This is a recap of my ongoing solo game of D&D. You don’t need to slog through all prior material to enjoy this, as it’s fairly easy to pick up what’s going on. This session has some content from Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus – specifically chapter 2, Elturel Has Fallen. But it’s been switched up, reflavoured, and glossed over to the point that major spoilers won’t be an issue.

Currently, the party is in hell. Also known as “just another monday”.

Hours pass in the catacombs beneath the temple. Yuraki quietly confides in the group that the high cleric should have returned several hours ago.

Mel: Should we… go after them?

Elion: Nah, we should just wait here and let them die. They probably had a cave-in, I could use my suit to help clear it. *turns to address the civilians* Hey, everyone, so… It’s been several hours, and no fiends have eaten to us yet, so you’re pretty much safe down here. We’re gonna go and dig the high cleric Nina out of whatever situation she’s in. *spies Jevak edging away* And by we I mean you too, shad-face.

Yuraki shows them the tunnel Nina had left by, and Larissa gives her the silvered blade she’s been carrying in case the demons somehow discover their hiding spot. They descend into the darkness, lighting the way by a torch telepathically held by Larissa. The tombs are littered with undead, likely due to some fiendish influence.

Elion: This does’t bode well, frankly. Who was the demon lord of undeath again?

Larissa: Molydeus presides over that domain. Some believe it is still held by Orcus, but in truth he was slain long ago.

Elion: Huh.. Didn’t know tour guides of the hells were a thing. *gives her a suspicious look* How do you know all this?

Larissa: Study.. Practical experience..

Mel: She was a fiend hunter.

Elion: Wow, that’s… Intensely convenient for us.

Jevak: Ss! No sssound!

They’ve reached what appears to be a grand mausoleum. Pushing through more shambling undead, they enter the still intact central burial chamber. The room is spherical in nature, with a stairwell spiralling down in the middle. Standing at the top, with weapons drawn towards the party, is a octopus-headed creature flanked by two fiends.

Elion: You have GOT to be pulling my leg.

Larissa: A Valkeesh? Here?..

Mel: *gulps, her face looking whiter than usual* Kill it. Kill it quick.

Before they can attack, a cacophony of screeches precedes the arrival of a gaggle of pig-faced demons, lead by a giant scorpion. They swarm up the stairwell and are immediately set upon by the Valkeesh and his lackeys.

Elion: Wait, what??

Torn between the two groups, they simply stare at the scuffle for a few second. Mel takes a step forward with axe at the ready, but Larissa pulls her back.

Larissa: Wait.

Mel’s mental port tingles as the alien unleashes a devastating blast of psionic energy, obliterating the invaders from below. The armoured creature then turns its cephalopod-shaped head to the group, projecting telepathic information into Larissa’s mind. She takes a step forward and proceeds to have a completely silent exchange with the Valkeesh, which is somewhat awkward for Elion and Jevak, and nerve-wracking for Melody.

Mel: What’s it saying?

Larissa: *holds up a finger to silence her for a few moment more, then half turns to the party* We have a common goal. They wish to return to the island, as do we.

Elion: Wait.. They? As in, plural?

Larissa: Yes. They are small in number, but have lived beneath the city for some time. They are willing to help us escape.

Mel: *hisses, drawing a surprised look from Jevak* We don’t NEED help from them! You can’t trust a sack-head! They need to be eradicated.

Elion: Hey, hey, one impossibly difficult situation at a time, okay? We can figure this all out when we return. *points to the fiend henchmen* Those are under his control, right?

Larissa: They are enslaved by the elder brain, but yes – they answer to this soldier.

Mel: An… Elder brain? Here??

Elion: *hastily interjects* Uhh, hey, squid head, Mr. Valkeesh sir, you haven’t seen a bunch of clerics pass through here, have you?

Larissa: They did. They followed the stairs. The fiends appear to have some means of entrance below.

The Valkeesh declines to follow them into the stairwell, which spirals for what seems like an eternity before opening up into a small shrine, the floor under a foot of water. Where the alter should be is a spiralling vortex of dark energy – and lying in pools of blood, both red and sickly black, are the remains of the guardsmen. Nina is still alive, but writhing in the water: on her head is a trojan-styled helmet, from under which she mutters words that switch in turn from angelic to demonic. Jevak’s ears prick up at the sound of celestial words, glaring at the cleric with interest.

Elion splashes across the small room, but is interrupted before he can attend to her. Fiends burst through the portal, skull-like heads ablaze and scythes in hand. The party fights back valiantly, shrugging off the fear exuded by these terrors and working together to land powerful combos. Soon the final fiend is dunked in the water, and doused.

Elion: Nina?! Nina, stay with me!.. *looks to Larissa, almost in a panic* Is this normal? What’s happening to her?

