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the characters, the assassins decide to alter their plans.
Both fiends turn invisible and follow the party in hope
of an opportunity to kidnap one or more characters and
deliver them to Zariel. If they succeed, Zariel invites the
rest of the group to her flying fortress to negotiate terms
for their comrades' release (see "Zariel's Flying For-
tress," page 130).TALKING TO MORDENKAINEN
Mordenkainen is a stern, bald man with a neatly
trimmed black goatee beard and a pe netrating stare.
When his tower arrives in Avernus, Mordenkainen stepsout onto the balcony to address th e fiends gathered be-
low. Fights frequently break out between the yugolothsas they jostle for his attention.
Zariel's assassins often lurk here, so Mordenkainen
presents a simulacrum of his true self that disintegrates
into a pile of snow if it is destroyed. The real archmage
remains deep inside his tower and swiftly shunts the
building to another plane in times of danger.If the characters make themselves known to Mor-
denkainen's simulacrum. he demands to know their
reasons for visiting. The archmage doesn't know the
location of the Bleeding Citadel, nor does he care to find
it. Even so, he claims that "balance will be maintained
in the universe" by giving the characters directions toa lesser mage who also studies the workings of magic
in Avernus-specifically, a "mage of no re nown" who
haunts the site of an obelisk. The yugoloths recently told
Mordenkainen about this stranger and his guidance has
an ulterior motive: if the characters end up slaying the
mysterious mage, Mordenkainen has one less rival to
contend with in Avernus.OBELISK
AN UNKNOWN MAN WITH UNKNOWN PURPOSE. AsSIST
him at your peril. lest he dragyou into madness.
-The CartographerWhen the characters arrive at this location, read or
paraphrase the following boxed text to the players:A thirty-foot-tall obelisk ringed by seven smaller standing
stones rises from the crest of this hill. A tall man wearing
tattered robes strides between the standing stones, ges-
ticulating wildly and screaming curses into the wind.The pit fiend Bel imprisoned the barlgura demon Ub-
balux inside this circle of standing stones. To tormenthis adversary, Bel revealed that the secret to escaping
the prison was hidden in the arcane runes etched across
the standing stones. Ever since, the tormented demonhas tried futilely to solve the riddle and escape. The fig-
ure pacing the standing stones is Ubbalux masquerad-
ing in human form using a disguise se/fspell. The magic
of the obelisk prevents the demon from leaving the circleand stops any form of divination magic from affecting
the stones or targeting a creature inside their perimeter.
CHAPTER 3 I AVERNUSUbbalux appears as a tall human wiza rd. The demon
stole this appearance from the last visitor to stray into
his stones (after Ubbalux ate him). If the characters ap-
proach, the "wizard" greets them eagerly and is keen todivulge details of his studies, but his conversation often
trails off on confusing tangents. The following informa-
tion can be gleaned by speaking with the false wizard:
The wizard claims that he no longe r recalls his name
or place of origin.- If asked about the Bleeding Citadel, the wizard prom-
ises to direct the characters to "someone who can
help," provided they help him solve the enigma of the
obelisk first.Ubbalux can truly help the characters find the path to
the Bleeding Citadel, but the demon hopes to manipu-late the characters into releasing it from its prison first.
If they become aware of its ruse, the demon admits to
the deception and pleads for their help (see "Develop-
me nt" below).A WIZARD'S THEORY
The wizard claims that each standing stone is keyed to
one of the eight schools of magic (abjuration, conjura-
tion, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necro-
mancy, and transmutation). His theory s uggests that thecentral obelis k grants a boost in arcane power to mages
across the cosmos, and he urges the c haracters to aid
him in empowering it. Tn truth, Ubbalux has concocted
this theory to dupe the characters into testing his latest
escape plan. Characte rs who examine the standing
s tones and succeed on a DC 15 In telligence (Arcana)
check discern that the arcane runes do indeed relate to
the eight schools of magic.The wizard requests that each character places a
hand upon a different stone, to "assist in c hannelingthe streams of magic."' When their hands are in place,
STANDING STONE EFFECTS
School Effect
Abjuration You gain a +2 bonus to AC for the next^24
hours.
Conjuration A monodrone appears in an unoccupied
space within S feet of you and follows you
around until it's destroyed. It is indifferent
toward all creatures, including you.
Divination You gain the benefits of a true seeing spell
for the next hour.
Enchantment The standing stone casts confusion on you
(save DC 15). The spell lasts for 1 minute.
Evocation The standing stone casts magic missile, tar-
geting you with five missiles.
Illusion An illusory swarm of harmless bats or
pigeons (DM's choice) flutters over your
head for the next hour. A dispel magic cast
on the swarm ends the effect.
Necromancy You also take^30 necrotic damage from the
standing stone.
Transmutation Your skin turns blue for the next^24 hours.
A remove curse spell ends the effect on you.