Session 32: Visions and memories Report
General Summary
Some one hundred and thirty years ago, the archangel Zariel rode into Avernus with a company of human knights, hoping to strike a fatal blow to the endless armies of the Abyss and the Nine Hells. The angel, riding atop her golden war mammoth, was joined by a grand army headed by three generals: King Olanthius of Elturel, Lady Yael of Idyllglen, and Lord Haruman of the Far Hills. Little did they know, their foe had planned for their arrival, and most of their armies never saw the light of day again.
After the battle, Zariel lay defeated, her body and her will broken, surrounded by numerous hyena-like corpses of fallen demons. That is how Asmodeus found her, exactly as he had planned a couple of thousand years prior, when he himself was cast from the seven heavens of Celestia, and found himself the ruler of Baator. Now, with the angel at his feet, Asmodeus would have her loyalty as his fiercest general in the Blood War. Zariel, with her last angelic breath, accepted.
Zariel was quick to embrace her position as ruler of Avernus, but the sense of betrayal by her companions grew as her now blackened heart shrank, until finally only darkness, hatred, and anger remained. Anger, that she pointed towards the demonic hordes, wielding it like a well-balanced sword as she cut through swathes of invaders time after time… politics were never her interest, which was why she easily fell to a ploy by another of Asmodeus’ generals; Bel, who gladly took Zariel’s place when she was accused of ambition.
No longer than ten years did Bel enjoy his tenure as the master of Avernus, for his ambition was truly too great, and he conspired against the Lord of the Ninth with Tiamat and two other archfiends whose names were lost to history. Zariel gladly usurped Bel once more, introducing a zero-tolerance policy for defectors and would-be tyrants. From her throne in Avernus, Zariel bided her time…
Eighty years. That’s how long the hatred was allowed to flourish inside her infernal heart before Elturel contacted her once more - a priest by name of Naja Bellandi pleaded with any and all powers, holy and unholy, to save the city from an undead uprising in the wake of a tyrannical vampire lord by name of Klav Ikaia. When no other powers could answer, Zariel made sure she did. A contract was signed in twofold, promising the city of Elturel and everything and everyone in it to the ruler of Avernus after a period of fifty years. For her part, Zariel conjured a radiant source of light above the doomed city - the Companion.
The Second Sun of Elturel, as it came to be known, was strikingly effective in ridding the city of any undead - many turned to ash as it was poised above the High Hall, while others were hunted down in the city’s maze of underground corridors. The only thing Zariel had to do was wait…
Fifty years later, Elturel has developed into a known power across Faerun, with full membership to the Lord’s Alliance as well as acquiring several other city-states in the Western Heartlands such as Scornubel and Iriaebor. Day-to-day life was governed by the so-called Creed Resolute, a book of rules and suggestions for living underneath the twin suns of Elturel. Most importantly, the origin of the Companion was not to be questioned: rather than being a gift from any god, it should be seen as a divine gift from the heavens itself. As time went by, worship of deities dwindled until only the Companion was revered in Elturel, and all temples were more or less attributed to its glory instead of the city’s former patron deities: Lathander, Torm, Tyr, and Helm.
The Order of the Companion came to be, as did the Hellriders. The former, a religious cult dedicated to the worship of the Companion. The second, the city’s standing military. Together, these clerics and soldiers numbered three thousand strong - a veritable force known across Western Faerun as very capable. The political leader of the young Kingdom was appointed by a council of elders, and following the tragic death of High Rider Naja Bellandi not too long after the Companion’s appearance, a man named Thavius Kreeg stepped up to the title.
Under Kreeg’s rule, Elturel faced new challenges, such as rising cult activity to the South. It was decided that Baldur’s Gate and Elturel would bond together to combat these cults, being the Cult of the Dead Three and the Cult of the Dragon. Shortly after Grand Duke Ulder Ravenguard’s arrival in Elturel, however, the term of the contract was up, and the whole of the city was swallowed by the cosmos, and transported across the planes to Avernus.