Larissa: *shakes her head hurriedly* I don’t know! It looks like a possession attempt, but those words.. are not any mortal tongue.

Elion quickly calibrates his gauntlet and focuses on the workings of the helmet. It appears to be designed to communicate with a celestial of great power, but something is currently corrupting the connection. It cannot be removed while in communication.

Elion: Fez. We gotta get this off her, how… How do we do this?

Mel: Gotta break the link..

Larissa: *hesitates a second* I could do so. But it may kill her.

Elion: Shad! No, that’s not an-.. Wait! What if I put the suit on her?

Mel: Life support systems!

Elion compacts his feytouched armour into its backpack form, slipping it onto Nina with some difficulty. He bites his lip and nods to Larissa as the suit unfolds around the cleric. Larissa focuses, hand outstretched and blue eyes glowing. Droplets of water begin to slowly rise around her as she gathers the mental energy – finally unleashing it in a focused, murderous blast. Nina convulses, then lies still. Elion grabs the helm and slides it off, just before the runes light up along the suit and flood the wearer with healing energy.

Gasping, stuttering thanks as they hurry her away from the crackling vortex, Nina is helped back up to the mausoleum with Elion’s help. The Valkeesh watches them return with baleful red eyes.

Elion: So that was the artefact you had on? Who were you trying to contact?

Nina: I was trying to speak with a servant of the Supreme One, but his words could’t reach me – only visions. I saw a… A terrible creature, covered head to toe in blood and metal spikes! She pulled the town into the hells, just like that! I think… I think she must have been an archdevil.

Mel: Archdevil?..

Larissa: So. To free Rahm Oru, we must slay one of the most powerful evils in all the planes. *nods serenely* That is not something I have experience with.

Nina: It might not be as hard as that: I was shown another vision, a wretched soul imprisoned inside a… scab. A fortress like an infected wound. I got the impression that it was the key to defeating her, or at least helpful.

Larissa: A scab-like fortress.. You were not shown it’s location relative to the town, perchance?

She wasn’t. Her connection was broken before any specifics could be shared. They agree to head back to Zenia Tharth and regroup – Mel leaving a promise to the nonchalant Valkeesh to return and “kick his ass”.

* * *

Yuraki is beyond relieved to see Nina alive and well. She returns the silver blade to Larissa, and mentions that a few volunteers left the catacombs to assess the situation, but haven’t returned.

Nina: The town is probably swarming with fiends by now. We can’t ask any more civilians to risk their lives: I shall attempt to locate the Tsethem of light through prayer.

Crunch

MUNE intervention: Character Entity Positive (Melody > the Brotherhood of Arcane Tinkerers)



Two Golath enter the crypt, half carrying a bloodied snakefolk – clearly a refugee from the infinite city, if his outlandish clothing is anything to go by. The Golath explain that they found the Lamia stumbling through the catacombs while guarding the alter entrance. Mel heads over to talk with him.

Crunch

MUNE intervention: Wild Positive

Portent: Slain Plod Interpreting this as a Sibriex getting defeated.

Melody: Took a beating?

Lamia: *shoots her a cool, haughty look* This is hell. Of course I took a beating.

Mel: Do you have any word on what’s happening? No sign of the Tsethem?

Lamia: None that I could see. I was in the Brotherhood’sss tower, when it was scattered by a… thing. A mess of flesh. The mechanics obliterated it, but it took many livesss.

Mel: So even the BAT’s fallen..

Lamia: *shakes his head in disgust* We should have ssstayed on the infinite city. We merely traded one hell for another.

* * *

After resting, Nina contacts Anika Longstrider, the Tsethem of light. She’s still inside the town, protecting survivors in the catacombs with her planewalker husband: The hells are still sealed, preventing him from escaping. They’re headed towards the Tharth, but the cave-ins and fiends are making it slow progress.

Elion: *claps his hands together* Aight. Listen up, people. We’ve been given guidance by a celestial, we should probably take it if we wanna not die. We gotta get out there and scout for this infected fortress. How, uh… *turns to the Lamia* How far up are we? It kinda looked like we were in the sky.

Lamia: Very high. Many ssstar’s lengths. But we’re descending, pulled down by chains. That’s the cause of the shakings.

Mel: I have a gravity decelerator. We could use that to get down. Then it’s just a matter of travel.

Nina conjures three day’s worth of food for them, giving them her blessing as they leave the crypt. They blast through the few fiends watching over the alter and head for the town’s wall. Rubble and timber fill the narrow streets, the smoldering embers lighting the way.

