Chapter 4: Consequences

Up until recently, Elturel was a city on a hill. It stood overlooking the River Chionthar, constantly illuminated by the Companion. A major location along the trade route through the Western Heartlands, Elturel and its environs for many miles around were a safe haven for visitors and citizens alike. Much of this safety came from the efforts of the Hellriders, whose cavalry patrolled the roads that lead into Elturgard, as well as the paths along the river.

In the city’s center, directly beneath the Companion, was a cliff-sided tor that held aloft the High Hall. This castle, whose walls surrounded the summit of the mount, was home to the High Observer, and to a great deal of the bureaucracy of Elturgard. A stream ran out of the center of the castle, spawned by the powerful springs in its cellars. It flowed north across the tor’s top and then down one of its cliffs in a series of waterfalls called the Maidens’ Leap. By canal it formed a moat for the eastern Dock District, before it joined the Chionthar. Along the stream across the tor lay the long, narrow garden, an open place of flowers, wooded paths, and arched bridges.

Elturel has now been pulled into Avernus, hovering hundreds of feet over the River Styx, slowly being pulled down by gargantuan chains. The Companion no longer provides any illumination, but instead is a 400-foot diameter black orb, with lightning occasionally arcing from it to the city. The eastern side of the city, across the old canal, has mostly broken off the rest of the city and is crumbling.

## Stragglers

### Day 1

The party arrives in Hell, the city torn in half, surrounded by the plane of Avernus. Before them, fiends chased a woman and her two children. Ascot sprang into action to save her, the rest of the party followed. They easily dispatched the creatures, and the woman revealed her name to be Harkina Hunt. She led them to a half collapsed tavern, and told them that her husband had perished in the attack. Eager to do good in that dark place, Ascot insisted on taking the civilians along. She had been intending to try for the High Hall, where the ruler of the city Thavius Kreeg was supposed to be, not understanding that Thavius was the reason the city was currently being pulled into hell. She mentioned that Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard had also been visiting.

The party decided to venture in that direction the next day, bringing her and her children along. Verrick set up a dome of magical force, and they rested.

### Day 2

Come the morning, the party set off in the direction of the bridge, but were interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming. The do gooders again set off in that direction, finding a woman on a table surrounded by hooded figures. The figures turned out to be vile devils, who filled the air about them with a toxic stench that disabled those who inhaled it. After a short battle, the Devils were dispatched, and the woman rescued and added to the growing collection of hungry mouths. The city lurched suddenly, causing buildings to collapse all about, and the party heard another scream. Ascot and Gog found a Dwarf and another child trapped in the rubble, and worked to rescue them. However, the noise brought another patrol of Devils that had to be dispatched. In the skirmish, two managed to escape, likely seeking reinforcements.

The group rested for a while, and dispensed weapons among the newcomers. Looking to the High Hall, they saw that the Western Wall of the Castle had been destroyed, leaving a large set of stairs open and exposed. Elerra scouted ahead, discovering that the bridge was guarded by six Devils and a Black Stallion with a mane of fire. Strange runes crisscrossed the bridge, consecrated to the god Torm. The party came up with an elaborate plan, complete with flying Barbarians bearing crafty Otters, distracting Assassins and singing Bards.

It went poorly.

Elerra's fairie fire started the fight, and things quickly spiraled out of control. Gog and Verrick set to making short work of the Devils, a harder task than before with the Nightmare blinking in and out of the Astral Plane. Eventually though, Sirius was able to make it to the rune, singing a song of praise to Torm.

> *"We guard your temple for righteous good. May your steel gauntlet point our trail ahead. Loyalty to your law is our call. Honoring honesty and truth for all."*
>
>

With a booming shudder, the rune of protection activated, banishing the Devils that remained, but taking out the bridge in the process. The party barely made it across before it collapsed, with Gog flying to save more than a few days. Following rumors of a bakery called "Forbidden Delights," the party set off in the direction of the High Hall. They soon found panicked civilians trying to put out a fire, and rushed to help. Sirius and Ascot charged into the burning building to save three teenagers, and were promptly trapped when the building collapsed around them. Ascot's mechanical wonder Tock was instantly smashed to pieces. Verrick encountered an exceedingly talkative and annoying child, who much to his dismay proved to be of great use when a Hellrider and a back of Demon Dogs appeared. The battle was hard fought, made all the harder by the Dogs interest in murdering civilians, and the Hellrider's annoying habit of phasing in and out of existence, and returning healed of all injury. Only Sirius' quick thinking, and a well timed Polymorph spell turning the raging Gog into a raging triceratops, saved the day. Adding to the his budding sense of victory, Sirius even saved a baby from a fire dingo with a well placed pun.

Lulu revealed that she had long been the war mount of the Archduke Zariel, and were dismissed when she fell. She was sent here, and thinks it's because Zariel still has some good in her. Injured and low on supplies, the party made a run for a temple, only to be waylaid by a strange seller of keys. Elerra showed remarkable wisdom and turned them down, but Ascot traded for a shiny key covered in runes, a 4 way key, and a coiled corkscrew key. They cut and ran to a suspicious looking butcher's shop, and holed up to lick their wounds and make a run for the High Hall the next day. Ascot rebuilds Tock.

