denizens. (Descent Into Avernus, p. 110-11 does provide a comprehensive list of creatures to add to the roster.)

For the map, I will recommend PogS’ excellent original cartography.

B2a. FERRYMAN’S PORTS

• On River

There are charonadaemon ferry stations on both shores of the Styx here. There are commissions available for travel up- and downriver, but most regular travel simply crosses the river to the other station.

Sudok’s Mart: The station on the contra-Dis side of the river is larger and contains a small market overseen by a yugoloth named Sudok.

B2b. ALVSKRAEMA CARAVANSERAI

• Map by Dyson Logos
• On Bridge (Across Pit of Shummrath)

The Alvskraema caravanserai is located next to the bridge which crosses the Pit of Shummrath. It is jointly operated by Brarumoch, Haskari, and Meltrus.

Brarumoch: Operates the common room and runs the kitchen. The caravanserai’s specialty is elf meat. Brarumoch has a supplier who hunts and butchers elves on the Material Plane; here they are considered an expensive delicacy known as alvskraema.

(This doesn’t mean that any elf walking through the door will be set upon and butchered. That’s not the sort of thing you do to a customer.)

Haskari: Operates a weapons forge. He specializes in creating cacophonous weapons, which allow those wielding them to speak and understand Abyssal. (See Forges of Avernus.)

Meltrus: Specializes in repairing and building infernal machines. He and Haskari are constantly squabbling over shop space.

Design Note: Note that the name Alvskraema is more or less “Elfscream” in Old Norse. It’s designed to echo the Elfsong Tavern from Baldur’s Gate. Thanks to Flallen from my Twitch chat for the suggestion of Elfscream Tavern.

B3. WITCH-QUEEN’S ABODE

• Dance of Deathless Frost

Tasha keeps a summer home in Avernus, as described in Dance of Deathless Frost. She is aware of Kostchtchie’s phylactery, knows that Baba Yaga knows its resting place, and is able to summon Baba Yaga’s hut.

B4. RED RUTH’S LAIR

• Descent Into Avernus, p. 107

Red Ruth has a heartstone.

B5. BONE CRATER

A large meteor impact crater formed by a huge skull (more than ten feet across) that’s partially embedded at the center of the crater.

B6. WARLORD LAIR: SOUL COLLECTORS

• Warlords of Avernus, p. 2
• Map by Dyson Logos

This is the lair of the warlord Algoran and his gang, the Soul Collectors.

Shrine to Eskarna: Algoran discovered an ancient shrine dedicated to the demon Eskarna. It was built countless aeons ago at a time during which the demons had pushed the front lines of the Blood War deep into Avernus. Long abandoned and forgotten, it was discovered by Algoran and converted into a gladiatorial arena.

Gladiatorial Arena: Watched over by the well-worn statue of Eskarna, Algoran hosts gladiatorial competitions here which attract a varied crowd of visitors and competitors.

Cogbox: Algoran recently acquired a modron slave as a wager during the gladiatorial fights. The modron has a Nirvanan cogbox. The modron might be willing to trade it for anyone who can help them gain their freedom; alternatively, if Algoran learns its value, he will seize it and try to make a deal (or wager) himself.

Shaaksuraar’s Armory: A “mountain of a sahuagin-werebear” called Shaaksuraar oversees a productive weapons forge for Algoran. This is located in the river cavern; Shaaksuraar goes on swims through the subterranean river and also quenches his fresh-forged weapons in the waters here. See Forges of Avernus, p. 3.

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

Design Note: The concept of Eskarna comes from Dyson’s original key for this map, although we have reduced it to an ancient ruin here. In Forges of Avernus, Shaaksuraar manages the Goregut Armory, but the Goreguts’ lair (Hex J3) in the Remix has been destroyed by Princeps Kovik (Hex J5). I’ve reassigned Shaaksuraar to Algoran, but you could also make this part of his backstory: That he worked for Raggadragga until his forge was destroyed by Kovik. (To add extra drama, perhaps Shaaksuraar betrayed Raggadragga to Kovik for a large payment of soul coins before transferring his services to his new forge here.)

Go to Hexes C1 thru D6

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As described in Part 7 of the Remix and the Alexandrian Hexcrawl, I prefer to run hexcrawls as a player-unknown structure: The abstraction of the hexmap is useful to me as the Dungeon Master, but kept secret from the players so that they can engage with the game world as their characters would.

This is not, however, the only way to run a hexcrawl. In other hexcrawl systems, the players are given a hexmap and know what hex they’re in (unless they’re lost, in which case they are misled about what hex they’re in). There are a number of potential advantages to this approach:

• It can enhance clarity and simplify the complexity of running the hexcrawl. (This can include handling movement by simply counting hexes.)
• It gives a clear structure to the PCs for creating their own map of the wilderness. (They basically just “fill in the hex.”)
• It can make it easy to provide a list of “hex actions” that the player can choose to focus on specific hexes. (For example, “we’re going to spend extra time searching this hex to see if we can find anything interesting.” This can be particularly useful in mid- or high-level play if the PCs begin to engage in realm-building game play, because it allows for things like hex-clearing. In fact, even if you, like me, prefer a player-unknown exploration model, it can often be useful to switch semi-diegetically to a player-known hexmap for realm-oriented play.)

But I digress.

The point is that people may want to run the Avernian hexcrawl using player-known hexmaps. After a discussion with members of my Discord, I thought it would be useful to provide blank player hexmaps for use in these campaigns. I’ve included four varieties:

• Simple White. For easy printing and player note-taking/terrain mapping.
• Avernian Blank. The flat surface texture that I developed for Avernus. (You may find this version more useful when using a VTT because it has greater visual interest.)
• Avernian Mountains. This map includes the mountains, defining the edge of the hexcrawl for the players and reflecting, to some degree, the fact that the mountains can be seen from a great distance. This version also includes other decorative elements.
• Stygian. This includes both the mountains AND the River Styx. I don’t recommend using this one (charting the course of the Styx is probably better for the players to figure out), but some may find it useful.

For each of these map types, I have prepared a version both with Elturel /the Dock of Fallen Cities as a starting location and without.

In addition to these blank maps, the players should still be given the illustrative player map. The players will be cross-referencing between the two maps, trying to figure out exactly which hex each feature on their characters’ map is likely to be in (and exploring accordingly).

(more…)

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This is the DM’s map for running the Avernian hexcrawl. It’s designed for use with the Alexandrian Hexcrawl, as described in the 5E Hexcrawl series. We’ll be making some tweaks to this structure, however, to accommodate the unusual features of Avernus.

