Descent into Avernus

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

PINS AND NEEDLES


Mad Maggie cut a deal with a pit fiend to secure the


services of two shrewd but lazy imps named Pins and


Needles. Mad Maggie treats them with such kindness
that the imps can't imagine wanting to work for anyone

else. In Mad Maggie's presence, the imps usually as-


sume the forms of ravens that nest in her hair or perch


on her shoulders.


When not loite ring around Fort Knucklebone, Pins


and Needles keep tabs on the Blood War and spy on


Mad Maggie's rivals. Unlike most devils, Pins and Nee-


dles aren't gunning for promotions. They shun the infer-


nal hierarchy and crinkle th eir noses in disgust when


anyone tries to foist more respons ibility onto them.


The Imps' Goals. As much as they love their lives


at Fort Knucklebone, the imps have a problem. They


foolishly played a prank on one of the madcaps, Wazzik.


Now they fear that Wazzik and a s mall group of his irra-


tional friends are plotting reve nge. The imps don't want


to tell Maggie because s he warned the m not to pick on


the madcaps, so they see the characte rs as a potential


solution to their s ituation.

He/pins the Imps. As events play out in Fort Knuckle-


bone, the characters notice that Pins and Needles lurk

about at a distance, whispering to each other and star-


ing at the characters. If confronted. the imps make a big
deal of revealing a secret. Of course they lie, telling the


characters that a madcap named Wazzik is planning to


kill Lulu and urging them to take care of this threat first.


A successful DC 14 Wisdom ( Ins ight) check reveals
that the imps are lying. If called on the lie, the imps
re veal the truth about why they want Wazzik dead.

They tell the characters exactly whe n and whe re to find


Wazzik alone, and they promise to put in a good word

with Maggie if the c haracters kill the madcap.


The imps' information is sound, and the characte rs


can take care of the problem quickly and quietly. How-


ever, if anyone witnesses the murder, the characters

might have to deal with consequences and complica-


tions. Fortunately for the characte rs, Maggie cares little


for the madcaps and ignores the death, a lthough it might


lower the characters in her esteem a bit when it comes


time to reward th em.

B A R NABAS THE FLAMESKULL

Barnabas, once a powerfuJ wizard, had his crypt defiled


by an evil nemesis who stole his skull and turned it into


a OameskuJJ. Mad Maggie struck a bargain with this


rival wizard and took Barnabas as payme nt. Now he's a


part of her gang.


Barnabas is forgetful and a bit pompous, but every


now and then he has amazing ideas and remembers re-


markably useful things from his arcane past.


Barnabas's Goal. The redcaps like to hurl things at


Barnabas, and after getting hit in the jaw with a loose


gear, Barnabas lost one of his teeth. He saw a redcap,


Grubba, grab it and run off. Barnabas is too embar-


rassed to tell Mad Maggie about it, though she suspects


something is amiss because Barnabas has starting


whistling when he speaks.


CHAPTER 3 I AVERNUS

He quietly asks the characters to help him find his


missing tooth. He points out Grubba the redcap but ad-

mits that all the little sly c reatures look s imilar to him.


Helpins Barnabas. Characters can question the


redcaps, starting with Grubba, to find out who bas the


tooth. Each time they question a redcap, there is a^50


pe rcent chance that the redcap gets angry and attacks


the characters, backed up by ld4 additional redcaps.


The redcaps believe the tooth is a lucky charm, so they


frequently pass it from one to the next to keep Barnabas


from finding it. Because of this constant transfer of the


tooth, there's little hope of the characters finding it by
confronting one redcap at a time. Howe ve r, a character
who quietly observes the redcaps for^10 minutes can

attempt a DC^11 Wisdom (Perception) check. On a suc-


cess, the characte r sees one redcap passing a bloody


pouch to another redcap, who tucks it in a pocket. This


pouch contains Barnabas's tooth.

A character who moves within reach of the redcap can


attempt to pick its pocket and obtain the pouch without

its knowledge, doing so with a successful DC^14 Dexter-


ity (Sleight of Hand) check.
No redcap relinquishes the pouch willingly, though

it can be magically charmed into doing so. The redcap


attacks any character who tries to take it by force, and


twelve other redcaps join the fight on the next round.


Mad Maggie won't break up such a fight unless the char-


acters have done some thing nice for her, although if the


dreamscape ritual has not taken place yet, she won't


allow the redcaps to kill a character.

R E DCAPS A N D MADCAPS

Redcaps are murderous fey c reatures that soak their


caps in fresh blood. Madcaps are redcaps that drench


their caps in demon ichor instead. Mad Maggie currently


commands sixty redcaps and thirty madcaps, although


a third of them operate outside the fort, patrolling the

areas of the wasteland controlled by Mad Maggie. As


battles deplete this force, Mad Maggie has new redcaps


delivered to he r from the Feywild, courtesy of powerful
fey with whom s he has struck bargains. For this reason,

the night hag has no concern for the well-being of her


redcap and madcap minions. See appendix D for more


information about redcaps and madcaps.
R edcap and Madcap Goals. These creatures don't

have many goals, being mad fey creatures that revel in


chaos and s laughter. Their inte ractions with the char-
acters should reflect that. One might offer a character a

severed finge r as a toke n of friends hip, then accuse the


characte r of stealing it afterward. Only their love a nd


fear of Mad Maggie keeps the creatures under a loose


sort of control.


Mad Maggie understands the nature of these beings


and s he does not hold it against the characters if they


kill them, especially when acting in self-defense.

MAD MAGGIE'S INFERNAL WAR MACHINES


Fort Knucklebone contains the hulks of infe rnal war


machines in varying states of disrepair and cannibaliza-


tion. Of the lot, two appear relatively intact. The smaller


one is a Devil's Ride. the bigger one a Tormentor (see


page 94 for both vehicles' stat blocks}. The wheels of

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