#Descent to Avernus

[endlessmidnightcreates]

I just realized I never posted this here. Here's an old pic of Opal's Canaia outfit cus I love thinking about fit changes and I was in my cowboy carter era so I had to give her some fur-lined leather chaps. I have a joke pic of her in ass-less chaps floating somewhere on my computer but that's a story for another time. Canaia is like the coldest layer of hell, so cold that even the fire in her heart (her nindo, her will of fire) couldn't keep her warm. So of course as her patron I had to make sure she was well-equipped. So she has a nice sweater, some chainmail and a cloak :3 I'm a slow artist, and it's hilarious cus the moment i finished it, we were literally done with that part of the module. I still had fun playing dressup tho.

[grumblinggamer]

Descent to Avernus Update! Realizing my party will soon reach Fort Knucklebone, I looked for a proper Demon Grinder vehicle to give to the party, and soon found a proper printing file. My usual source kindly printed it, and I got to painting.

Black coat, red airbrush, oil wash, gold for the metal.

Final product! Had fun painting the demon skull.

Aaaand here‘s my party already riding it:

It was a nice gift for the players in the last session before christmas, and I am looking forward to the shenanigans they come up with it.

I deliberately downgraded the weaponry to just a flame thrower; I know how much my players like upgrading their vehicles, and I am sure to give them opportunities for such upgrades!

[reave-n-puff]

Monk: I wanna buy the map to Avernus

Vendor: how much would you pay for it

Monk: 20 g max

Vendor: 20 g I'd take for the frog you just killed

Monk: I wanna memorize the map, can I?

DM: ok, roll wisdom, DC 18

Monk: nat20

Monk:

Monk: ok, I'll take the frog

[asexualdindjarin]

kinda going insane reading descent to avernus like "wait the sun is evil?" "ALWAYS HAS BEEN"

[kshaar]

sorry it has led to WHAT

[dmmchn]

Cecil Steelhammer.

I'm playing Descent into Avernus with my friends, and I made a tiefling paladin (oath of crown) character for that. Was heavily inspired by BG3's Zevlor, ngl.

Cecil is a Hell Rider, he descended with the city, then managed to escape it (because I joined the campaign mid-way and that's how our DM joined him with the party) to find the way to save it somewhere else.

I tired to design the most basic character I could, so Cecil would stand in line with the NPCs the party met along the way. His surname, his basic horns, his typical red skin - all serve that purpose. However I did my own take on the Hell Rider Uniform - I wanted it to look more knightly with a coat that draws the guard out from the crowd, so I added embroidery with Elturel's suns.

[sunsetagain]

Baldur's Gate 3: My heart's An Empty Vase Looking For Roses

Ship: Karlach + non-ascendant Astarion

based on Descent into Avernus

free talk at the end

中文版

I wrote then canceled two comics after wrapping up Byzantine Generals. For a while I thought I lost my comic making ability forever, until BG3 stormed into my life.

Cover lyrics were written by Tender Henk from Singing Lute inn, on a sheet of paper on the desk in the room where Karlach's romance scene takes place. It suits her so well yet she calls him the worst guy she ever met LOL can't blame her bc what in the hells is Jableeda?

NGL I played Karlach in my first BG3 playthrough because her engine reminded me of the thirium pump of a DBH android. Romancing Astarion with her felt like Romancing Kamski with an android to me in the first place LMAO some pretty ancient headcanon like little boy Elijah being bullied in school built a buff RT600 Chloe to be his bodyguard blablabla

Then she and Astarion became my OTP and I played both of them to romance each other, tried every possibility i could think of.

So this comic is just a small talk about a big plan between Karlach and spawn Astarion after the ending of the game. Based on Descent into Avernus. I'm no DnD player so apologize in advance in case of any mistakes. OOC belongs to me.

[annadeef]

bloody streets, some secrets and a cold coin

Opal belongs to @endlessmidnightparade , Anne belongs to @artbytesslyn and Ferus to @siobhanchiffon

[tshortik]

A devil without a name and a body of gold, dubbed "Coin" by the one he chose as his champion.

[vivtanner]

The brightest sun 🌞

These horse boys are my friend's elf character Ignatz (Divine Soul Sorcerer) & my character Bataar (Path of Wild Magic Berserker).

