What Dreams May Come

"What Dreams May Come" is the 86th session of the Legend of the Leaves campaign.
It took place in the Hellwalkers questline of Arc 5: Dead Souls Rising.
==Synopsis==
Arriving at Fort Knucklebone, the Leaves try to get acquainted to the weird customs of Avernus and its inhabitants, while trying to unlock parts of Lulu's memories by entering her dreams. 
=Story Development=
==Part 1==
As the gargantuan infernal war machine sprints out of Fort Knucklebone and the two kenku Chukkah and Clonk close the gates, the party notices a swarm of horned devils led by Castell, a female erinyes attacking the vehicle. Two redcaps from the fort's walls tell Darius that they are forbidden to let anyone inside without the password. Darius negotiates to be let in, in exchange for Castell.
The infernal war machine manages to stomp a few devils, before Malcer, Darius and Bambara decide to join the fight. Surrounded by fire, they manage to bring Castell don to her knees. Darius knocks her out, while Malcer picks her up and runs towards the fort's gates.
Entering the fort, the Leaves realize that the inhabitants of this glorified junkyard consist mainly of a few redcaps, imps, and plenty of madcaps (redcaps who have gone even madder than usually).
Chukkah and Clonk fetch Mad Maggie, a night hag and warlord of the fort, so the Leaves can talk to her. As she arrives with Mickey, a demonic looking flesh golem, she is delighted to see Castell presented to her as a sign of good faith. Maggie grabs the unconscious erinyes by her jaw and rips it off before stomping her head into the ground.
Maggie is thrilled to meet the party and immediately offers all the hospitality she can give to them. They talk for a while, and the party learns that she once was a powerful hag in the northern region of Neverwinter Wood. However, a "lack of misery that has come over the world" brought her to Avernus, where she could enjoy all the misery she ever wanted.
When Lorilon asks her about Zariel, Maggie explains that she is a big fan of the Archduchess of Avernus. She then reveals that she is after artifacts belonging to and knowledge about the fallen angel. She offers the party to stay in Fort Knucklebone, where they can rest. Maggie shows them her quarters, here she created a small portal to the material plane, from which fresh water is sprung directly into Avernus. She explains to them that she created a portal at the bottom of a lake somewhere in the material plane.
Before going to sleep, Maggie tells the Leaves the story about Zariel by showing them a tapestry depicting her fall from grace. The tapestry illustrates Zariel being given a quest to assist the devils in turning the tide of the Blood War in their favor because the demons were getting the upper hand. The celestials who sent Zariel to Avernus ant the war between the devils and the demons to continue.
Another panel shows Zariel recruiting who will become the members of her Hellriders, a party of mortal heroes from the Sword Coast ho followed her to Avernus. The rest of the tapestry depicts Zariel losing focus on her mission and accepting a deal with Asmodeus to become the ruler of Avernus. The Hellriders managed to take her magical sword away from her when she turned on them. She engaged in a fight with them, managing to make them flee. "Some say that the Hellriders are still in Avernus. Others say that only a few of them remained, while the rest returned to the material plane", Maggie finishes her story about the cloth.
She then reveals to the party that she can try to make Lulu remember where the Sword of Zariel was hidden, but only if Lulu is willing to let her enter her dreams by means of a ritual. The party agrees to talk to Lulu about it in the morning and goes to sleep, except Bambara, who visits Maggie in her quarters with a request to erase a painful memory.
Maggie agrees and lays Bambara on her bed where she transforms into the liking of Calama, Bambara's wife, and has sex with him. While reaching climax, Bambara has a vision of someone standing over his child's Cobana bed. The figure breathes something into the child and speaks the words: "No one will ever find the cure for your disease". After that, the child starts to cough uncontrollably. 
Bambara recognizes the figure from the vision, but forgets immediately of ever having a kid in the first place. As Maggie finishes her spell, Bambara falls into deep sleep.
==Part 2==
The party is awakened by the smell of freshly coked fish in the morning. Mickey prepared it for them and explained that Maggie went out to gather material for the ritual.
