Descent into Avernus

Klim's shackles have AC 19, 10 hit points, and immu-

nity to poison and psychic damage.

The suit of armor is welded together and is harmless,

but its gauntlets are detachable. Both gauntlets are

animated objects statistically identical to flying swords,

except they deal bludgeoning damage instead of s lash-

ing damage. The gauntlets detach from the armor and

attack anyone who disturbs them or frees the prisoner

from his shackles.

Dl3. MORGUE

Unless the characters approach this room quietly and

without light sources, they alert the occupants here. De-

scribe the area to the players as follows:

This partially collapsed room has three wooden beams

bracing its ceiling. Situated between the beams is a

scorched wooden table with a human cadaver resting

atop it. A frighteningly thin woman in a black robe is

studying the corpse, her face largely hidden under a cowl.

Around her feet creep a swarm of skeletal rats.

The necromancer looming over the corpse is Flennis, a

female human master of souls (see page 234 for her

stat block) and the highest-ranking follower of Myrkul

in the dungeon. Use the swarm of rats stat block in the

Monster Manual to represent F lennis's skeletal rats,

which are undead instead of beasts. The swarm can be

turned by any character with the Turn Undead feature,

but spells that target beasts have no effect on it.

Flennis is preparing to make a zombie out of the

corpse on the table, but the animate dead spell takes

1 minute to cast, which means she must deal with the

characters first. Her skeletal rats attack the nearest foe,

and she casts spells while using the table for cover.

Tr easure. ln addition to her robe and her flail, Flennis

carries a dusty spellbook that contains all the spells she

has prepared. The book has black leather covers and

sports a tiny, skull-shaped locking mechanism. Flennis

has the key to the lock stuck in her hair. A character can

also pick the lock with a successful DC 10 Dexterity

check made with thieves' tools.

The first time a creature other than Flennis opens the

book, a wisp of black smoke rises from its pages and co-

alesces into a skull that cackles madly for a few seconds

before dissipating. The creature holding the book when

the smoke appears must succeed on a DC 14 Consti-

tution saving throw or be cursed for 24 hours, during

which time the creature has vulnerability to necrotic

damage. A remove curse spell or similar effect ends the

curse on the creature.

D14. HUNGRY RAT

An ordinary rat scurries around this room, looking for

scraps of food. If the characters use a speak with ani-

mals spell or similar magic to communicate with the rat,

it can share its knowledge of the dungeon with them. It

warms to characters who offer it food.

The rat's knowledge is limited to places it has visited-

specifically areas DS through D26. It doesn't know the

location of secret doors, so it's unaware of areas D27

through D33, which are hidden behind the secret door

in area D23.

Dl5. FLOODED ROOM

The flooded, rubble-strewn tunnels leading to and from

this room narrow to a width of 2\li feet in places. Four

rotting wooden beams rise from the murky water to

brace the ceiling here. Rubble piled in the northwest

corner contains nothing of interest.

Dl6. FLOODED CRYPT

Murky, foul-smelling water surrounds an open stone sar-

cophagus resting in the middle of this crypt, its stone lid

lying broken in three pieces under the water north of it.

A detect magic spell reveals an aura of evocation magic

around the sarcophagus. Characters who pull the lid

fragments out of the water see that the lid was carved in

the likeness of a screaming, axe-wielding barbarian.

Exposure to the dampness has rotted the bones in the

sarcophagus. reducing them to black sludge.

Trap. If the contents of the sarcophagus are disturbed,

a ghostly battleaxe appears above the sarcophagus.

The battleaxe is created by magic similar to a spiritual

weapon spell and is treated as a 2nd-level spell effect for

the purpose of dispelling it. The ghostly battleaxe can't

be harmed, can't leave the room, and targets only crea-

tures, acting on initiative count 20. On each of its turns,

it moves up to 10 feet and makes a melee spell attack

(+5 to hit) against an available target, dealing 6 (ld8 + 2)

force damage on a hit. The effect ends when there are

no longer any creatures in the room, and the trap resets

after 24 hours.

Dl7. MYRKUL'S ALTAR

Read or paraphrase the following boxed text to the play-

ers when their characters first enter the room:

This dry, partially collapsed room contains a stone altar

with humanoid skulls and bones piled around it. The top

of the altar is covered with dozens of half-melted candles

made of black wax, all currently unlit.

If one or more of the black candles on the altar are lit,

they shed a green light that reveals black writing on

the walls. The writing, which is not visible otherwise,

says in Common, "RISE AND BE COUNTED!" If these

words are spoken aloud within 5 feet of the altar, the

words vanish as bones hidden under the debris at the

north end of the room rise up and knit together, forming

three animated human skeletons. The skeletons are evil

undead, but they obey the commands of whoever spoke

the words that raised them, serving that individual until

they're destroyed or their master is killed.

Dl8. GAS BUILDUP

The ceiling of this Hooded room is supported by nu-

merous wooden beams. The air here smells like rotten

eggs, a putrid stench that carries beyond the room. Any

character approaching this area who succeeds on a DC

10 Wisdom (Survival) check realizes that the stench is

CHAPTER I I A TALE OF TWO CITIES