[chiefpurpleimp]

DONE ... mostly. Just the border to do.

This piece has consumed whatever little free time I have. I'm sorry for the spam 🤣. I'm just so very slow at drawing 😅.

I have other pieces planned but they will have to wait until I've finished some work and other things.

Hellriders in Avernus against Zariels armies.

[the-magpie-collective]

Let's talk about how Ulder Ravengard was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year when he finally runs into Wyll, for the first time in seven years, and his son is now definitely maybe sort of a devil?

Look, D&D cannon is absolutely wild and inconsistent but I need ya'll to know approximately how many horrible things befell Ulder Ravengard in the few months right before the events of Baldur's Gate 3.

Ulder Ravengard goes to Elturel. This is fairly normal. He often had to travel as a Duke for diplomatic reasons to nearby cities. Sure, the Vanthampurs' had their fingers pulling the strings this time to ensure he went, but that is also, unfortunately, normal. And it's not like anyone else can go in his place. Who would he send? Portyr whose only use is as a windsock? Stelmane who is suffering from the long term effects of a "stroke"? Vanthampur?

(Portyr, Stelmane, and Vanthampur being the other four dukes at the time)

So he goes and it's supposed to just be another diplomatic trip to a neighboring city. Except exactly nothing goes to plan. The Vanthampurs have made an alliance with devils and a deal with the leaders of Elturel to orchestrate the fall of the entire city into Avernus. Ulder Ravengard is there with several of the Flaming Fist when the entire city is plunged into hell. And no, Avernus is not some sort of cushy vacation spot. There's a reason why Karlach would rather die than go back. There's a reason why it is called hell.

It's not hard to imagine he watches many of the Flaming Fist get slaughtered. People he's worked with for years, maybe even decades. People he called friends. Not hard to think that he watches innocents suffer as they are preyed upon by devils and demons, children slaughtered in the streets all while he is helpless to stop it from happening. It's not out of the question to think this is possibly one of the worst times in his life. Oh, Ulder Ravengard has been through numerous disasters before. He's watched countless friends die. But when has he ever been so helpless as the time he was caught in an entire city of relative innocents as it is dragged down to the hells?

It gets worse.

You see, Ulder Ravengard is put into a catatonic state by the Demon Lord Baphomet using the the Helm of Torm's sight. The Helm of Torm's sight is a holy item that allows the user to commune with Torm (god of Duty, Loyalty, etc). In a last ditch effort to save the city of Elturel, Ulder Ravengard attempted to get to the Helm in the hopes that it could be used to fight back. Instead he gets to watch as his hope is perverted and used against him. He gets to see himself fall helpless and under control of the demon while his men are slaughtered in the attack.

We don't know how Ulder Ravengard escapes this situation (*cough* play Descent into Avernus *cough*) but somehow he does. After weeks of fighting in the hells (maybe even months?) and narrowly escaping with his life and mind intact Ulder Ravengard is hurrying back to Baldur's Gate as quickly as he can. He knows the city is in danger, whether the Vanthampurs' succeeded at seizing power or not. And on the way home he gets ambushed by fucking goblins and drow working together. He gets to see as some of the few survivors who made it through their time in Avernus with him, get killed. He gets to see his close friend and advisor Counselor Florrick get trapped in a burning building.

Then he's kept imprisoned, and likely harassed, in the dungeons of Moonrise towers. All he hears is 'the Absolute' this and 'the Absolute' that. Then what does he know but apparently the mastermind behind this whole thing is fucking Gortash, the slimy counselor he has spent the past while doing his best to ignore because even if he didn't like him and thought most of his ideas were bad he couldn't actually do anything to get rid of him. And then Orin—a fucking Bhaalspawn—uses him for a chair while Ketheric Thorm goes on a whiny oh-woe-is-me rant and Gortash sticks a tadpole in his eye all while mocking him.

