Descent into Avernus

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LEFT TO R IGl-<T: Hl\RUMl\N EMERGING FROM Tl-<E 5 Tvx , 0LANTMIUS TRANSFORMED INTO A OEl\Tf< KNIGHT, A N O BOTH BV ZARIEL' S SIOE
CLAIMING THE SWORD
When the characters return to the Bleeding Citadel from
Lulu's memory of ldyllglen, read the following boxed
text to the players:

You stand before the dais, atop which glows the Sword of

Zariel. Also before you are Lulu and the ghostly warrior,

Yael. The hollyphant is the first to speak. "I remember

everything now. ldyllglen was the last straw. We followed

Zariel to Avernus, but the evil there proved to be too

much for us. Asmodeus appeared and promised Zariel

infernal legions to end the Blood War, but she had to give

the Lord of the Nine Hells her fealty. She accepted and

became an archdevil, but not before Yael and I took her

sword, hoping it could redeem Zariel someday. I gave up

my magic and memories, and Yael gave her life to con-

struct this place to protect the sword."

Yael's ghost says, "You have faced many trials to claim

the Sword of Zariel. I' m sorry to say, you face one more.

As the inscription on the dais says, 'The hero who be-

comes one with this blade exists no longer.' Which of you

is brave enough to draw the blade and be gone forever?"

Any character who survived Lulu's memory of Idyllglen

can pull the Sword ofZariel from the dais. Characters

who died in ldyllglen are not able to re move the sword

from the stone.

Once the sword is removed from its stone, a character

can attune to it immediately if the sword deems that

character worthy, and attuning to the sword changes the

character irrevocably (see the item's description on page

226). When a character attunes to the sword, the cita-

del and the scab around it explode outward in blinding

rays of light. Creatures in the scab take 110 (20d10)

radiant damage and are hurled 1, 000 feet away from the

sword. Any demons that survive the explosion limp off to

lick their wounds. Creatures inside the Bleeding Citadel

are unharmed by the explos ion and find themselves sud-

denly under Avernus's red sky.

Once a characte r claims the Sword ofZariel, Yael's

work is done. He r ghost bids the party good luck and

fades away as he r soul passes into the afterlife.

The destruction of the Bleeding Citadel restores au

of Lulu's me mories, which she can share with the char-

acters. Lulu continues to travel with the characters and

e ncourages the m to use the sword to redeem Zariel.

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

The characters should be at least 13th level before head-

ing into chapter 5 of the adve nture.

CHAPTER 4 I SWORD OF ZARIEL

145