HEX SCALE

1 Hex = 40 miles (center to center / side to side) = 23 mile sides = 1385 square miles

The Avernian Hexcrawl uses 40 mile hexes. When tracking progress, this means it requires 20 miles of progress to exit a hex through one of the two nearest faces. (If they exit back through the face through which they entered the hex for a reason other than doubling back along their own trail, it requires 2d10 miles of progress to exit the hex, unless circumstances suggest some other figure.)

Design Note: The primary reason for choosing a 40 mile scale is because the PCs are likely to end up using infernal machines with much higher speeds of travel. The secondary reason is aesthetic: Avernus is supposed to be a wasteland. By increasing the scale of the hexes, we achieve that (increasing the average distance between points of interest).

OPPRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT

The conditions in Avernus are debilitating, alien, and severe, particularly for mortals. In addition to the normal encounter check, there is a 1 in 6 chance per watch that an oppressive condition will begin. Once begun, an oppressive condition continues until another 1 in 6 check per watch ends the effect.

EXTREME HEAT: Temperatures reach extreme heat. A creature exposed to extreme heat must succeed on a Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. The DC is 5 for the first hour and increases by 1 for each additional hour. Creatures wearing medium or heavy armor, or clad in heavy clothing, have disadvantage on the saving throw. Creatures with resistance or immunity to fire damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures native to Avernus. A successful saving throw while resting resets the DC to 5.

CHOKING MIASMA: Thick, noxious fumes fill the air. They may have a source (like volcanic clouds rolling off the mountains) or they may seem to rise from the ground or even just spontaneously emerge from the air itself. At the end of each watch, creatures must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion. Creatures who are resting gain advantage on the saving throw. Creatures with resistance or immunity to poison automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures native to Avernus.

PSYCHIC EVIL: The supernatural evil of the Nine Hells weighs on the bodies and souls of those who are not evil. A non-evil creature must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the end of each watch or suffer 1d3 points of psychic damage.

ACID RAIN: Thick purple clouds spatter the plains with burning acid. A creature without shelter suffers 1d6 acid damage per hour.

RAIN OF STONE: Small meteors pelt the plane. Creatures without shelter must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw each watch or suffer 1d6 bludgeoning damage per hour. There is a 1 in 10 chance per watch that the meteor storm intensifies, with blazing orbs of fire plummeting from the sky. Creatures without shelter must succeed on a DC 15 saving throw or suffer 5d6 fire damage and 5d6 bludgeoning damage.

TERRAIN CONDITION: Each type of Avernian terrain has an oppressive condition. This result on the table indicates that you should use the oppressive condition of the terrain in the expedition’s current hex.

As noted below, some terrain conditions do not persist. They occur once in the watch during which they are rolled, and then additional checks for oppressive conditions immediately resume in the next watch.

AVERNIAN TERRAIN

The wasteland of Avernus is scattered with rocks of obsidian and quartz. There’re mountains dotting the bloody-dusty plain, and foothills march across the land like the overturned tracks of some gargantuan, unknown beast. – Planes of Law (1995)

ASHLANDS: The ground here is covered in a thick layer of black ash, generally varying in depth form six to eighteen inches. The ash does not easily compress or support weight, so travelers will often find themselves more or less wading through the ash.

Oppressive Condition – Ash Pit: In some areas the thin layer of ash is much deeper than it appears. Sentinels can attempt a DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check to spot the ash pit as the expedition approaches. If no one spots the ash pit, 1d4 random characters in the expedition must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or abruptly sink 2d4 feet deep in the ash.

At the start of each ash-bound creature’s turn, they sink another 1d4 feet into the ash. A character can attempt to escape by using their action to make a Strength check with a DC equal to 10 plus the number of feet they’ve sunk into the ash. If they have become completely submerged, they suffer disadvantage on this check and also begin suffocating.

Ash pits do not persist as an oppressive condition.

BONE BRAMBLES: A maze of warped trees and bonelike vines. Calcified corpses merge with the trees, covered in fungal pods that feed on the blood oozing through the undergrowth. Experienced Avernian explorers know that bone brambles often grow up around sources of fresh water.

Oppressive Condition – White Mists: The brambles exude a thick, cloying, almost oily white mist. This creates a condition of poor visibility (halving moving speeds and giving disadvantage on navigation and forage checks). The mist is almost refreshingly cool by Avernian standards, but there are strange whispers and disturbing groans that come and go among the mists.

CAUSTIC BOGS: On the current map, the caustic bogs are formed from the polluted run-off from Bel’s Forge (Hex H2), but similar areas can be found across Avernus, horrific remnants of the Blood War.

While travelling through the caustic bogs, characters must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw each watch or gain the Poisoned condition. The character can repeat the saving throw every 24 hours, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Oppressive Condition – Caustic Pollution: Characters must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer 1d3 acid damage.

HILLS, AVERNIAN: Either low mounds that undulate out of the wastelands or jagged promontories of razor-like rock that jut toward the blood red sky. The native life of Avernus, such as it is, often clings and clusters in the hills.

Oppressive Condition – Scree: See the Wastelands terrain below.

MOUNTAINS, AVERNIAN: There are generally two types of mountains in Avernus. Newer mountains that thrust up like broken blades of obsidian; raw and dangerous. And the older mountains that have been worn down by countless aeons, their gray immensity aching with an age incalculable to the mortal soul.

Oppressive Condition – Tremor: Avernus in general is tectonically unstable and this effect is magnified along the mountain crests. This condition indicates a tremor significant enough to disrupt travel, imposing a x ¾ speed modifier for the current watch.  1 in 10 such tremors are more serious, triggering significant hazards like an avalanche, rockslide, cave collapse, or the like.

This does not persist as an oppressive condition.

PLAINS OF FIRE: An iridescent, tarry putrescence seeps up through the soil here. These alchemical slicks catch on fire, a combination of small ever-burning wells and huge infernos miles long and high.

Failing a navigation check in the plains of fire, at the DM’s discretion, may indicate that the group has gotten cut off by a rapidly spreading fire, trapping the PCs in the eye of a firestorm.

It is never considered a clear day in the Plains of Fire.

Oppressive Condition – Extreme Heat: As described above.

PIT OF SHUMMRATH: A grand canyon more than a mile deep and filled with a lake of green slime that undulates as though breathing. The slime is actually the protoplasmic residue of an ancient devil imprisoned here by Archduke Bel many centuries ago, still possessed of some residual sentience and a telepathic ability to communicate (see p. 100 of Descent Into Avernus).

Large sections of the Shummrathian slime actually have a very thick skin, allowing the brave and foolhardy to walk across its slightly undulating surface. In slightly less gelatinous sections of the Pit, barges can dredge their way across.