Malcer talks to Lulu and explains to her Maggie's plan. Lulu agrees to the ritual, only under the condition that, if something were to happen to her, Malcer wouldn't put himself into danger.
After breakfast, the party goes to town in Fort Knucklebone:
Arriving at the bazzar, Malcer finds a redcap vendor who only sells infernal daggers. After haggling for a bit, Malcer manages to trick him into buying his own supply for four-times the amount he sold it to Malcer.
Meanwhile, Darius is trying to get rid of the infernal tackle he got back in Mystilon. However, the one madcap who offers to buy it, will not do so without the tackle being "cleaned", meaning being of proper provenance. Darius decides to ask Chukkah and Clonk for help, but they are too fixated on repairing their infernal scavanger.
Lorilon is approached by two imps called Pins and Needles who ask of him to kill a redcap named Wazzik. When Lorilon refuses, they tell him that Wazzik wants to kill Lulu, but Lorilon sees through their lies and scares them off.
Malcer, in the meantime, buys a hat and a duster and looks for venues to gamble with soul coins. He comes across information that in the Cave of Fort Knucklebone "everything is allowed". While making his way to the cave, he comes across Mickey, who still struggles with his walk. Examining his leg, Malcer finds a bone devil bone sticking from its flesh. Malcer manages to remove it, while some madcaps make fun of Mickey's walk.
Darius, unable to get rid of the infernal tackle, throws it on the ground and walking away from it. However, Mickey brings it back to him and reminds him not to litter.
Lorilon is approached once again in the bazzar by a flameskull with a missing front tooth named Barneby. He asks off Lorilon to help him retrieve his missing tooth, stolen by a madcap by the name of Grubb. Lorilon accepts to help him under the condition that Barneby shares with him information about something Maggie doesn't know.
After this conversation, Lorilon finds Grubb by the cave entrance in Fort Knucklebone. However, Grubb is not eager to part with the flameskull tooth, as he thinks it brings him good luck. Lorilon convinces him to trade the tooth for an infernal dagger. Grubb agrees and Lorilon makes his way to the dagger vendor at the bazzar.
Arriving there and haggling with the vendor (who has now increased his prices significantly after buying daggers for four-time the normal price), Pins and Needles whisper to Lorilon that the vendor's name is Wazzik and that he should kill him. Lorilon thinks about it for a second and gives Wazzik one last chance to sell him a dagger for a reasonable price.
Wazzik agrees to trade the dagger for an infernal tack. Lorilon gets the infernal tack from Darius and trades it for the dagger. With the dagger in his possession, Lorilon arrives at the cave entrance and trades it in for the flameskull tooth from Grubb.
Darius, Malcer, and Lorilon discuss for a moment whether or not to give the flameskull his tooth back. During this discussion, they decide to enter the Cave of Fort Knucklebone. As they do, they notice a horrid smell of sweat and see tens of madcaps having brutal intercourse inside the small and stuffy cave. Lorilon runs out and starts to barf on the ground.
Malcer realizes that Barneby probably needs his tooth to cast spells that require verbal components. They decide to give the tooth to Barneby anyways. 
As Darius puts the tooth back into the flameskull's mouth, his cranium starts to shed bright-green flames. He sweeps away into the cave with lightning speed and hurls fireballs at the madcap orgy while shouting something in infernal: "Jebem li vam majku poganu!"
After roasting the madcaps in the cave, Barneby is at ease and shares with the party that he knows the location of Mordenkainen and his tower in Avernus. Barneby then starts to chant a soothing melody, that makes all the madcaps calm and go back to work, just in time of Maggie's arrival into Fort Knucklebone.
==Part 3==
Maggie learns about all the things they did in helping around the fort and invites the party to join her to the ritual. She explains that she will teleport them into Lulu's dreams in order to retrieve her memories about Zariel's Sword.
As the party enters the first dream, a green meadow where Zariel and Lulu run happy through, they are teleported to the next layer. However, Malcer and Darius lose their connection to the dream world, and all of them have to start from scratch.
