80
insane cartographer. Distances and travel times be-
tween locations cannot be determined by s tudying the
map and can change with each journey, at your discre-
tion. Your players s hould never feel like they understand
Avernus geographically, providing an unsettled and dis-
orienting feeling as they roam the hellscape.
The poste r map i s riddled with strange imagery and
unique iconography. T hese are the cartographer's artis-
cic impressions of Avernus, and their meanings, for the
most part, remain a mys1ery. While exploring Avernus,
the characte rs discover a peculia r property of the map:
it talks! Whenever they arrive at one of the locations de-
scribed in this chapte r, the voice of the cartographer em-
anates from the map t o reveal a clue. The map speaks
only to utter its clues, so the characters can't query it
or engage it in conversation. The cartographer's mad
ramblings precede the description of each adventure
location marked on the map. If queried about a location
not drawn on the map, the cartographer mumbles inco-
herently, screams madly, or whimpers in despair.
CHARTING A COURSE
Using the map to chart a course from one location to an-
other is unreliable at best. It helps if the characters have
visited a destination before, but e ven that i s no guaran-
tee th ey'll end up where they intended.
When charting a course through Avernus. ask the
player whose character is overseeing navigation to
roll two dice:
• Roll 2d4 if the characters are traveling to an unvisited
destination marked on their map.
• Roll 2d8 if the characters a re returning to a destina-
tion th ey've visited previously.
• Roll 2d10 if a native guide is leading che characce rs co
th eir destination.
If the rolls of both d ice don't match, the characters
arrive at their destination as intended. If the dice match,
they wind up s omewhere else: pick one of the other
locations.
AREAS OF FOAT KNUCKLEBONE
The main feature of the fort is the hand-shaped hill, be-
tween the fingers of which are caves where Mad Maggie
oversees repairs to several infernal war machines (see
appendix 8 for infernal war machine rules and stat blocks).
Around this hill is a ring of debris that serves as a crude
rampart. This barrier is 15 feet thick, and its height aver-
ages 20 feet.
Built into the rampart is a ramshackle gatehouse (see
"Entering the Fort," page 81). One of the redcaps that
guards the gatehouse stands next to an iron gong that
can be struck to warn of impending attack. A^15 -foot high,
20-foot-wide, entryway passes through the gatehouse. A
wall of junk on rollers can be pushed in front of the entry·
way to seal it in case of attack.
Within the rampart, surrounding the hill, are hovels
made of junk and scrap metal. These quarters are mostly
empty except for a few cots, since only the kenku require
food, drink, and sleep. They are used when members of
Mad Maggie's gang need privacy. Amid the hovels are the
plundered wrecks of several infernal war machines that
have been picked clean for parts.C HAPTER 3 I AVl'RNUSFORT KNUCKLEBONE
After leaving Elturel, the adventurers head to Fort
Knucklebone, a junkyard s tronghold on the edge of a
desolate expanse of Avernus ravaged by rival gangs of
scavengers. Fort Knucklebone doesn't appear on the
poster map of Avernus, as the map's cartographer never
found or visited this location.
Fort Knucklebone provides s helter to a gang of waste-
land marauders called the Knucklebones, serving as
a garage whe re they build and repair infernal war ma-
chines. The Knucklebones ans wer to Mad Maggie, a
night hag warlord who has a n agreement with Zariel:
the a rchduke of Avernus leaves For t Knucklebone alone
as long as Mad Maggie keeps the other warlords in the
a rea in check.
Lulu believes that the kenku from the visions reside in
the fort and may be able to help, which i s partially true.
They can bring Lulu and the characters to Mad Maggie,
who can in turn provide them with assistance.
ARRI VAL AT THE FORT
When the characters get within sight of Fort Knuckle-
bone, describe the location as follows:
A fortified compound sit s atop a low plateau that rises
out of a crater-pocked landscape. At the center of t he
compound is a hill of rust-colored stone that resembles
a hand clawing out of the ground, with gaps between the
fingers. A jagged wall made of rock, bones, and metal
debris surrounds this hand-shaped hill. Other highlights
visible from this distance include a gatehouse, atop
which s tands a half-dozen small figures on watch.Whe n the characters are ready to approach the fortress,
see "Entering the Fort" below. First, however, review
the following summary of how to run this scene to max-
imum effect.
RUNNING THE F ORTIn this part of th e adventure, the characters must care-
fully tread the social milieu of a night hag and her cadre
of crazed followers.
This scene resolves a round a factor essential in any
negotiation: leverage. Mad Maggie possesses several
things the characters could use, including infernal war
machi nes, provisions, temporary shelter, a nd informa-
tion. The characters have somethi ng Mad Maggie de-
s ires greatly: Lulu's memories.
One way to run a complex socia l encounter like this
one is to imagine a scale from 1 to 10 , with 1 repre-
senting the worst possible ouccome and 10 the best.
The cha racters start at 5, a nd as they progress through
the scene, they may move up or down the scale. Posi-