Oppressive Condition – Telepathic Agony: An overwhelming telepathic burst emanates from the canyon, communicating in a single searing thought the eternal agony of Shummrath’s shattered consciousness. Characters must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or suffer 2d6 psychic damage.

WASTELANDS: The wastelands of Avernus look like sand, but are mostly made up of hard, sharp rocks akin to the quartzes and obsidian of the Material Plane. Footing can be treacherous.

Oppressive Condition – Scree: Traveling characters must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw each watch or suffer 1d3 damage. A character failing the saving throw must immediately attempt another, repeating until they succeed on a check or choose to stop traveling (in which case their distance traveled for the watch is halved).

WASTELANDS, CRACKED: The surface of Avernus is a rotten rind stretched across a festering fruit. In places, the ground has split apart. In cracked regions of the wastelands, the land is riven with fissures and ravines. Navigating these regions is difficult, either requiring great effort to circle around impassable chasms, or maze-like passages through the fissures themselves.

Oppressive Condition – Scree: See the Wastelands terrain above.

VOLCANIC PLAINS: Vast, smooth plains of black, basaltic rock. Sometimes shattered by tectonic upheavals. Often studded with fissure vents and bubbling pools of fresh lava.

An unusual feature of Avernian volcanic plains are the kipukas: Isolated areas of older lava flows surrounded by newer flows. On Avernus, these kipukas are often etched with the characters of some ancient and utterly forgotten tongue.

Oppressive Condition – Volcanic Event: Journeying near an active volcano is, of course, not safe in any circumstances, and even less so given the churning activity of a typical Avernian caldera. There are several volcanic events that could arise as an oppressive condition.

• A choking miasma of volcanic gas (see Oppressive Environment, above). More serious outbreaks of volcanic gas are also possible; resolve as a cloudkill
• An active lava flow, blocking the desired path of travel.
• A tephra fall, in which multiple inches and even several feet of ash can fall as precipitation. Add +2 to the DC of navigation checks and +4 to the DC of forage checks.
• A lahar, a violent mudflow formed from a slurry of pyroclastic material. (Resolve like an avalanche.)
• An eruption. This might be modeled by requiring the PCs to flee the hex within a certain timeframe.

Note: Although values are given for Highway speed, there are no such causeways in this section of Avernus. (They’re quite rare in Avernus in general.)

THE STYX

The effects of the River Styx are described on p. 76 of Descent Into Avernus.

It should be noted that these effects apply only to the waters of the river itself. The Styx is fed by a number of tributaries which do not share these effects until they join the main channel of the Styx. In Avernus, these tributaries may be water, but are more likely to be fouler effluvia. (In places within Avernus there are whole systems of rivers and lakes filled with nothing but the blood and bile and other fluids of mortal creatures spilling down into the Styx.)

NAVIGATING AVERNUS

Avernus… Its blasted, rock-strewn fields gape like festering wounds under a crimson sky. Neither stars nor sun brighten the infinite reach of this layer’s sky, for the blood-red light emanates from the air itself. There’s no way to keep time in Avernus, save by the screaming of the [suffering]. – Planes of Law (1995)

COMPASS DIRECTIONS: Cardinal and ordinal directions don’t exist in Avernus. (There is no rising sun, no stars in a night sky, and no magnetic field for aligning compasses.) This imposes disadvantage to navigation checks until a navigator has adapted to the oddities of Avernian geography (by successfully reaching an intended destination for the first time).

PLANAR COMPASS: A planar compass is a technomantic device which allows for navigation in the Outer Planes. A planar compass aligns to the nearest planar borders. In this particular region of Avernus that corresponds to the planar borders with Dis (to the “north” side of our map) and the Abyss (to the “east”). Thus Dis-ward, Abyss-ward, contra-Dis, and contra-Abyss.

Design Note: For simplicity, you might still want to use the familiar cardinal directions at the table. Here’s one way you could justify that: The word “north” actually derives from a word meaning “left” because it was the direction to the left of the rising sun. You could hypothesize an Avernian dialect in which the direction towards the Abyss (and the front lines of the Blood War) is adversa, and “Avernian north” is the direction to the left of that. In translation to the Common tongue, the common names – north, east, south, west – are extrapolated accordingly.

SIGHTING MOUNTAINS: In the absence of stars, sun, or magnetic fields, navigation in Avernus relies heavily on landmarks. In this particular region of Avernus, this is greatly aided by the Dispatrian Mountains that lie Dis-ward and the Praefervian Mountains to the contra-Dis.

On a clear day, both mountain ranges can be seen at a distance of two hexes (80 miles), but will frequently only be visible from 1 hex away. The thick haze of the Avernian atmosphere, however, usually reduces this to a single hex. Volcanic peaks indicated on the map (like Bel’s Forge in Hex H2) can similarly be seen at a distance of 1-2 hexes.

IDENTIFYING MAP LOCATIONS: If the PCs make inquiries, assume that Avernian natives can identify 1d6-1 locations on the player’s map.

OTHER AVERNIAN GUIDELINES

FORAGING: Food and water – particularly that suitable for mortal consumption – is hard to come by in Avernus. The native flora and fauna have a bitter or ashen flavor, and even drinkable water usually tastes foul.

Mortals make forage checks in Avernus at disadvantage. (Hell is not a place for mortals.) This does not apply to characters with demonic or devilish heritage (such as tieflings), who will find a broader range of Avernian wildlife suitable for their palates.

SPOTTING DISTANCE: Avernus is flat, which means there’s no horizon to block vision. With a clear line of sight you could hypothetically see an infinite distance… if it wasn’t for the atmosphere. On a perfectly clear day on Earth you can see about 150 miles through the atmosphere, but such conditions are rare on Earth and virtually impossible in Avernus.

Assume a 1 in 6 chance of a clear day.

On a typical day:

• A character taking the Sighting watch action can see their current hex.
• Mountains can be seen 1 hex away.

On a clear day (by Avernian standards):

• A character taking the Sighting watch action can see 1 hex (40 miles) away.
• Mountains can be seen 2 hexes away.
• Encounter spot distances in plains- or desert-type terrain (ashlands, wastelands, volcanic plains) are doubled. (Emphasize the disorienting nature of seeing creatures at such great distances to those unaccustomed to planar travel.)

UNSUITABLE TERRAIN: Land vehicles perform poorly in unsuitable terrain. Infernal war machines are well-suited to the Avernian wastelands, however, and are likely to only find mountainous terrain unsuitable. At the DM’s discretion they might also find unusual terrain like the Pit of Shummrath or the caustic bogs similarly problematic.

Some map icons from Hells Upper Levels by Keith Curtis via Inkwell Ideas.

