Going Down Into Avernus

**Going Down Into Avernus: A Descent Into Avernus One Shot** was an adventure DMed by Shane. The party travelled to Avernus to retrieve the Hand of Vecna from the dragonborn champion of Tiamat, Arkhan the Cruel.

## Synopsis

### Part 1

At a briefing in the Adventurers' League headquarters, Ortis Gottler and Limbo were explaining their plan to banish Vecna. They planned to create a sort of interdimensional zipline between the material plane and Limbo, with the Hand and Eye of Vecna acting as an anchor in the plane of chaos. Angel Salvatore, Luric Miraran, and Sheena Spearbreaker volunteered to go to Avernus and take the Hand from Arkhan the Cruel, a dragonborn paladin of Tiamat. Gottler warned the party that the Hand was extremely powerful, and so it would be inadvisable to just attempt to kill Arkhan and take it. He suggested they look for allies among the many competing factions of Avernus, starting at the relative safe haven of the Wandering Emporium. After a lengthy discussion about JinxedIn, Gottler told them to go to a camp set up by refugees from Blackhaven, where Aleat was getting a tuning fork he could use to *plane shift* them all to Avernus. The party members each received 7,000 gold pieces to assist them in Hell, and then they travelled to the refugee camp.

At the refugee camp, the party met Aleat and Gaskwan, who had taken a tuning fork from his father. Aleat used the greasy tuning fork to transport himself and the party to nearby the Wandering Emporium. He then hid in a cave.

In the Emporium, the party went straight to Hoboblin's Magic Wares to get some new gear. Sheena then briefly refused to sell her soul to the orthon Mumjescas while Angel got a sick haircut. The trio then went to buy an infernal war machine from Jimjim. While they did not have enough money left to buy a machine, they did manage to rent one for the day. They also succeeded in getting a clause removed from the rental contract which stipulated their souls would be forfeit if they did not return the car in time.

Finally, they spoke with Mahadi, the master of the Wandering Emporium. They told him they were seeking to steal something from Arkhan, but to his chagrin didn't tell him what it was. He suggested several potential allies:

* Zariel's forces, represented in the area by Axanar's garrison.
* Bel, who was "always seeking to prove himself".
* The archmage Mordenkainen
* The warlord Feonor, who Mahadi referred to as "the one that got away".

Luric was interested by Mahadi's past with Feonor, and suggested that if they shared an experience like taking down Arkhan they may be able to reconnect. This convinced Mahadi, and he agreed to join their assault on Arkhan if they got Feonor involved.

The party travelled first to Axanar's garrison. They failed to persuade Axanar to assist them, and let slip that Arkhan had the Hand of Vecna- something which did not appear to be public knowledge. Angel managed to shoot down a spined devil which they presumed was bringing a message to Zariel.

Next, the trio decided to seek out Mordenkainen. They quickly found his tower was not where they had been told it would be, but three yugoloths- Jingo, Boda, and Lestrok- were there waiting for him. They explained that Mordenkainen usually had lucrative contracts up for grabs when he was in Avernus, but they agreed to work for the party (for a fee) in the meantime. Convinced their group now looked suitably intimidating, they went to enlist the aid of Feonor.

Feonor did not believe they were suitably intimidating, and was not willing to risk a fight with the followers of Tiamat with no idea what the precise reward would be. The party did however work out that Feonor would be interested in taking Axanar's fort for herself, and so they made a deal: if the party could secure Axanar's fort, Feonor would help them with Arkhan.

The party quickly assessed that they would have difficulty taking an entire fort with just three yugoloths, so they returned to Mahadi. Telling Mahadi of their deal with Feonor, they convinced him that he would be able to impress her if he helped take the fort. Mahadi committed Uzgor and a large cruiser of bearded devils to assist the party.

The party quickly formulated a plan of attack. Uzgor's cruiser rammed the fort's front gates, while the party and the yugoloths travelled to the side of the fort in their smaller buggy. They quickly scaled the wall as Uzgor's devils began to pour in through the gate, and the battle for the garrison began.

### Part 2

The two forces clashed, and after both Uzgor and Axanar were killed, the fort's remaining defenders surrendered to the party. The party convinced those who surrendered- two bearded devils named Resn't and Tiago and a spined devil- to commit their loyalty to JinxedIn. Finding a new infernal war machine in Axanar's fort, they returrned the one they had rented to Jimjim, and informed both Mahadi and Feonor of their success. The yugoloths, the JinxedIn devils, Mahadi's forces, and Feonor's warband then all gathered in Feonor's new fort, as the party came up with their plan.

The party decided to intercept Arkhan as he was travelling through a canyon between the monument to Tiamat and his tower. Mahadi's enormous cruiser blocked off the end of the gorge just as Arkhan and his crew entered it, while Feonor and Mahadi came up behind Arkhan on separate war machines. The party, on their new war machine, drove in front of Arkhan, having attached Luric's *mirror of life trapping* to their vehicle's side. While Arkhan and his bodyguard Torogar Steelfist were not trapped in the mirror, Arkhan's white abishai driver was, and his vehicle hurtled into the side of Mahadi's cruiser.

Sheena then disembarked to fight Torogar, as Luric caught Arkhan in their war machine's claw. Both Luric and Angel attempted to cut Arkhan's hand off, but neither succeeded, and Arkhan broke out of the claw.

### Part 3

Lestrok quickly caught Arkhan in the claw again, and Luric successfully lopped off the Hand of Vecna. In the distance, everyone heard five might roars, and saw a mountain erupt as Tiamat exploded out of it. The combined forces of JinxedIn reboarded their war machine, and attempted to drive away. They were pursued by a vengeful Torogar, an enraged Tiamat, and, seeing the treasure which had been secured, Feonor and Mahadi.

Torogar was scooped up from his war machine, and tossed at Feonor's. It did no damage to the machine, and he was impaled on the spikes at its front. Boda teleported onto Mahadi's machine, but Mahadi quickly banished him to Gehenna. Luric took the helm of their machine from Jingo, who used a *gust of wind* spell to blow Feonor and Mahadi off their respective machines. With their leaders dead, the remaining fiends decided to abandon the battle. They managed to stay ahead of Tiamat long enough to return to Aleat in the cave. Aleat then brought them all back to the material plane.

Back at the refugee camp, Resn't and Tiago pledged themselves to JinxedIn, while the yugoloths asked to be sent back to the lower planes. The following day Aleat sent them back, and the party made their way back to the Adventurers' League headquarters. They found the headquarters under siege- surrounded by Saviour and the followers of Omnis, a group of homeless xvarts and Spitnuck loyalists, a githyanki warship, and Helke and the Cult of Baphomet.

## Player Characters

* Angel Salvatore
* Luric Miraran
* Sheena Spearbreaker

## NPCs

* Ortis Gottler
* Limbo
* Cressida
* Aleat
* Gaskwan
* Hoboblin
* Mumjescas
* Jimjim
* Mahadi
* Uzgor
* Dave
* Ewan
* Axanar
* Jingo
* Boda
* Lestrok
* Feonor
* Resn't
* Tiago
* Arkhan the Cruel
* Torogar Steelfist
* Tiamat (mentioned only)
* Zariel (mentioned only)
* Bel (mentioned only)
* Mordenkainen (mentioned only)
* Asmodeus (mentioned only)
* Cher (mentioned only)

## Locations

* Anthologos
	+ Adventurers' League headquarters
	+ Blackhaven refugee camp
	+ Elsewhere (mentioned only)
* Avernus
	+ The Wandering Emporium
	+ Axanar's garrison
	+ Tower of Urm
	+ Asmodeus' Thumbs