Artana, Patience, Fenrir, Reya, and Richard had been sent to investigate Cult activity in the nearby Elturgard Woods when they returned to a smoldering crater where the city of Elturel used to sit. Around and inside the crater, panicked masses of now-homeless people congregated, speculating what had happened and where they could go next. The party of five; a pair of soldiers, a clerk, a priest, and a tinkerer; joined a refugee caravan and spent two weeks walking along the river Chiontar to Baldur’s Gate, arriving at a pair of closed gates and an unwelcoming Outer City.
Through devious action and cooperation with a pair of locals from the Thieves’ Guild named Varron and Airam, the travelers could make their way inside the city, where they booked a pair of rooms at the Elfsong tavern. After running an errand for the tavern keeper, the party returned to Reya and Richard in the middle of a nasty brawl with a trio of devious looking pirates. After the fight, Reya explained that she had overheard the pirates talking about the Cult of the Dead, the very cult that they had been sent to investigate in the Elturgard Woods. Following the pirates’ directions, the adventurers snuck into a bathhouse in Heapside.
Investigating the bathhouse, the party found a hidden tunnel complex dedicated to the Dead Three: Bhaal, god of murder; Myrkul, god of necromancy, and Bane, god of tyranny. They also found evidence incriminating one of the city’s Dukes in a murder scheme along with her sons, and took that evidence to one of the city’s guards, known as the Flaming Fist. The captain they spoke with, Flame Zodge, was one of many leaders in the mercenary company looking to jump the ladder following the power vacuum created by Grand Duke Ravenguard’s disappearance. Following the lead in one of the letters they encountered, the party ran halfway across town to the Wide in the Upper City, arriving moments too late to stop the assassination of one of the three remaining Dukes of the city.
Knowing whom to suspect, the party bartered with Flame Zodge to investigate their suspect, as well as a slew of murders that could be connected to the Dead Three. Concluding their investigation, the travelers gathered enough evidence to incriminate Duke Thalamra Vanthampur as well as her sons Amrik, Thurstwell, and Mortlock. The party presented their evidence to Flaming Fist Blaze Liara Portyr, daughter to the assassinated Duke, and further cemented her suspicions of Duke Vanthampur, which would eventually lead to an all-out civil war between the Flaming Fist and the Watch - the standing private army of the Upper City and protectors of the nobles there.
Using the civil war as an entry point, the adventurers mounted their own assault on the Vanthampur’s villa, finding there to be a veritable dungeon complex underneath where cultists to Zariel were congregated to worship their archfiend overlord. However, Vanthampur’s followers proved too strong, and all but Fenrir were killed in the invasion. The paladin was rescued later, when the Flaming Fist fell upon the Duke’s compound with all their might, finding not just Fenrir but also lots of incriminating letters, leading to Vanthampur and her sons’ incarceration.
From correspondence, it was hinted that the Duke, as well as Elturel’s High Observer Thavius Kreeg, was somehow involved in the disappearance of the city. However, two items retrieved from the rubble of the villa could not be identified. Four new party members were solicited from among various refugee camps outside other large cities, from Scornubel all the way to Athkatla. Waiting for their arrival, newly declared Grand Duke Portyr asked Fenrir to band together with these Hellriders, to deliver the items, one resembling an orb with lots of different levers and switches, the other a brass-coated shield decorated with a fiendish face, to the fortress monastery of Candlekeep, their party led by Bertha the tabaxi bard, one of the Avowed of Candlekeep.
Hellriders Ronald Swanstone and Leojim Bluevale joined up, as well as Caja, a former Hellrider recruit who ran away before completing her training. This new party journeyed to Candlekeep to have the objects identified, learning of the origin of the Shield of the Hidden Lord as it identified itself: a means of communication for the Hidden Lord, otherwise known as Gargauth, a once-powerful archdevil who was banished from the Nine Hells of Baator when he conspired against Asmodeus, then came back as a demon lord with a massive following, but still not enough to defeat the fiendish hordes. What happened to Gargauth after that is not known, but this shield offers the possibility of communicating with the entity.
After four days at Candlekeep and making new friends with the intelligent ogre Little One, the second object was identified as an Infernal puzzle box, containing the contract between the archfiend Zariel and then-commander Naja Bellandi, the first High Rider of Elturel. With this information, as well as a vision granted to Ronald through divine intervention, it was made clear that the city of Elturel still existed, and that thousands of lives could potentially be saved from a fate worse than death: eternal servitude in the infernal legions.