Additional icons by Kevin Chenevert of RedKobold.com.

Go to Part 7C: Avernian Hex Key

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It’s time to explore Hell itself on the war-torn plains of Avernus!

… except there’s a problem.

Descent Into Avernus frequently talks about how the PCs are going to be “exploring” Avernus. Unfortunately, it goes out of its way to stop them from doing that in almost every way possible.

For example, it’s impossible to make a map. And the reason it’s impossible to make a map is because navigation is meaningless. Descent Into Avernus revamps the metaphysics of the Lawful Evil plane of Avernus into a chaotic, ever-shifting place where direction and distance are unfathomable and any attempt to make a map drives the cartographer insane. If the PCs attempt to go somewhere, you just roll a completely random die to determine if they get there or not.

Why have they done this?

I honestly have no idea

Despite maps being both impossible and meaningless, the adventure nevertheless gives the players a poster map (pictured above).

It’s unlabeled and, again, the spatial relationships it depicts don’t actually exist, so it’s utterly useless for literally anything you might actually use a map for. The map also doesn’t include Elturel (where the PCs would begin their exploration of Avernus) or Fort Knucklebones (the first place they’re likely to be going), but the DM is instructed to put these locations anywhere on the map they want. (Although, once again, this is totally meaningless.)

The module actually says:

Your players should never feel like they understand Avernus geographically, providing an unsettled and disorienting feeling as they roam the hellscape.

And, to be clear, this is not how things used to work in Avernus. The designers of Descent Into Avernus did this deliberately. They repeatedly sell the experience – in both marketing and the book itself – as “exploring” Avernus, but then go out of their way to discard the existing lore and the established 5^th Edition rules for wilderness travel in order to create a custom experience designed to make actual exploration completely impossible.

I should mention that the one thing the map DOES do is magically talk to the PCs: Every time they go somewhere, the map tells them exactly what the location is before they have a chance to explore and find out for themselves.

Without actually seeing it in the book, it’s difficult to believe the lengths Descent Into Avernus goes to in order to make sure that the players absolutely cannot explore Avernus in any possible way.

THE AVERNIAN HEXCRAWL

For the Remix, we’re basically going to just toss all of that out:

• The geography of Avernus will be comprehensible.
• Navigation (and therefore exploration) will be possible.
• The map the players receive will be meaningful.

To achieve this, we’ll be redesigning Avernus to use a hexcrawl scenario structure for wilderness exploration.

Now, one thing I’ve heard from a number of people while working on the Remix is that they’re really looking forward to seeing how I redesign Avernus as a sandbox. So I think it’s important to make something clear:

I am NOT going to be redesigning Avernus as a sandbox.

An RPG sandbox exists when the players can either choose or define what the next scenario of the campaign will be. For example, the opening chapters of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden are a sandbox.

Descent Into Avernus, on the other hand, isn’t a sandbox. It isn’t designed for the players to choose or define the scenario. The scenario is saving Elturel.

By using a hexcrawl structure to create a massively non-linear exploration experience while simultaneously blowing open the potential solution space for saving Elturel (as described in Part 6B: The Avernian Quest), we’re creating a huge playground in which the players will have enormous freedom to chart their own course through the campaign.

But, ultimately, they are not choosing their destination. Their destination is saving Elturel.

And this is significant because our design of the Avernian hexcrawl is going to be driven by that knowledge; it is going to be designed and structured for the PCs to save Elturel.

Now, with that being said, there are almost certainly going to be a lot of sandbox-like elements in our Avernian hexcrawl, and the hexcrawl itself is a very robust and flexible structure. So if you (or your PCs) were to ditch the idea of saving Elturel, it would probably be just a hop, skip, and a jump to use the Avernian hexcrawl as the basis for a pretty cool sandbox campaign. But there are meaningful structural changes and accompanying expansions of material that you’d want (or need) to make to truly shift the focus from saving Elturel and realize a fully functional and effective sandbox.

Note: There’s a fairly popular supplement called Avernus as a Sandbox. It’s also not a sandbox. They are misusing the term to just mean “non-linear scenario.” It’s actually a Choose Your Own Adventure structure. This is a really effective way of repackaging the Choose Your Railroad structure of the published campaign, but it’s not a sandbox.

MAKING THE HEX MAP

The first thing we’ll need for an Avernian hexcrawl is a hex map.

In designing the hex map, we’re going to want to keep the player’s map of Avernus in mind: If the players use their map to navigate, the navigational choices they make need to product coherent results when translated into the hexcrawl system.

(For example, they might be at the Hellwasp Nests and see, on their map, that the Demon Zapper lies to the “southwest.” If they tell the GM that they’re heading southwest, then when the GM plugs that movement into the hex map, they should generally end up at the Demon Zapper.)

The good news is that the player’s map is (a) illustrative instead of strictly representational and (b) lacks a scale. In other words, the only specific navigational information encoded into the map is a directional relationship (and even this can be arguably distorted by the imprecision of the illustrations). This gives us a great deal of latitude in tweaking the map.

(No pun intended.)

To create the map, I’m simply going to drape a hex grid over the top of the labeled DM’s version of the map:

In doing this, I’ve played around with the precise positioning of the grid to (as much as possible):

• Keep each location in a unique hex; and
• Maintain as many of the clear directional relationships as possible.

I’m fairly satisfied with the results here, so the next step is to start creating our hex key by assigning all the locations on the map to the corresponding hex. For example:

• A4 is the Arches of Ulloch
• B1 is Arkhan’s Tower
• C1 is the Monument to Tiamat.
• G6 is the Wrecked Flying Fortress.

And so forth.

MAP DIMENSIONS

I’ve used a 6 x 10 grid here, but because the player’s map has no scale, we have a pretty free rein in what the size of the hex map can be. (We could, for example, have just as easily made this a 10 x 20 grid or even distorted the map to achieve something like a 30 x 30 grid.)

In deciding the initial size of your hex map in a hexcrawl, there are basically two factors. First, you need to stock all these hexes with content, so you don’t want so many hexes that the task is overwhelming. Second, the hex map needs to be large enough that the PCs won’t immediately run off the edge of it and into uncharted territory.

(It’s quite likely they’ll eventually end up deciding to see what’s beyond the edge of the map, but if it happens in every single session including the first it can be problematic.)

In the case of Descent Into Avernus, we also have to consider the amount of time and narrative space we want to dedicate to exploring Avernus. If we had a 30 x 30 grid, for example, there would be 900 (!) hexes. That would probably mean spending twenty or thirty times longer in Avernus than the rest of the campaign combined (which would make it very difficult to maintain focus) OR it would mean the players only experiencing a tiny, tiny fraction of the hexcrawl (which would mean a ton of wasted prep).

