Descent into Avernus

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

LIFE IN THE NINE HELLS


Much of the adventure takes place on the first layer of


the Nine Hells. This is not, to put it mildly, your run-


of-the-mill D&D setting. The following tips and tricks


can help you make the characters' stay in Avernus a


remarkable one.


EVERYONE' S UNHAPPY


The Nine Hells is a place of abject misery where no one


is happy. Weaker devils are exploited and tormented by


their superiors. Stronger devils live in constant fear of


being passed over for promotion or demoted. Even when


something seems to go right, joy is fleeting and only


fuels suspicion that things are about to get much worse.


Such inescapable pessimism leads many creatures to


become apathetic and spiteful. They take perverse de-


light in spreading their unhappiness like a contagion.


You can remind players that the Nine Hells is a place


of misery and suffering in the following ways:


• In conversations with the characters, natives of the


Nine Hells like to bemoan their misfortune and blame


others for their horrible lives.


When a character accomplishes something, you can


undercut that success in some small way. For exam-


ple, the character's belt might snap, or a hellish insect


might sting the character on the neck and leave a welt.



  • If a character rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll made


with a nonmagical weapon, you can decide that the


weapon breaks.


EVERYTHING' $ AWFUL


Avernus is insidious in the way it fosters greed and


makes visitors pay or barter for the things they need to


survive. Most of the wildlife on Avernus is not edible to


mortals, and most sources of water are poisonous or


otherwise tainted. The rarity of edible food and drink-


able water encourages hoarding behavior.


You can remind players about the awfulness of


Avernus in the following ways:


• Any food or drink the characters bring with them


or conjure by magic retains its nutritional value but


tastes awful when eaten or imbibed on Avernus. The


food tastes like ash, the water tastes like bile, and the


wine tastes like spoiled milk.


If the characters want something that tastes good,


they must buy it from licensed sellers such as Mahadi


the rakshasa, who runs a restaurant called Infernal


Rapture (see page 129). The price of a good-tasting


meal is always a bit too high.



  • If a character commits a selfish act, you can reward
    that selfishness by granting that character inspiration


(as described in chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook).


Unlike regular inspiration, the benefit can't be trans-


ferred to another creature.


PARADISE LOST


Before the Blood War reduced it to a blasted wasteland,


Avernus was a honey trap created by Asmodeus, a par-


adise of infinite delights designed to lure and enrapture


mortals. Fragments of this lost paradise still plunge


from Avernus's sky as burning meteors, and the land is


dotted with the ruins of palaces and idyllic gardens that


were obscenely beautiful in eons past.


Fleeting reminders of this ancient paradise can come


to the characters in the following ways:


• While traveling across Avernus, the characters


glimpse a fantastic mirage: a grand palace or garden


oasis that vanishes when they get within 100 feet of it.


• A random character hears beautiful music or laughter,


catches the scent of Rowers or perfume, or experi-


ences a gentle caress. The sensation has no discern-


ible source and fades after a few moments.


• The characters find a relic that survived the fall of par-


adise, such as a beautiful vase or toppled statue. The


first character to touch the relic experiences a fleeting


moment of pure joy.


ANYWHERE IS EVERYWHERE


Geography warps at the whims of the Nine Hells. One of


the liberating aspects of this planar feature is that you


don't need to be fastidious about keeping track of where


locations are in relation to one another.


While the spatial distortion can be unsettling to visi-


tors, it affords you the following benefits as a DM:


You can decide how long it takes for characters to get


from one place to the next. For example, the char-


acters might need to travel 6 miles to get from Fort


Knucklebone to Haruman's Hill, and (^60) miles to get


from Haruman's Hill back to Fort Knucklebone.


• If the characters are in a rush to get somewhere, an


imp could appear out of nowhere and, for the price of


a soul coin or other valuable item, show them a short-


cut that halves the distance the characters must travel


to reach their destination.


• The Wandering Emporium (see page 126) can show


up almost anywhere in the Nine Hells, at any time. If


the players don't know where to go or what to do next,


or if you want to surprise them with fun roleplaying


opportunities, have the Wandering Emporium ar-


rive at the party's location. regardless of where they


saw it last.


THAT PERSONAL TOUCH


There are simple ways in which you can tailor the ad-


venture to make Avernus an even more hellish place for


your particular band of adventurers. Consider using the


following methods to customize your party's experience:


• Learn what scares the characters. At the start of the


adventure, ask each player to provide you with a note


of three things their character fears. Save these until


the party reaches the Nine Hells, then use them to


customize the terrors that populate Avernus.


• Keep a list of the flaws that the players selected when


they first created their characters, so that you can re-


mind the players of these faults when situations arise


to test them. For example, a character with the Folk


Hero background might have the flaw, "I'm quick to


assume that someone is trying to cheat me." Let the


player wrestle with this flaw during negotiations with


devils and other denizens of Avernus.


ABOUT THE ADVENTURE
9
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