A Crisis Conclave decided that Candlekeep would aid in whatever way they could, and the five adventurers were sent on a wild goose chase to find a portal to Avernus, first talking to the fortress monastery’s oldest inhabitant, the ghostly wyrm Myrrim, before being teleported to the Fields of the Dead, where they found Zariel’s lost mount and best friend, Lulu the hollyphant. They brought Lulu back to Candlekeep, where in the meantime a number of adventurers had gathered to participate in the rescue mission.
High Reader Traxigor, a powerful wizard who had transformed himself into an otter by accident years ago, but decided that he liked his new form, helped to teleport the four Elturians across the planes to Avernus, with Bertha the bard in tow, followed by the renowned Volothamp Geddarm, the explorer, Lulu the hollyphant, and Garyx, a scholar of Tyr specializing in Infernal law. The blackened skies, the burning houses, and the screams of people were too much for the goodly wizard however, and he disappeared as easily as he had joined them.
Meeting the source of the screams head-on as a survivor by name of Harkina Hunt, tailed by three bearded devils, the party made short work of two of the fiends before coming to an agreement with the last one. Harkina told them of a survivor’s outpost in Shiarra’s Market, which is where she was headed, but under strict protest from Ronaldus, the party decided first to venture to another location they knew before the descent.
Arriving at the remains of the tavern called A Pair of Black Antlers, the adventurers decided to aid a number of Baatezu, led by a barbed devil, to fight off a number of demonic occupants. The party went inside only to find a note with directions to High Hall on it. After establishing a truce with the remaining devils, the party followed their only lead and went to see what was going on at Shiarra’s Market, where they were met by a trio of mounted knights in ill-fitting Hellrider garb. They followed the riders to a ramshackle but functional gate into the camp, and were introduced to Rochus Pons, the captain of the garrison.
The party agreed to a 48-hour quarantine, getting to know Rochus as well as Caja’s sister Nori, who seemed to hold her sister’s running away against her ever since the descent. Nori explained that she’d had to fend for herself and her company, eventually finding the refugee camp, and that there were still some unresolved issues between herself and Caja. Ronald stepped in as an intermediary, and insisted on a change of the guard. When the 48 hours were finally over, the party shortly explored the compound, with Volo and Garyx deciding they would be better off helping the people in the Market. After all, their battle prowess left much to be desired.
Meeting once again with Rochus Pons, the party took on the job of journeying to the Eastern Docks to look for a lost patrol. Thanks to some quick thinking and smart action by Fenrir and Leo, the party was able to rescue a number of horses from a nearby lava river, as well as retrieving three bodies of fallen Hellriders, one of which they were able to revive on the spot: Caja’s most prominent rival from her training days, Trystane, who also happened to be one of her best friends. Returning to the refugee camp, they were welcomed like heroes, albeit with a sense of solemnity.
The adventurers were given an audience with the leader of the refugee camp, the vampire Klav Ikaia, who, he explained, had built this place with help from his followers. The refugees were previously chased out of their previous camp, which was growing too small, anyway. Here, the vampire has settled in Shiarra’s Market, surrounding himself with seven hundred refugees and about fifty Hellrider youths, explaining that the elders had a tendency to ‘erupt’ into fiends, and so had to be banished for the safety of the people. Fenrir fell to the charms of the vampire, and agreed to a new expedition to Symbril’s House in order to warehouse more water, which was slowly running out.
Before making good on their promise, the party went East on a lead that promised them spell components, and found themselves at the Keep of the Twin Suns, a small fortified citadel that now housed the remnants of the Order of the Companion. The occupants demanded that in exchange for the components the party needed, they would get their hands on the book of the Creed Resolute, mentioning that the names listed in the tome held some information about the risk of a Hellrider ‘erupting’ and changing into a fiend.
Making their way across Torm’s Blade and shortly losing sight of Lulu after an altercation with a well-spoken Vrock demon who was taking care of a small child, the party entered the mostly intact district of Westerly, meeting with soft-spoken Mildred Appledore, who told the adventurers about the current situation. Mildred was expecting to see her husband any day now, as he has been away for some time at High Hall but returned a few weeks ago for a short leave. The elderly woman supplied the party with some sweets and they continued their journey to the inn that they agreed to pillage.