Based on my experience, I generally recommend a 10 x 10 or 12 x 12 hex grid for an initial hexcrawl campaign (assuming the PCs’ homebase is located in the center of the map).

Our 6 x 10 map, therefore, is a little undersized in one dimension. I think this will be fine in practice because the existence of the map will act as a soft constraint on the PCs’ navigation: Having a map in hand focuses a group’s attention on the area depicted by the map, and they will tend to make their decisions within the confines of the map. There are also mountain ranges depicted to both the north and south, which will act as natural navigational constraints as well.

ADDING LOCATIONS

There are roughly two dozen locations described in Descent Into Avernus. So even after placing those locations, we’ll still have three dozen empty hexes that we’ll need to fill with new content. We’ll take a closer look at that in Part 7C: Avernian Hex Key.

However, among the existing locations, as mentioned above, there are two that need to be added to map: The Dock of Fallen Cities (where Elturel is currently located) and Fort Knucklebones.

These two locations need to be placed in relation to each other, as Lulu can hypothetically see Fort Knucklebones from the Dock of Fallen Cities. Furthermore, we know that the Dock of Fallen Cities is located on the Styx.

We could put both of these locations in a single hex, but it probably works just as well to put them into two separate hexes.

The map actually has a number of unlabeled locations, and to simplify my life it would also be great if I could grab one of them and use it for either the Dock or the Fort or both. I’d also prefer a relatively central location.

Scanning the map, this hill looks promising:

You could pretty easily make the case for that depicting Fort Knucklebones. That’s in Hex I3, so we’ll go ahead and slot the Dock of Fallen Cities in Hex H3.

Go to Part 7B: Avernian Hex Map

Go to Table of Contents

While exploring Avernus, the PCs have several opportunities to actually meet the crusaders who rode with Zariel into Hell itself.

At Haruman’s Hill they can speak with Jander Sunstar, the other crucified Hellriders who abandoned Zariel and their comrades, and Geneal Haruman himself.

At the Crypt of the Hellriders they can speak with the disembodied spirits of the crusaders who remained in Hell when the others fled. They can also meet General Olanthius.

And, of course, Yael herself will be met at the Bloody Cyst.

These encounters provide a really amazing opportunity for the PCs to interact with history. And if we’ve set things up correctly, the players will really feel that: Getting to meet Sunstar or Olanthius or Yael – after learning so much about them – will carry the same weight as meeting JFK or Cleopatra or Shakespeare.

To this end, I’ve prepped a basic NPC roleplaying template for each of the Hellriders, allowing us to run these encounters with easy confidence within the revised continuity of the Remix. The Key Info section for each Hellrider contains the key references for the Memory Revelations, but since the PCs will likely be interested in hearing their tale, I’ve tried to keep the Background sections as clear and straightforward (for easy reference) as possible.

JANDER SUNSTAR

Appearance: Impaled upon an iron tree, his pale skin is stained with a thin network of red and lurid veins. His dull-grey eyes are sunken pits of bruised crimson.

Roleplaying:

• His voice is wracked with eternal anguish.
• His arms are pinioned; his hands straining and palsied, their motion limited.
• He feels he deserves this punishment, possessing endless guilt for leading his Hellriders to this fate.

Background – Early History:

• Gold elf born on the island of Evermeet.
• Left Evermeet in search of adventure.
• 786 DR: Joined the armies of King Sarshel of Impiltur, serving under the three Paladin Princes (Essys, Araln, and Nord) as a knight of the Order of the Triad. In the Battle of the Moaning Gorge, Essys and Araln were killed, but the Impiltur forces defeated the armies of the balor Ndulu, driving both the demon and his horde back into the Abyss.
• 788 DR to 794 DR: Nord became king of Impiltur and begins the Harrowing of Nord, seeking to purge all the fiend-worshippers in the kingdom. Jander grew weary of the work and, with his friend Gideon (another knight of the Order of the Triad), left Impiltur and headed west into the Dalelands.
• 796 DR: In the Year of Grey Mists, Jander and Gideon become two members of the Silver Six and slay a red dragon in Merrydale. A few weeks later, the dale is plagued by a group of vampires. Two of the Silver Six are killed. In the same year, Merrydale is renamed Daggerdale.
• 798 DR: Jander is turned by the vampire lord Cassiar.
• 892 DR: Jander manages to slay Cassiar and escape from his influence.
• Early 10^th Century DR: Jander ends up in the Goblin Marches, where he falls in with a slave revolt led by Haruman, the Boy Warlord. Haruman eventually becomes the Lord Knight of the Far Hills, ruling a fiefdom out of Farkeep (the citadel which would later become known as Darkhold). Jander became a knight-banneret in his service.

Background – Zarielite Crusade:

• While questing to the west of Farkeep, Jander encountered Zarielite crusaders and learned of their cause. Moved by their grand desire to strike at the very heart of evil – something which seemed to echo with his own eternal struggle – he returned to Farkeep and converted Haruman to the cause.
• Jander rode to Elturel with Haruman, where the Lord Knight of the Far Hills pledged himself as the Third General of the Crusade, joining General Yael and Olanthius, Lord of Elturel.
• Under the command of the Zariel and the Three Generals, the cruaders marched to war against a demon lord named Yeenoghu outside a small town called Idyllglen. Jander was the commander of one of the cavalry wings.
• As the battle seemed to be drawing to a close, Yeenoghu captured General Yael and fled through a portal. Zariel, riding a golden hollyphant, led the army through the portal in pursuit, emerging onto the plains of Avernus.
• During the Battle of Avernus, while the Three Armies were engaged with Yeenoghu’s army, an army of devils approached. Jander panicked (“We can’t fight both Hell and the Abyss!”) and led a large chunk of the army back through the portal to Idyllglen. The portal then slammed shut behind them, leaving Zariel, Yael, Olanthius, Haruman, and most of the crusaders trapped in Hell. (Jander doesn’t know what caused the portal to close.)
• Jander was the highest ranking officer among the crusaders who had fled (and therefore survived) Avernus. The deserters became known as the Hellriders, their acts of infamy instead being told as deeds of glory.
• Jander became the first High Rider of Elturel. He changed the Riders’ heraldry from the twin stars of the Zarielite Crusade to a horse rampant in flames.

