Descent into Avernus

52

NCE A HOLY CITY WHOSE FOLK VENERATED

Lathander, Torm, Helm, and Tyr. Elturel

is now a site of doom and despair tethered

some five hundred feet above the River

Styx. Eight gre 1t chains bind the city to

jagged posts of infernal iron, which stick up

out of the ground like gargantuan spikes.

(See "Climbing Down" at the end of this

chapter for a full description of the infernal

chains.) The bottoms of those spikes are

guarded by scores of devils, making escaping the city

by climbing down an arduous task. The Companion, the

second sun that provided so much solace and protection

to the city for years, now glares down on Elturel like a

baleful eye- a black void crackling with lightning.

One circumstance has saved the city from being over-

run by devils: a massive surge of demons attacking the

devils' positions on the ground. Forced to fend off these

demonic hordes, the devils must bide their time until

they have the resources to send troops to subjugate the

remaining citizens of Elturel. Even so, random demons,

devils, and other creatures have infiltrated the city. The

characters have time to learn about Elturel's situation

and enact a way to save the city before it is lost.

Even as the characters get their bearings, they hear a

cacophonous tumult taking place far beneath the city.

An endless stream of demons crawls forth from the

murky waters of the River Styx, to be met by the ordered

forces of Avernus auempting lo drive them back. This

battle continues for the entirety of the characters' stay

in Elturel.

CHAPTER 2 ) El.TU REI. HAS FAl..l..EN

RUNNING 'THIS CHAPTER

Diagram 2.1 is a flowchart that presents the key events

of this chapter in sequence.

The adventurers should be 5th level when they arrive

in Elturel. They begin on the east side of the city, where

the immediate danger is greatest. With or without Reya

Mantlemorn to guide them, the characters make their

way toward the High Hall cathedral. Once they rid the

cathedral and its catacombs of fiends, the adventurers

should be 6th level.

NPC survivors cowering in the crypts under the High

Hall cathedral urge the characters to locate Grand Duke

Ulder Ravengard of Baldur's Gate, who has emerged as

Elturel's unlikeliest savior. This quest leads the char-

acters to the chapel in Elturel's grand cemetery, where

Ulder Ravengard has fallen into a psychic coma after

coming into telepathic contact with the demon lord

Baphornet. After seeing Ravengard safely back to the

High Hall and ridding him of his malady, the characters

should be 7th level and ready to leave Elturel in search

of the means to free the city from its chains and return

what's left of it to FaerOn.

ARRIVAL IN ELTUREL

A plane shift spell transports Traxigor the wizard and

up to eight other creatures to Elturel, including Lulu the

hollyphant and Reya Mantlemorn if she's still with the

party. When the group arrives in Elturel, read the fol-

lowing boxed text aloud to the players: