A Guide to Shopping, Travelling and Running Errands in Avernus

The Saturday game, recapping 3/13/21 – We head off from Fort Knucklebone to the Bone Brambles in search of Red Ruth, the hag Maggie told us about. She sells a variety of brews and potions, does not have the balor blood we need to secure Mordenkainen’s cooperation. Also, she cannot divine for us without having some blood herself. She tells of a disguised balor named Ubbalux who can be found in an obelisk to the north who might help. Along the way to the obelisk, we need to use magical means to avoid a large pit filled with black liquid.

At the obelisk, we see a figure screaming and gesticulating at seven standing stones. He greets us warmly and says he is studying the stones for their secrets. He believes the stones are a key to empowering the obelisk. After some questions, he admits that he is Ubbalux and his balor body is trapped in the obelisk. To become free, a willing creature must take his place, but will be trapped for eternity until another willing creature comes along. The seven standing stones have runes representing the seven schools of magic. We mess with them for a while, sometimes to comic effect, but cannot solve the puzzle to release Ubbalux. Although Ubbalux would willingly give us his blood in exchange for help, we ultimately cannot find a way to free him and take our leave.

Following Smiler the Defiler’s lead, we head up to Arkhan the Cruel’s tower. On the way, we find a ghost of a man who thinks everything he sees is a delusion; we cannot help this guy either. We also come upon an improbable scene: a bunch of berserkers fighting devils on the shore of Styx. We fight with them and in return they give the party, including Large Marge, a ride across the river in their warship. We become such fast friends that their leader, Offus, gives us a Horn of Valhalla that we can use to summon spiritual warriors at times of great need.

At Arkhan’s tower, we meet his buddy Krull. We request an audience with Arkhan and, as an offering, present some Tiamat treasures we took from the Vanthampur villa. Krull is impressed, and we ride a white dragon up to Arkhan’s camp outside the lair of Tiamat. We meet with him and his bodyguard, Torogar Steelfist. After gifting another two treasures, he agrees to part with some of the blood we need for Mordenkainen if we help him free Tiamat. Unfortunately, we are running out of time to save Elturel and take a raincheck. As a favor, Krull agrees to fly the whole party to the Mirror of Mephistar.

Through the mirror, we see a snowy landscape upon which stands the Tower of Mephistar. A figure approaches the mirror from the other side. He introduces himself as Rigowrath. We tell him the whole story of trying to save Elturel and the requirement of blood. He knows of such a creature in exchange for a deal with his master. The first would have us signing away our souls for an increase in power. Instead, we volunteer to obtain yugoloth larvae from the Wandering Emporium.

When we head south, we conveniently run into the Wandering Emporium and its proprietor, Mahadi. We purchase the larvae as well as six shattersticks. We head back to the mirror and give the larvae to Rigowrath. He then tells us of a fiend trapped in the Pit of Shumrath which we had passed earlier in our travels. We trek back to the pit of black liquid where the river Styx trickles into the valley. Using the shattersticks, we create a dam to close off the river and fiend slowly begins to coalesce. After we free a creature named Bozit, he rewards us with soul coins and instructions on how to make a homunculus. The Rogue does so and names him Pepe.  When the pit fiend finally forms, he is rightfully perturbed, but the Paladin calms him down and we obtain some of his blood.

Back at Mordenkainen’s Tower, we hand over the blood. He tells us that Olanthus is in the Crypt of the Hellriders; Haruman is at Haruman’s Hill. We decide to head to the Crypt, the closer location.

At the crypt we fight a few undead, but then run into ghosts while exploring. They are not aggressive to us but instead beg us to break the oath that binds them here so they can find their final rest. They assure us that Olanthus still has good within him and ask us to search for evidence of his humanity. Behind a secret door, we find a ritual circle containing parchment scraps upon which hundreds of names are written. After we destroy them, about half the trapped souls are freed.

In the office of Olanthas, his journals show that he blames himself for what happened to Haruman. His ghost and that of many of his Hellriders appears. He notes that we have freed half his warriors. He will tell us the location of the Bleeding Citadel if we perform a task for him of freeing a demon lord and defeating his jailors. Kostchtchie, lord of the frost giants, is bound in a dark chasm. We battle several devils including our old nemesis Thavius Kreeg who is now an amnizu. After the battle, we use mage hand to take a key from Kreeg’s body and free the demon lord who turns into a mist and flies away.

After informing Olanthus of our success, he tells us the Bleeding Citadel is through the arches of Ulloch. After this epic session of traveling, shopping, and trying somewhat successfully to solve the problems of Avernus’ citizenry, we feel more experienced at level fourteen.