Background – Later Life:

• Sickened by his betrayal of both Zariel and Haruman, Jander felt he was living a lie. The dark blot of the vampiric curse on his soul grew larger and he was no longer able to fully control his need for human blood.
• Resigning his position, Jander left Elturel and resumed his long-delayed journey to the west, eventually ending up Waterdeep.
• In Waterdeep, he withdrew further and further from human society, eventually becoming a hermit living in a cave outside of town. He would occasionally come into town to “sip” from the inmates of Waterdeep’s asylum.
• During one of his feeding trips, he met a mad women named Anna and fell in love with her. He discovered that she had been cursed in a land called Barovia.
• After Anna’s death, Jander journeyed to Barovia to seek revenge against the one who had placed the curse of madness upon her. He eventually discovered that Anna was Tatyana, a woman who had been pursued by Count Strahd of Ravenloft, the ruler of Barovia.
• Although he attempted to end Strahd’s life, Jander failed. Finding peace with himself at long last, however, he climbed to a high cliff, prayed to Lathander, and waited for the sun to rise.
• … but he found no grace or forgiveness from Lathander. Upon his suicide, his soul was taken to Avernus. Reformed into the vampiric form he loathed in “life,” Jander was taken to Haruman’s Hill and crucified as an eternal punishment for his betrayal of the Archduchess Zariel during the Battle of Avernus.

Key Info:

• Jander was a Zarielite Crusader.
• The Three Generals were Yael, Olanthius, and Haruman.
• Jander betrayed Zariel during the Battle of Avernus, leading a chunk of the army back through the portal. The deserters became known as the Hellriders, cloaking themselves in false glory.

Design Note: Jander Sunstar first appears in Christie Golden’s Vampire of the Mists and various short stories. The continuity of those stories is impossible to bring into accord with the events described in Descent Into Avernus. Not only are the particular dates of the original story not internally consistent to begin with, but the sequence of events is fundamentally different: In the original stories, Jander serves as a Hellrider with Gideon, is later turned into a vampire, goes to Ravenloft, and then dies. In Descent Into Avernus, on the other hand, he becomes a vampire, goes to Ravenloft, apparently doesn’t die when he attempts suicide, serves as a Hellrider, and then commits suicide at some unspecified later date.

(The “doesn’t die” thing can actually be traced back to AD&D sourcebooks that apparently wanted to include a prominent character from the tie-in novels, but didn’t have any utility for a long-dead NPC. But most of the confusion once again maps back to the decision to move the Charge of the Hellriders to the 14^th century, as we’ve discussed previously.)

I’ve done my best here to weld the continuity back into something semi-coherent: You still have to basically ignore any specific dates given in Golden’s original stories, but the actual sequence of Jander’s life is now consistent through those stories. I’ve provided an alternative military campaign for Jander to meet Gideon during and also unified his suicide “attempts” so that everything leads up to the culmination of the original novel.

My goal is that – if your players have read the novel – the scene with Jander will be a really cool experience that builds on their existing knowledge of the character.

HARUMAN

Appearance: He wears armor formed from countless, curved plates of razor-sharp, black steel. From beneath the visor of his scythe-topped helm a pair of glowing red eyes glare out with baleful hatred.

Roleplaying:

• Does NOT like being referred to as a Hellrider. (He idiosyncratically associates that title with the traitors.)
• Taciturn to a fault. It takes effort to draw him out. (Appealing to his hatred for the crucified traitors is a particularly effective method, however.)
• When still or in conversation, keeps both hands clasped atop his claymore, held in front of him.

Background:

• Haruman was a slave in the Goblin Marches.
• When he was eleven, he killed his goblin overlord and initiated a slave revolt.
• He marched out of the Goblin Marches as the Boy Warlord, eventually conquering Farkeep (the citadel which would later become known as Darkhold) at the age of thirteen. He became known as the Lord Knight of the Far Hills.
• Zarielite Crusade: Eight years later, he learned from Jander Sunstar – a knight-banneret who had fought by his side during the slave revolt – of the Zarielite Crusade. Mustering his forces, he marched to Elturel and swore an oath of loyalty to Zariel and the Crusade. He joined Lady Yael and Lord Olanthius as one of the Three Generals.
• Battle of Idyllglen: He marched with the rest of the Crusade to Idyllglen when they learned it was being attacked by a demon lord named Yeenoghu. During the battle, Lady Yael was captured and carried through a portal by Yeenoghu. Zariel ordered a pursuit, and Haruman led his army through the portal.
• Battle of Avernus: The portal led to Avernus. The crusaders were doing well against Yeenoghu’s demon army when an army of devils approached. Jander Sunstar betrayed them, rode back through the portal to Idyllglen with hundreds of other cowards, and then sealed the portal behind him, trapping everyone else in Hell.
• Olanthius and Haruman were able to pincer the remnants of Yeenoghu’s army and finish them off, while Zariel and Yael wheeled her command about to meet the devil army. Yeenoghu escaped, but Zariel killed the devil general Terza’reg.
• Then a second devil army, this one under the command of Baalzephon, arrived.
• The Crusaders fought to the last man, but Olanthius and Haruman were among those captured. They were brought before Zariel, who had been transformed into a glorious devil. She told them that their battle against the Demons of the Abyss would continue; that Hell had granted her the power to continue their great work. And she asked them to join her.
• Haruman accepted and was transformed into a narzugon. Olanthius chose to commit suicide instead… but discovered that even in death he was bound to Zariel by the oaths they had sworn and was raised as a death knight to serve as her thrall.
• Zariel set for Haruman the task of punishing those who had betrayed them. It has been his driving obsession down through the centuries since then.
• The Reckoning: Haruman fought alongside Zariel during the Reckoning, laying siege to Dis, the great city which is the second layer of Hell. He was nearly killed when, near the end of the Reckoning, Tiamat betrayed Zariel and took her prisoner.
• The Rift War: Centuries later, Haruman was serving in the legions of Bel when the Rift gaped open and vomited forth a baatorian invasion that washed over the defenses of Avernus.
• When Zariel was released from Tiamat’s prison by Glasya, the daughter of Asmodeus, Haruman gathered the soldiers loyal to him and rode to join Zariel in her Second Avernian March: As Bel retreated (yet another traitorous coward!), they attacked.
• Zariel forded the Styx, sacked the war palaces that had been taken by the baatorians, and broke the baatorian supply lines. Then she turned around and marched back to the Styx, intercepting the baatorians’ main army as it was attempting to cross the river. During the Battle of Lost Memories, the baatorians’ strength was broken.
• Haruman took command of several watchposts along the Styx while Zariel marched to lay siege to the Rift itself. When the Rift fell, Zariel was made Archduchess of Avernus by Asmodeus’ decree. (A reward for her loyalty!)