A nasty surprise greets them as they reach the crenelations: beneath the crumbling earth around the town is a colossal lava lake. It bubbles maliciously and spits fire from from the cracks in its crust as numerous fiendish chains slowly pull Rahm Oru closer.

Elion: Yyyeah, I’m not jumping down there, gravity doodad or not.

Jevak: How get down?

Larissa: Perhaps I could telekinetically lower us, one by one…

Mel: Hold that thought. *nods to where the wall meets the soil* There might be an easier way.

Parked near the wall are a number of Twin-EPEs from the races earlier that day, abandoned by their owners when the town was abducted. They descend to the ground on Mel’s gravity decelerator, and check out the vehicles: They start up immediately.

Crunch

MUNE intervention: New plot Adventure Crafter Turning Point

Plotline: New plot

Plot points (characters invokes):

1. All is revealed

2. Retaliation

3. Taking chances (SEIA)

4. Followed (Elion, Uvahtun)

5. None

A voice calls out from the wall in elvish. Four men in blood red robes look down from the top, flanked by flaming demons.

Uvahtun: You flee, cowards? Where will you run to? You’re in our domain, now!

Elion: We wanted to see the sights! You know, get a painting done, visit the fine dining! The whole tourist thing? *mutters to the others* Pick a twin. Let’s go.

Uvahtun: The Reckoning has been long awaited! You cannot stop it!

Larissa: Pray tell! What is this reckoning? You cannot make use of the souls of those trapped here! Why take the town?

Uvahtun: You are correct! Your souls will not become fiends! But they have a greater purpose!

Mel: *pushes the starter on her craft* Get on, come on!

Larissa: What purpose?

Uvahtun: Fuel! Fuel for the Lady of Scars! Fuel – for the end of time!

The cultists cackle and shriek as they seize hold of the demons, who rise into the air and swoop down on the twin-EPEs. They throttle it and set off at 30mph, with the fiends quickly abandoning their pursuit after seeing how fast the vehicles are.

They speed out over the lava with no real direction in mind. The battle scarred 6th layer lies before them, jagged and smokey. Where to go from here? There’s only one option: Ride headfirst into oblivion!

Whole lotta crunch

This is where I’m gonna deviate from the module a little bit (because I’ve totally been following it pristinely so far, am I right? /s) The module implies a certain NPC will be the key guide, giving a pretty railroaded experience. Our party doesn’t have that NPC, so I’m gonna go full old school and turn this part of the adventure into a sandbox hexcrawl. The individual locations are fairly standalone, so this isn’t too hard: the difficult bit is going to be encountering challenges that are way beyond their current level – and they’re underlevelled as it is! It’s going to be truly hellish. * * * The gist of the hexcrawl is gonna be all about discovering “unknown locations”. Unknown locations are signs of interesting features in the ladscape: maybe a cluster of lights, maybe a spooky shadow in the smoke. Every time they move into a hex (each 6 miles), there’s a one in six chance that they spot an unknown location in an adjoining hex (excluding the hex they just left). Once they reach an unknown location, I’ll roll on the location list to discover what they encounter. If it’s a permanent location (such as a watchtower, or crypt), I’ll mark it on the map and set the location as Discovered on the list. If the location moves around (such as the wandering emporium of the warlords), I won’t mark it on the map so they can be encountered again, but I’ll move its entry to the bottom of the list.

If I roll an already Discovered location, they’ll encounter the next location on the list that isn’t marked as Discovered. For the actual landscape, I’m gonna be using a modified version of the Hex Power Flower, by Goblin’s Henchman. If anyone’s interested or insane enough to do something similar, here’s the list of locations/encounters I’ve got so far: 1d12 + 1d20 | Locations (level, if available)

2. Forth Knucklebone (7)

3. Haruman’s Hill (7)

4. Wandering Emporium (7)

5. Hellwasp Nest (7)

6. Spawning Trees (8)

7. Tower of Urm (8)

8. Obelisk (8)

9. Mirror of Mephistar (8)

10. Pit of Shummrath (8)

11. Demon Zapper (8)

12. Bone Brambles (8)

13. Uldrak’s Grave (8)

14. Crypt of the Hellriders (9)

15. Arkhan’s Tower (9)

16. Arches of Ulloch (9)

17. Tiamat’s Monument (9)

18. Bel’s Forge (9)

19. Kostchtchie’s Maw (10)

20. Sibriex (10)

21. Wrecked Flying Fortress (10)

22. Stygian Dock

23. Styx Watchtower

24. Sundered Chains

25. Wandering Emporium

26. Zariel’s Flying Fortress

27. Bitter Breath (warlord)

28. Feonor (warlord)

29. Princeps Kovik (warlord)

30. Smiler the Defiler

31. Other (maybe Adventure Crafter can help?)

32. Infected Fortress