Descent into Avernus

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

HELLWASP NEST


FALLEN ANGELS ARE MEAT FOR HELLWASPS. STEER CLEAR,


lest you nourish their young with your flesh.


-The Cartographer


Throughout Avernus, aggressive hellwasp colonies


shape enormous nests from the cocooned carcasses of


slain angels and other fallen celestials. Such structures


are magically buoyant and must be tethered by chains to


the surface of Avernus. The cocooned angels writhe un-
pleasantly from the motion of the larvae gorging on their
insides, creating the false impression that they still live.


Because of this, the mere sight of a hellwasp nest has


been known to drive mortals mad. This entry describes


a typical nest, such as the one Lulu is carried to from


Haruman's Hill.
When the characters encounter their first hellwasp
nest, read or paraphrase the following boxed text to
the players:

A gigantic sac of wet, papery material floats high above
the surface of hell. Angelic figures with feathery wings
stick to its surface like flies in amber, their bodies strug-
gling futilely underneath layers of gunk. Iron chains at the
bottom of the structure tether it to the hellish landscape.

A typical hellwasp nest contains eight bellwasps (see


page^236 for their stat block), although twice this


number are typically out hunting when the characters


arrive. If they paralyze every character in the party with
their stings, the hellwasps move them to their larder

at the top of the nest (area N4) to be used as food for


their larvae.

ENCOUNT E R S I N THE NEST


The following descriptions correspond to the areas


marked on map 3.2. A hellwasp nest has no stairs,

so the characters must fly or use climbing gear to tra-


verse between levels. Each level of the nest is basically
one large chamber. Map 3.2 includes a side view of

the nest that shows how the various levels stack atop


one another.

Map 3.2 shows where dead angels are entombed


in the hellwasp nest's translucent walls. The angels'


well-preserved corpses, which are visible to creatures


inside the nest, keep the nest aloft. Removing them from


the walls causes the nest to slowly sink to the ground.


Nl. ENTRY LEVEL


The nest's entrance is on its underside, where one or


more heavy chains tether the nest^100 feet above the
surface of Avernus. The hellwasps keep this level mostly
clear to avoid blocking off the hatcheries above. Even so.

discarded gear accumulates here among the gory efflu-


via expelled from the wasps' devoured captives.

Treasure. Anyone searching through the junk finds


a backpack containing five healer's kits and a fully
charged wand of magic missiles.
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