In their second attempt, Malcer, Darius and Lorilon manage to enter the second dream, a fiery circle where they fight horned devils. After defeating two of them, they are teleported to the third dream, where the other two surviving devils offer their alliance to them. The Leaves accept and step into the fourth dream.
They find themselves suddenly walking on a tar-like substance that is trying to suck them down like quicksand. They manage, however, to reach the portal to the next dream, but not before experiencing a traumatic memory from their past.
Lorilon remembers the time he ran from Mystilon into the woods with his brother in his hands. He remembers vividly seeing his brother Kovilon Duskwalker eating a demon fruit and falling unconscious. Lorilon grabs himn and runs into the woods, where he is "saved" by Kronin.
However, reliving the memory an infinite number of times, Lorilon suddenly realizes what really happened that day. He remembers seeing his mother giving him (not his brother) the demo fruit. Caught in a state of confusion, Lorilon grabbed the Owl Boy toy his brother left lying around his room and ran off.
Kronin then found Lorilon in the woods and the only way to save him was to turn him into a blood hunter.
Similarly, Darius remembers when he walked by his old neighborhood in Waterdeep before joining the academy and thinking about how he would like to change things.
The true inspiration for his desire to change the neighborhood is suddenly made clear to him. He stumbled across his mother, with her cloths all torn apart, lying in the gutter when a homeless person stepped over her and suggested to Darius that "she is too used up". Darius smashes the bumps face into the corner of a building and carries his mother back to her house, promising to her and to himself to clean the neighborhood up.
Entering the fifth dream, the party sees Lulu sleeping on a cushion. As she wakes up, a telescope manifests besides her. She takes a look through the telescope and enthusiastically starts to scream: "The Bleeding Citadel! I know where the sword is."
Hearing these words, the party, and Lulu wake up, finding Maggie drained from performing the ritual. They learn that Maggie has never gotten so deep into the mind of a being. As she is carried away by Mickey to her quarters, Malcer goes after them to help.
A crowd of madcaps and redcaps gathers around the party, blaming them for killing Maggie. Wazzik produces a dagger and suggests killing the yellow elephant who killed Maggie.
As Mickey takes care of Maggie, Malcer assists and asks her if he can help. Maggie calls him to her bedside and puts her head against his. Malcer then has a vision of a memory he had.
The memory was about him killing his step-family in Waterdeep on account of being part of the Flaming Fists, who just seized power in Baldur's Gate. Malcer vividly remembers killing his stepparents and his step-sister. However, through having this vision and reliving the memory an infinite amount of times, he suddenly remembers what happened prior to him going on a killing spree.
He sees Hondruk talking to Vates, who thanks him for finding great guinea pigs for the delirium he just obtained. Hondruk administers then the potion to Malcer and the rest of the troop, sending them to raid their own neighborhoods.
As Malcer awakens from this vision, Maggie dies, with her last words being about Lulu and saying that she has "never met a more pure being than her".
Mickey cries out loud as Maggie passes away and storms toward Lulu, who is still unconscious. The rest of the Leaves try to protect Lulu from the flesh golem, but he easily shoves them away and takes Lulu.
Chukkah and Clonk appear in the masses with two infernal war machines. Clonk yells to the crowd to hold their horses. Chukkah then explains that Maggie told them to gift these two infernal war machines to the Leaves in case she does not make it out alive. The crowd calms down and leave the party be.
Mickey carries Lulu to the fountain and gives her water to drink. Afterward, he puts her on a bed and sits on the floor, watching her. Malcer asks him what is going on and Mickey tells him: "You can rest. I will look after Lulu. Mama liked Lulu."
=Featured Characters=
==Leaves==
*Lorilon Duskwalker
*Darius Lonewalker
*Malcer Lynk Hornraven
*Bambara Grimmgrin
==New==
*Mad Maggie
*Mickey
*Castell
*Clonk
*Chukkah
*Pins
*Needles
*Wazzik
*Barneby
*Grubb
==Returning==
*Lulu
==Mentioned==
*Vates
*Hondruk
*Kovilon
*Kronin
*Mordenkainen