Bel

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Bel is perhaps the greatest success story of Hell. He climbed the ranks of devilkind until becoming a pit fiend. He then orchestrated the assassination of a pit fiend general and took over the position himself. As a general for the Dark Eight, Bel proved an exceptional warlord and a master of deception. In his most noted campaign, he seemingly betrayed Asmodeus and joined the tanar'ri. After convincing the tanar'ri of his loyalty, he led them into a long-prepared ambush that decimated the demonic armies. He then returned to Hell covered with glory, his star in the ascent.
As a reward, Bel was given command of all the armies of Avernus and became the right hand of Zariel, the original Lord of Avemus. Bel served Zariel faithfully for many centuries, concentrating his efforts on the Blood War as was proper. In time, Zariel came to trust her underling, and this was her undoing. In the most dramatic coup in the history of Hell, Bel turned Zariel's court against her and then overthrew the forlom lord. By a means that has yet to be determined (but perhaps learned during his time among the tanar'ri), Bel was able to imprison Zariel and render her powerless. He then declared himself Lord of Avemus and prepared to repel the assaults that he was sure would follow.
Much to Bel's surprise, no ravening hordes swept into Avemus. Instead, Asmodeus sent Martinet, his constable, to meet with Bel. Martinet first congratulated Bel on his coup, praising his guile and his capacity for longterm planning. He then informed Bel that Asmodeus had decided not to "make him bum in the Pit of Flame for all eternity." Rather, Asmodeus would support Bel as lord, but only if he continued to fulfill his obligations to the Dark Eight. Bel, delighted that his treachery had found favor with the Dark Lord of Nessus, agreed to the terms immediately.
Bel soon learned why Asmodeus had chosen to support him. Although he was now a lord, Bel still had to lead the armies of the Dark Eight. The time spent attending to the Blood War prevented him from concentrating his efforts on the politics of the nobility Furthermore, the older lords gave little respect to the pit fiend they considered an upstart. Among the baatezu nobility, he was often referred to as Bel the Pretender. In a stroke, Asmodeus had replaced a quarrelsome and conniving lord with a harried pit fiend with little support among the nobility.
Despite the difficulty of his position, Bel tries to do justice to both his positions. He has been slowly sucking the power out of the imprisoned Zariel, and this has helped him consolidate his power on Avemus. He has made overtures to both Baalzebul and Mephistopheles, but neither trusts Bel due to his proven treachery. Bel's current policy is to support Asmodeus in the hopes of further advancement. To that end, he has inserted spies into the courts of the other lords and funnels information through Martinet to Asmodeus. While most of the information gamered isn't news to the Dark Lord, the effort has curried some favor with him.
==Combat==
Bel's favored weapon is a jaggededged sword that emanates the fire of Hell. lhis weapon is +3, +5 us. tanar'ri and inflicts double damage on cold-using or cold-dwelling creatures. The tanar'ri know and fear Bel's blade, and thousands have fallen to it in the course of the Blood War.
Once per round Bel can use the following spell-like powers, in addition to those normally available to baatezu: detect magic, detect invisibility, fireball (15d6), hold person, improved invisibility, polymorph self, produce flame, pyrotechnics, and wall of fire. Additionally, anyone of good alignment who is less than 10th level must save vs. spell when encountering Bel or suffer the effects of a fear spell. Those of neutral or evil alignment suffer the effects of awe instead.
Category:NPCs
Category:Guide to Hell NPCs