Finding the hostel occupied by an uncertain number of well-armed inhabitants, especially Bertha made a case to leave the place as it is for now, and go to High Hall, instead. The cathedral that contains Elturel’s houses of government as well as the clergy of the Companion stood defiantly on its hill, albeit ravaged by impact of a comet, clad in the purple hue of the Companion, the spinning orb of devastation now spitting lightning bolts anywhere and everywhere. The adventurers found the High Hall under siege by Hell Knights - former Hellriders who had signed away their souls to Zariel in life, thus changing their humanoid bodies into fiends.
The fight that followed was brutal. Fenrir and Caja stood in the middle of the citadel, fending off traitor Hellriders while Ronald and Bertha provided ample support from the gallery. Meanwhile, Leo tried several magical spells to attack the fiends, but found that most of them were impervious to his arcane casting. In the end, Lulu fell to the blade of an abishai - one of Tiamat’s servants in Avernus. The fiend paid for it with its life, but it was too late.
Discovering a secret way into the Maze underneath High Hall, the party found their way to a common area where hundreds of people were housed - exactly what the Maze was built for. They found that Grand Duke Ulder Ravenguard of Baldur’s Gate had been put in charge of the remaining military, numbering around one hundred able bodies, with forty of his own Flaming Fist soldiers. At least… that was before the siege. In the time between the descent and the arrival of the party in the High Hall, an emergency government had been formed, and they agreed to meet the party to discuss the information they had gained in the Material Plane.
A long and intense discussion followed, with a singular conclusion drawn: while High Hall recovers from the losses suffered in the fight for the cathedral, the party of adventurers would venture to the High Cemetery to find the Helm of Torm’s Sight, an artifact that is said to bless the wearer with visions of the past and the future. On their way, the adventurers resupplied their arsenal at the wizard Baer Normiël’s tower, and had a short encounter with the feared dybbuk demons that were briefly mentioned at High Hall.
At the High Cemetery, the party was met by the groundskeeper, a cleric of Kelemvor known throughout Elturel by the name of Gideon Lightward. The cleric agreed to hand the helm to the party, but only if they could prove themselves true believers - there was a demonic incursion near one of the grave mounds that had to be dealt with, and Gideon himself did not have the resources to do so. After restoring the barrow mounds to their former glory, Gideon took the adventurers into the chapel where the bodies of the dead were prepared for interment, and led the party down into the catacombs where the helm was supposed to be.
A bulezau demon was holding the Helm of Torm’s Sight at the end of a long run through the catacombs, ending in a beautifully carved and painted half dome overlooking a basin of water. The creature briefly addressed the party before dropping the helm into the basin, opening a rupture in the continuum of the planes, and finding the Abyss on the other side, with the demon prince Baphomet staring back through the tear. As the horned king came ever closer to the rift, however, the capable Ronaldus was able to shut down the portal with tremendous focus.
In the meantime, Fenrir donned the helmet, and fell into a violent coma, with stern and foul voices emanating from underneath. Every attempt to separate the headgear from the paladin failed, and Gideon recommended taking him to the clerics at the High Hall, himself electing to stay behind and focus on making sure that the rift between realities was sufficiently sealed.
Once returned to High Hall, the gnome cleric Pherria Jynks was glad to announce that Lulu had been brought back to life with the collective efforts of their prayers, but she was still in a weakened state. Upon seeing Fenrir, however, she immediately started thinking out loud, thinking up ways to perform a strong enough ritual to help the paladin back to consciousness. Having some time between tasks, Ronald reunited with his grandmother, and Caja looked up her former mentor, Rivaughn, to exchange tales and ales.
Following a long and harrowing ritual the next day, Fenrir’s mind was restored, and the helm finally came off. The paladin was finally able to tell the party what he had seen in the visions bestowed upon him by Torm…
That’s when Lulu interrupted, flying into the citadel and into the arms of the party. Together, they shared Lulu and Fenrir’s tales of where to go and what to do next, which had something to do with kenku and a place called Fort Knucklebone…
Fenrir Firecam
Ronaldus Swanstone
Caja
Report Date
22 Jun 2023
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