Elegy of the Damned

## Player Characters

* Alfar Tauronoth
	+ White dragonborn criminal warlock conscripted for theft
* Zin Ashspirit
	+ High elf knight barbarian fighting for ancestors
* Cascis Oyal
	+ Fiery tiefling paladin sailor who lost original companions
* Kalima Odespellere
	+ King's high elf bard consort
* Garrick Monte
	+ Human monk fighting to protect family, wields superheavy hammer
* Willow
	+ Anxious human ranger’s apprentice

## Notable NPCs

* Asmodeus
* King Helvarr
* Archmage Adrias

## Pitch

Disaster has come pounding at the Emerald Gates of Pendlebrot! The infernal armies have emerged from their hellish planes to wreck havoc on the mortal realm, all in service of harvesting souls for their eternal Blood War. In desperation, King and Council make haste to send a team of mighty heroes deep into the bowels of the Nine Hells, with the hopes of finding and destroying what planar gate facilitates the foul demons’ advance. With nothing but their wit and might, they carry the last hopes of an entire people in their quest. Godspeed, adventurers.

## Summary

After being summoned to Fort Shorewatch at the coast of the Western Kingdom, the party was presented to King Helvarr of Pendlebrot and his archmage Adrias. Adrias informed them on the current status of the infernal invasion of the mortal plane, and warned them that they had been brought here not to lead the forces on the front lines, as the unpredictability of the portals' opened made it nearly impossible to effectively distribute troops and generals to protected the general populace. Instead, they would formed a strike force into the Nine Hells themselves, participating in a ritual to temporarily kill their mortal bodies and transition over to Cania, the eighth layer of the Hells.

Just as the ritual was about to began, crashes and screaming from outside prompted the party to rushed to the walls, seeing a portal that had just opened just hundreds of feet down the beach. Adrias yelled at the party to held off the horde of devils that began to pour through as he prepared the ritual, as he needed timed to make the necessary preparations. The party fought a small army of fire and ice devils that emerged during the brief span of the portal's opening, then rushed backed to Adrias' magic circle to allow him to kill their bodies and send their souls to hell.

Waking up in the frozen depths of Cania next to the river Styx, the party saw the ferry of Charon moving down towards them. He told them they must sacrifice one of their most cherished memories each in order to board his ferry, but he would allow them to crossed the Styx like any other soul if they did, despite owing his allegiance to Asmodeus, and the party agreed. After crossing the Styx, they began trekking off in their best guess as to the direction of Keep Hellchain Asmodeum. The encountered a group of ice devils, and with some quick lies tricked the ice devil in charge that they were the newest batch of human slaves sent to work the mines. They travelled there, getting directions to Nessus, the ninth layer of the Hells, and made their escape after reaching the mines.

The city surrounding Keep Hellchain Asmodeum was massive, intimidating, and strangely empty, save for a towering bone devil guarding the brimstone gates. The party used a Bell of Warning to trick the bone devil into fling back to the central keep to warn the inhabitants of a false impending attack, and the party snuck inside. On the way there, Alfar Tauronoth had used conjure familiar to summon a friendly devil monkey, and the party used it to scout out a blood-encrusted sewer entrance upon reaching the keep. They crawled inside, and upon reaching a fork, sent the monkey down one way, where it encountered a massive woman stepping around a room filled with enormous hung slabs of meat. She casually crushed the monkey, and the party decided to moved upwards instead.

Emerging into a large chamber filled with coffins in a circle around the perimeter, the party discovered one trapped inhabitant still alive. He told the party that Asmodeus had been siphoning life force from the parties sent to defeat him, and begged them to kill him to end his suffering. After a noble ritual and sacrifice, the soldier died and used the magic siphon to refill the party's spell slots.

The party finally found the hallway that led to Asmodeus' central chambers, and found two enticing treasure rooms of to either side of it. Most ignored the treasure (except Alfar) and moved into the central hall, where Asmodeus sat on his throne observing a group of lesser devils working to open a large portal in the back of the hall. After a brief discussion, the party initiated combat, whereupon Charon stepped out from behind Asmodeus' throne and used the memories he took from each party member to fight them. Asmodeus tempted Alfar with the promise of power, and Alfar changed sides, swearing his allegiance to Asmodeus and attacking his party members. The party eventually defeated Charon, and after Zin Ashspirit died grappling Asmodeus and keeping him from opening the portal further, Kalima Odespellere stayed behind to broke Asmodeus' conduit rituals on the lasted turned before he could fully open the portal to the Material Plane. Kalima left with Asmodeus' power, with Alfar defeated, Charon dead, and Asmodeus disconsolate at another loss.

## Extra Details

### Memories Given to Charon

#### Alfar

Gave up the memory of the crime he committed to be conscripted to Charon

#### Zin

Gave up the memory of his ancestral teachings, thus allowing another party member to not have to give up a memory

#### Garrick

Gave up the memory of his unborn daughter to Charon

### Alfar Tauronoth

* Used a horn of silent alarm to distract a devil who was escorting the party, allowing the party to escape the encounter
* Stole some of Asmodeus's weapons, which Asmodeus used to surround Alfar, used flame strike on himself to break the weapons
* Taunted Asmodeus right at the beginning of the fight, causing Asmodeus to snap his neck
* Signed a pact with Asmodeus

### Zin Ashspirit

* Was able to keep Asmodeus grappled, which did not allow him to open the portal
* Managed to push Asmodeus into the unopened portal, dealing heavy damage to the god, which only further angered him
* Was literally stomped to death