Descent into Avernus

MAKING A DEAL WITH ZARIEL

Characters out of other options might s imply bow to

Zariel's power. If the characters make a deal with Zariel

to save Elturel, they must s pecify that the city is to be

freed from its chains and returned to the Material Plane.

Otherwise, Zariel will release the chains but leave

Elturel in Avernus with no hope of salvation.

To DESTROY A DEMON LORD

Baphomet and Yeenoghu are both clear and present

dangers to Avernus. Although Zariel would relish slay-

ing either of them personally, she gladly draws up a

contract agreeing to trade Elturel and the souls within

the city for either demon lord's destruction. Delivering

the glaive of Baphomet or the flail ofYeenoghu to her is

sufficient to prove the characters' success.

If the characters agree to Zariel's terms, they learn

that both demon lords have recently converged around

Elturel. You can add either demon lord to the battle in

"Endgame in Elturel," later in this chapter. If the char-

acters freed the demon lord Kostchtchie in chapter 3, he

can also make an appearance.

SHIELD OF THE HIDDEN LORD
If the characters still possess the Shield of the Hidden

Lord, Zariel blithely declares that she would consider

trading Elturel for it. From within the shield, the pit

fiend Gargauth begs and sobs and promises the world

to the characters if they spare its life and find a way to

restore the devil to its former glory. These are empty

promises, though Gargauth's fear is real.

If the characters give her the shield, Zariel casts dis-

pel evil and good on it. Her spell causes Gargauth to

manifest as a miserable, malformed pit fiend at half its

hit point maximum and with 4 levels of exhaustion. She

commands the characters to destroy the wretch. If they

succeed, she casually dismisses them and ignores any

attempt by the characters to hold her to promises made

without a contract.

If the characters press Zariel for a formal agreement

before giving her the s hield. she presents a fair contract.

However, she refuses to both free Elturel and return it

to the Material Plane, promising only one or the other in

exchange for the shield alone.

DEALING WITH THE COMPANION

The Companion that once warded Elturel against un-

dead is powered by a planetar trapped inside it. Long

thought of as Elturel's savior, the Companion was also

its undoing, for it was the beacon that allowed the power

of Avernus to drag the city into the Nine Hells.

The Companion is a nearly indestructible metal orb

50 feet in diameter. When it protected Elturel, it hung

in the sky like a second sun and emitted sunlight so

bright that the orb itself couldn't be seen. Now, lightning

plays across the surface of the dull sphere, which is

surrounded by a 400-foot-diameter, IO-foot-thick shell of

impenetrable, magical darkness. A creature with dark-

vision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical

light can't illuminate it. If this darkness overlaps with an

area of light created by a spell of 8th level or lower, the

spell that created the light is dispelled.

CHAPTER 5 I ESCAPE FROM AVERNUS

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