Key Info:

• He resents that Olanthius (who tried to “forsake his duties” by committing suicide) has been given the honor of keeping watch on the Crypt of the Hellriders while he must serve as guardian over the eternal damnation of these traitors.
• Like Jander, Yael abandoned Zariel at the final hour. She is the great prize; and although she has so far managed to hide her soul from Haruman, he will some day bring her to justice. (False, but he believes it.)
• Haruman was present in Zariel’s court when the amnesiac Lulu was brought as a gift for the freshly crowned Archduchess of Avernus: He knows that Zariel believed Lulu had hidden the Sword of Zariel and she was angry that Lulu had lost her memories and could no longer reveal the secret of its hiding place.
• Haruman uses tales of his service with Zariel in the Reckoning and the Rift War as an example of what true loyalty looks like; and of the eternal glories which traitors like Sunstar gave up in their cowardice.
• If asked about why it’s the Second Avernian March, Haruman is familiar with the tale of Zariel’s First Avernian March: Long ago, before Avernus had become a part of Hell, Zariel was betrayed by her commanding officer, an angel named Chazaqiel. Zariel and a small band of angels loyal to Heaven broke away and began a long march across Avernus before finally escaping down the River Styx (which in those days followed a very different course through the Outer Planes).

OLANTHIUS

Appearance: A skeletal warrior in matte-black plate armor. Blue flames flicker in the sockets of his skull. He wears a tattered, azure cloak embroidered with faded golden thread in the symbol of twin suns.

Roleplaying:

• A sibilant, hissing voice is all that remains of a once commanding presence.
• Flames in his eyes flare when frustrated or angry. (But they dim when he thinks of Lady Yael.)
• He is bound by an oath to Zariel, and yet struggles against it eternally.

Background:

• Olanthius inherited his position as Lord of Elturel when it was yet a relatively small fiefdom, but he commanded a large order of knights who spread peace along the River Chionthar.
• Zarielite Crusade: Yael and Lulu came to Elturel to proselytize the Cruade. Olanthius was impressed with Yael’s courage and righteousness, and pledged his service to the Crusade. Elturel became the headquarters of the Crusade and Olanthius became one of the Three Generals.
• Olanthius and Lady Yael fell in love. They were never married… the work of the Crusade kept them too busy.
• Battle of Idyllglen: He marched with the rest of the Crusade to Idyllglen when they learned it was being attacked by a demon lord named Yeenoghu. During the battle, Lady Yael was captured and carried through a portal by Yeenoghu. Zariel ordered a pursuit, with Olanthius close on her heels.
• Battle of Avernus: The portal led to Avernus. Yael freed herself and fought her way to Olanthius’ side. The crusaders were doing well against Yeenoghu’s demon army when an army of devils approached. Some of Haruman’s soldiers betrayed them, fleeing back through the portal and then shutting it behind them.
• Olanthius and Haruman were able to pincer the remnants of Yeenoghu’s army and finish them off, while Zariel and Yael wheeled her command about to meet the devil army. Yeenoghu escaped, but Zariel killed the devil general Terza’reg.
• Then a second devil army, this one under the command of Baalzephon, arrived.
• The Crusaders fought to the last man, but Olanthius and Haruman were among those captured. They were brought before Zariel, who had been transformed into a glorious devil. She told them that their battle against the Demons of the Abyss would continue; that Hell had granted her the power to continue their great work. And she asked them to join her.
• Haruman accepted and was transformed into a narzugon. Olanthius chose to commit suicide instead… but discovered that even in death he was bound to Zariel by the oaths they had sworn and was raised as a death knight to serve as her thrall.
• Crypt of the Hellriders: Zariel tasked Olanthius with building a crypt for their fallen comrades and protect it. For long centuries that was the totality of his existence. When she became Archduchess, he became a minor member of her court.

Key Info:

• Haruman was one of the Three Generals. Unlike Olanthius, he willingly followed Zariel in swearing allegiance to Hell and became a devil. A once noble man, he is now bereft of compassion – obsessed with punishing anyone who has “betrayed” Zariel. He can oft be found at Haruman’s Hill.
• He doesn’t know Yael’s ultimate fate, although he knows Zariel asked Lulu to help her escape. (If it seems the PCs seek her, he will ask them to give his love to her if they were to somehow to succeed.)
• Olanthius is a member of Zariel’s court: He could lead them to her flying fortress and even potentially help them gain access to it.
• Olanthius would like to see Zariel dead (which would free him from his bondage), but would require considerable proof that an assassination attempt is plausible before being willing to assist it. (And he would struggle with his oath throughout.)
• Yael told Olanthius of the legends of Zariel’s first visit to Idyllglen: How the demonic lord Yeenoghu was leading a gnoll army and sacking settlements north of the Chionthar, and Zariel led a band of angels to put an end of to his depredations. Idyllglen raised a shrine to honor what Zariel had done for them, and it was in this shrine that Yael prayed for Zariel’s return when a marauding band of ogres led by a warlord named Irontusk threatened Idyllglen hundreds of years later. Zariel once again came, and that was the seed that began the entire Crusade.
• Yael used to tell him – tell them all, really – to “dream a little bigger.” (It’s what convinced him to join the Crusade.) But he hasn’t been able to dream for centuries now.

LADY YAEL

Appearance: The translucent image of a woman in her thirties wearing plate armor and bearing a thin scar on her cheek. She is surrounded by a soft, comforting glow of radiant energy.

Roleplaying:

• A kind smile; her warmth and charisma undimmed by death or the passing aeons.
• A soft and gentle voice, touched by an immense sadness.
• Very excited to see Lulu; an old friend she thought long dead.
• “You just need to dream a little bigger.”

Background:

