Descent into Avernus

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If the characters become belligerent or demanding,

Bel sighs and snaps his fingers, causing the infernal

chains to fall off the fire giants. He promises freedom to

any fire giant that kills an intruder, prompting the giants

to attack the characters without mercy. Bel then steeples

ltis fingers and watches the battle unfold. In battle, the

fire giants hurl buckets, tools, and heavy chains instead

of boulders. They also try to shove enemies into chan-

nels of molten lava.

If the characters defeat the fire giants, Bel commends

their victory and offers them the same deal as before.

If the characters refuse him a second time, Bel smiles

and says, "A pity. All those poor people in Elturel were

counting on you." He then offers to teleport them out of

his fortress, so they can be on their way. Gracious host

that Bel is, he won't attack the characters directly unless

they attack him first, in which case he casts imprison-

ment on a party member (LuJu being his first choice). If

the spell works, Bel vows to release his prisoner once

the nine adamantine rods are found and returned to

him, no questions asked.

DEVELOPMENT

When the characters are ready to leave his forge, Bel

teleports them back to the surface. If the characters

agreed to Bel's terms, an imp named Balakros is wait-

ing for them when they return to the surface. Bel in-

structs the imp to help the characters reach the sibriex.

The imp has performed this task before and knows,

without having to be told, that its orders include report-

ing back to Bel and whispering everything the sibriex

said into its master's ear.

If characters refuse to let Balakros accompany them,

the imp bids them farewell, turns invisible, and follows

them at a respectful distance.

R1VER TRAVEL

Balakros offers to lead the characters to an iron barge

moored on the shore of the River Styx. An iron road

leads from Bel's volcano to the barge, and it's patrolled

by bearded devils that won't attack the characters as

long as Balakros is leading them. Lashed to the sides of

the barge are demon skuJls and bones. Characters who

travel by barge must pass underneath the Stygian Dock

(see page 123) on their way to the sibriex.

The barge is 30 feet long, 15 feet wide, and sturdy

enough to transport up to two Huge infernal war ma-

chines. Twelve merregons (see page 238 for their

stat block) under the command of a bone devil named

Krinjak operate the barge's oars. Krinjak's instructions

are to take the characters where they need to go. AJ-

though it professes loyalty to Bel, Krinjak is secretly a

spy for Zariel. After taking the characters as close to

the sibriex as the River Styx allows, it flies off to warn

Zariel that the characters are working for Bel.

OVERLAND TRAVEL

If the characters wouJd rather travel to the sibriex in

some other fashion, Balakros the imp offers to serve

as their overland guide, since it knows where

the sibriex is. It can also point to the sibriex's

location on the characters' map of Avernus.

CHAPTER 3 I AVERNUS

SIBRIEX

A BREEDER OF HORRORS AND A HOARDER OF SECRETS, A

sibriex is said to be as old as the Abyss.

- The Cartographer

When the characters arrive at this location, read or

paraphrase the following boxed text to the players:

Spiky chains lash a fifteen-foot-diameter, floating blob

of quivering flesh to a 20-foot-tall wrought-iron scaffold.

Two fiends wrapped in chains stand atop the scaffold,

torturing the bloated creature's flesh by tightening its

chains. Demon ichor oozes from its wounds, forming a

shallow pool around the scaffolding.

A third, jackal-headed fiend uses a bronze horn to yell

loudly at the bloated prisoner in multiple languages. It

sits cross-legged about half-way up the scaffolding.

Bel's fiends captured a sibriex (see the accompanying

stat block) and have been torturing and interrogating it

for quite a long time now. The sibriex is restrained by

infernal chains from Bel's forge that also prevent it from

using its spells or actions to escape.

The demon ichor that pools around the scaffolding

smells terrible but can be easily avoided. For more infor-

mation on demon ichor, see page 78.

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