## The High Hall

### Day 3

Elerra scouted ahead, finding a number of Infernal patrols guarding it. Ascot stayed behind with the small hoard of civilians, intent on protecting them at all costs. The party did not succeed at stealth, but what they lacked for in guile Elerra made up for in murderous intent, putting arrows through the eyes of two Devils who had the misfortune to get between her and her objective. They entered the massive hallways, with Gog leading the way and cutting down a pair of Hellhounds. They found a host of Fiendish Crabs, and while Sirius thunderous voice shattered their shells, the booming sounds attracted more. With Emmy as support in his backpack, Gog and Verrick mopped up the reinforcements, Esmerelda providing eldritch artillery. They cut through the crabs and the zombified guards, who muttered thanks to Torm as they were dispatched.

They found an old druid named Celtern Alderan, who offered to lead them to the crypts, where Esmerelda had said that the survivors were hiding. Elerra peeks through a curtain, and ate three crossbow bolts to the chest for her efforts. Yet another battle erupted, a giant creepy baby leading two hell hounds. Defeating the last of the fiends, they discover a desecrated altar to Torm, as well as a cursed set of stairs. Ascot found a button on the alter, and wanted more than anything to push it, but was dragged bodily away by the others. A quick search revealed a second, hidden staircase, that had the added benefit of not being cursed. The party took it, and found their way into the crypts.

Beneath the High Hall, they found several hundred scared civilians hiding in the crypts. They met Ulder Ravenguard, Captain of the Ravenguard Peacekeepers, who had been rumored to be within the city. Ulder reported a number of relevant facts to the party.

* The High Knights of Elturel became Hellknights when the Companion was transformed
* The city is sinking into the River Styx
* Some unknown Devil is attempting to take charge of the city
* Someone in the east of the city is organizing supplies from the market
* The Helm of Torm's Sight lies within the Graveyard to the West, he sent eight of his men there a week ago, but none have returned.
* The password to get past the barricades is "Flaming Fist."

They also met Pherria Jynks, a world weary priestess of Torm who had been tending to the scared survivors. Pherria as well informed them of a number of survivors, scattered about the High Hall.

* Ambassador Lor Ryken of Erreabor was somewhere on the second floor, along with a vast stash of supplies.
* The Librarian Trevick Thantorme is hold up in one of the library towers, floating high above the city.

### Day 4

The party rested within the catacombs, with Gog making friends and sharing chocolate with the guards manning the barricades. They'd been fighting off undead from deeper within the crypts, and so the next morning the party volunteered to clear some of them out. They first encountered more of the Infernal crabs, as well as the turned Cultists, and Sirius ended up needing to turn Ascot into a charging rhinoceros in order to save the day. The ploy worked, and they were able to rescue three more civilians from more of the floating foes. After a few hours wandering about, they eventually found a room filled with tombs. Each one proved to be a risky endeavor, containing curse wielding mummies as well as a fair number of magical items, gems, and reliquary jars. In the fight, Gog was afflicted by one of the Mummy's withering curses, and so the party withdrew to lick their wounds. Luckily for the barbarian, Phyrria Jynx was able to break the curse and restore him to his former glory.

Both Verrick and Gog independently approaches Ascot as they rested, seeking the artificer out so that he could tend to the skulls they had liberated from the shoulders of their foes that day.

### Day 5

After resting for another night, the party decided to split, with half of them going to rescue the trapped Librarian and half heading to clear out the last of the mummies from the catacombs. Esmerelda, Sirius, and Ascot headed back into the crypts, popping open the rest of the coffins and springing the mummies within. It was a hard fought battle, with Ascot being struck down, but Sirius' magic got him back on his feet and allowed them to come out on top. They returned to the survivors victorious, laden with treasure and magical items.

Gog, Lulu, Verrick, and Elerra tried their luck on the cursed stairs, but Elerra's best ballerina act proved insufficient to defeat the architecture. Instead, they drew upon their shared magic to fly, rising over the stairs and to the wobbling tower and beginning the search. Their efforts were made significantly more complicated by how unstable the tower was, as its altitude kept rising and falling to painful smack into them. They managed to recover Trevick Thantorme, the poor man half crazed and stuffed into a closet with as much bedding as he could find, and started to head out. Their progress was interrupted when Elerra decided to steal the silver amulet that was keeping the tower aloft, sending the thing crashing to earth to smash into the High Hall with them all still inside. It was only Lulu's trumpeting blast that allowed them all to escape, fleeing through a hole she broke in the ceiling.

Back in the crypts, the sudden crashing tower caused massive cave ins, killing many of the civilians taking shelter there. Sirius managed to save a number of them with his magic, and Ascot rescued a baby from the rubble. The team sent to retrieve Trevick reunited with the companions they had almost just buried, and the reunited bunch took a moment to lick their wounds and take stock of their new magical items. The gems were revealed to be enchanted to command the Elemental powers, which proved extremely useful when it was discovered that the main staircase had been buried in rubble. An Earth Elemental was summoned, and set to work clearing out the debris. Ascot handed the remaining guards some silver to apply to their weapons, and the party went upstairs.

On the second floor, they found Lor Ryken, along with a host of supplies. Gog began loading up his bags of holding, The ambassador had provided more information about the cultists he had seen, as well as a trio of Half-Elves about whom Verrick appeared extremely interested. He revealed that they had been the ones who had originally led to him being locked in the cell where Ascot had first found him, and had stolen his ancestral blade and armor. They rallied the survivors, and started a chain gang to get all the supplies down into the crypts. Deciding what to do next, they made the decision to at last track down the Helm of Torm's Sight. Verrick's decision might have been slightly colored by the fact that Lor had reported that the Half-Elven Trio might have last been seen there.