• Yael was born in the village of Idyllglen. When she was a young woman in the 10^th century DR, Idyllglen’s existence was threatened by a marauding band of ogres led by a warlord named Irontusk.
• Yael organized the younger villagers into a defensive militia of sorts, but it wasn’t enough. She prayed in a shrine dedicated to Zariel – who had come to Idyllglen once centuries earlier and saved the village from a horde of gnolls led by the demon lord Yeenoghu – and asked for her help. Zariel answered the prayer, coming with Lulu
• Zariel, Lulu, and Yael became fast friends. With each challenge they faced, Yael would smile and say, “We just need to dream a little bigger.”
• The campaign lasted for several months, but they were ultimately successful.
• After Zariel left, Yael turned their militia into a regional peacekeeping force. (The ogres didn’t return, but there was a spot of trouble with trolls out of the Trollclaws. Mostly they secured the Winding Water settlements.)
• Zarielite Crusade: Several years later, Zariel returned. She had hatched a plan: Raise a mortal army in the Material Plane to invade the Abyss and create a second front in the Blood War. Yael’s response when she head the plans? “Aye. Let’s dream a little bigger.”
• The militia became the first Crusaders. They wore a badge with twin suns, representing Zariel and Lulu as their angelic saviors.
• Olanthius: Yael and Lulu went on a number of recruitment missions. Perhaps the most important proved to be to Lord Olanthius in Elturel. Olanthius became a convert and the Crusade moved its center of operations south to the city. Yael fell in love with the young lord, and he with her. (They were never married – the Crusade simply consumed too much of the time. Yael regrets that now and hopes that Olanthius’ spirit is at peace.)
• The Three Generals: Yael, Olanthius, and another lord named Haruman became the Three Generals.
• Battle of Idyllglen: Then Yeenoghu returned. They learned that the demon lord was attacking the settlements of the Winding Water. They rode north and intercepted his army at Idyllglen. During the battle, Yael was captured and carried through a portal by Yeenoghu. When she saw the Crusaders emerge through the portal behind them – with Zariel leading the charge – it was both the most relieved she had ever been, and also the most terrified. For she realized that Yeenoghu had laid a trap for them.
• Battle of Avernus: The portal led to Avernus. There were a number of glorious deeds that day, among them Yael freeing herself from captivity and fighting her way to Olanthius’ side.
• The crusaders were doing well against Yeenoghu’s demon army when an army of devils under the command Terza’reg approached. Jander Sunstar, one of Haruman’s knight-bannerets, panicked and led a rout of many of the knights back through the portal (which then shut behind them; Yael is certain it was Yeenoghu’s last cruel joke).
• The Final Fight: Olanthius and Haruman were able to pincer the remnants of Yeenoghu’s army and finish them off, while Zariel and Yael wheeled her command about to meet the devil army. Yeenoghu escaped, but Zariel killed the devil general Terza’reg.
• Zariel led the flying cavalry squadron (featuring primarily pegasi) into the air to meet the flying devils that swarmed over the battlefield.
• Zariel and Lulu engaged in an aerial duel with Terza’reg, which ended when Terza’reg cut off Zariel’s right hand (still clutching her sword). Zariel leapt off of Lulu and dove after sword and hand, with Terza’reg in hot pursuit. At the last possible moment, Zariel snatched her sword from the air, reversed her flight, and plunged it through Terza’reg’s breast. A huge explosion rocked the battlefield as the devil general died, clouding the affair in a haze of red dust.
• Despite her dreadful injury and the ensuing chaos, after Terza’reg’s death it was possible that Zariel and her generals might have been able to rally. But then a second army under the command of Baalzephon arrived.
• Zariel’s Final Request: Yael had joined Zariel and Lulu. As Baalzephon tightened the noose around their necks, the three old friends fought side by side. As the devils closed in, Zariel knew what would come and feared her own weakness. She took a shard of her angelic essence – a spark of goodness – and placed it within her sword. She asked Yael to take the sword and make certain it was not captured by the forces of Hell. Yael refused. Zariel smiled sadly. “Look beyond this forsaken day. One last time, I need you to dream a little bigger.”
• With tears in her eyes, Yael accepted.
• Zariel then turned to Lulu, said goodbye to her old friend, and asked her to go with Yael and keep her safe.
• The devils’ aerial forces had been decimated, and so Yael – having concealed the sword within her cloak – was able to escape through their depleted ranks upon Lulu’s back.
• Hiding the Sword: Yael and Lulu tried to escape Hell, but were intercepted at the Styx by Yeenoghu. They fled back into Avernus. With both demons and devils closing in on them, they realized that escape was impossible.
• Yael plunged the Sword of Zariel into a rock and called for divine intervention. Lulu poured her own celestial essence into the call, the sympathetic resonance of her trumpet echoing across the Avernian plains as she drove Yael’s plea across the outer planes. Even so, the gods could wield little power in Avernus, but Lathander gave them an opportunity. Yael sacrificed herself, pouring her life force into what Lathander offered, raising an alabaster fortress around the Sword to protect it.
• The skein of Avernus itself rebelled at this holy touch, however, and a bloody cyst engulfed the fortress, Yael’s corpse, and Lulu.

Key Info:

• Yael will be reticent until the PCs have proved their worthiness by claiming the Sword of Zariel.
• After that, with very little prompting, Yael will answer any questions that they have. (This may include relating her entire biography, above.) She will be able to fill in many of the holes the PCs might still be missing.
• She knows nothing of what happened after the Battle of Avernus and the formation of the Bloody Cyst, but she and Zariel spoke often of Zariel’s past, so you can similarly use Yael to fill any gaps in the PCs knowledge regarding Zariel’s past (the Averniad, her Long March across Avernus, the Trial of Asmodeus, etc.).

OTHER CRUSADERS / HELLRIDERS

Other Crusaders and/or Hellriders can generally fill the PCs in on a brief overview of the true history of the Crusade:

• Zariel and Lulu descended from the Heavens to lead a mortal army of the chosen faithful on a glorious crusade into the Abyss where they would turn the tide of the Blood War.
• Supporters swarmed to the Crusade from across the Sword Coast.
• Yael was the first of the Three Generals.
• Lord Olanthius of Elturel became a convert and invited the crusade to use the city as its staging ground.
• Haruman, Lord Knight of the Far Hills, rode to Elturel, pledged his service to Zariel, and became the Third General.
• The demon lord Yeenoghu led an army onto the Material Plane and the Crusaders fought him at the Battle of Idyllglen.
• The Crusaders pursued Yeenoghu through a portal which led them, inexplicably, to the plains of Avernus.
• Many of the crusaders panicked and fled back through the portal, closing it behind them and stranding the rest of the crusaders in Hell.
• The crusaders who remained bravely fought to the last man.

KEY INFO: They’ll all make a point of mentioning Zariel’s glowing sword.

• She was wearing it when they first saw her.
• She knighted them with it.
• She was wielding it in battle.
• It was the last thing they saw before riding back through the portal / dying on the field of battle.

CUSTOMIZING THE CRUSADERS: Every crusader is a unique individual and their story should reflect that.

• When did they join the Crusade? (Idyllglen before Zariel, after Zariel, one of Olanthius’ knights, one of Haruman’s knights, rode independently to Elturel)
• If they’re a Hellrider, how do they feel about fleeing Avernus? If they’re a crusader who didn’t flee, how do they feel about the Hellriders who did?
• Where and how did they die?
• Try to give them one unique anecdote associated with one of the key moments or characters discussed above. (For example, they were sent to protect Idyllglen from a phalanx of demonic warriors. Or they died at Zariel’s feet. Or they, too, were trying to flee through the portal, but it snapped shut just before they could pass through it.)

Go to Part 7: Exploring Avernus