He then gets to spend the next while under control of the Absolute. We don't know how unpleasant this is, but we do know that when the Absolute controls someone directly their brain starts bleeding so severely they collapse and die after less than a minute :) and when he's finally freed from the Absolute he has chronic migraines so yeah not fucking pleasant :)))))

And then his son rescues him. Yay. His son who he strove to teach right from wrong all those years. His son to whom he imparted the four pillars: strategy, courage, justice, insight. His son, who, despite everything he has ever taught him chose to throw all of his promise away to a devil. And he doesn't know why and maybe he hopes that there was a good reason behind it all, but he does know that he lost any chance he had to ever be able to fully trust his son again because he doesn't know the terms of the pact and he can't know the full terms of the pact but he does know that his son is now under the control of a devil.

And please just take a moment to think about how terrifying that would be. This isn't something that an 'I'm sorry' can fix. Wyll says it himself: it would be easier to drink the Chionthar down, drop by drop, than to break a devil's pact. The chances of Wyll ever being freed from his pact are slim to none and the damage he could do in the mean time is immeasurable. Ulder Ravengard has the weight of an entire city's well being on his shoulders. I am not saying he made the right choice, but there is a reason why Wyll says it was the only choice he could make. He told Wyll to go. Maybe out of shame, maybe out of fear, maybe out of the hope that his son would do less damage far away than if he were to stay. We don't know why. Maybe he regretted it, maybe he never looked back.

But he's been having one of the worst fucking years of his life and most of it is due either directly to devils or to people conspiring with devils. His mind has been scraped raw by the Absolute. He's injured and if you broke Wyll's pact he was just attacked by another devil and exploding spiders. If you didn't break Wyll's pact, he just saw evidence that Wyll is still in leagues with a devil, after all Mizora states very clearly that she always fulfills her promises as she saves him.

Oh and if you didn't kill Karlach, Wyll is a devil now (*techinically he is still human, just with some devilish features and will be regonized as infernal in origin by the spell Detect Good and Evil, but Ulder Ravengard doesn't have the insight to game mechanics that we have and may or may not be aware that Wyll turning into a devil is a lot less probable than him just being made to look like one.)

So maybe, it's just a little understandable that instead of greeting Wyll with joy or gratitude at being saved the first thing he thinks, the only thing he can think of is: what fresh hell is he in for now?

(And maybe ya'll can be a little more understanding of Wyll choosing to forgive his father too. I don't think it's out of character for Wyll. I don't think he's ignoring everything wrong with what his father did. I don't think Wyll is a bad person for choosing to forgive his father or that anger would have been the right choice for him. It's far, far more complicated than that.)

[owlbearwildshape]

thinking about Tav giving Rolan a load of scrolls they collected along the way but didn't end up using and this leading to Rolan acquiring Shovel as a summoned familiar. she's experienced!

(he's initially reluctant to keep her around after accidentally summoning her but then she mentions her old master's abuse he's like fucks sake fine stay here but don't break anything)

calm cool wizard and then there's a feral quasit hanging off his arm saying weird shit like "Master Rolan said Shovel can bite the fingers off people that touch and prod and feel all the books without giving us money" and his tortured customer service voice like "I can assure you I did not. Here's your change, please come back again"

He doesn't have her summoned all the time but if he goes too long without seeing her she gets mad at him so he makes sure to have her drop in regularly. Lia thinks she's funny and refers to her as Rolan's "esteemed colleague." Shovel enjoys that Cal feeds her extra when Rolan isn't looking (is he spoiling her or is he a little bit concerned when she mentions eating babies? you decide)

[pumkshrark]

потомки:восстание красного(2024) мем спойлер

[dmmchn]

Cecil Steelhammer, on duty.

Cecil, being a Hellrider, used to patrol streets of Elturel on horseback together with a deputy partner. I imagine he was something like a second lieutenant, higher than a private, but not that higher.

Cecil became a Hellrider at the age of 18, and he was 29 in 1492 DR, when Elturel fell.

P.S. Cecil became a fan-favourite here! Many thanks to everyone reblogging! Why do you all like him so much though? :’D

[gale-dekarios]

i just realised that if you havent played descent into avernus, you have no context as to WHY elturel was taken to avernus, or WHY the tieflings were thrown out from the city to be travelling to baldurs gate in the first place, OR that zariel has a tragic backstory of her own. thats wild to me. anyway, play descent into avernus its one of the like, three good premade campaigns.