#Reya Mantlemorn | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

githvyrik · 2 years

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Excited about the Zariel headcanons. I’m a dm who isn’t running avernus but Zariel became plot relevant to one of my pc’s personal arcs, so I wanted to consult someone with a lot more knowledge and opinions about her than me. Thank you again!

Hiiiiiiiiiiii I'm so sorry it took me so long to get around to this but here it goes. Also tumblr ate your original ask when I tried to post this the first time #cringe. Fair warning I do not refer to the Nine Hells in a consistent way through this post. (also I know like 2 of my players are on here but they're not super active but if you happen to read this then KEEP SCROLLING lol) This is like 7.5 pages of me analyzing a villain from dnd admittedly a bit too seriously and I think that’s really cool and epic of me

First off I want to clarify some stuff about the lore I'm using- I'm going off of what was established in MToF and expanded upon in DiA, BUT I've also taken a lot of inspiration from the Alexandrian remix of DiA (in general I'm following neither in their entirety I'm putting my own spin on them because I have issues with both the official adventure and the remix but we didn't come here to talk about that) plus my thoughts will probably evolve as I run DiA. Sorry this is kind of a ramble and DEFINITELY way too much info and also I don’t fully remember what I took from where and what I made up. The first part of this post is like an overview of her history (you can change whatever you'd like, of course, this is just for my setting), then at the end I put together some more disorganized thoughts.

Sooooo, let's just start with the basics that you probably know- Zariel is a fallen angel who is currently the archduke of Avernus, the first layer of the 9 hells.

Zariel was actually a solar, which are the most powerful of the angels as far as d&d is concerned. As this tiktok puts it, "When god goes on vacation, he leaves [them] in charge and nothing changes" (which is in fact a line I'm stealing to have an npc explain to the party how fucked they are if they try to fight her on their own directly tbh). Zariel was a solar of Lathander (also called the Morninglord), who is a god of the sun (dawn specifically but I'm expanding his role to include the sun in general), rebirth, renewal, creativity, vitality, etc etc etc basically all the goody-two-shoes shit that you'd expect a god of the sun to have in his portfolio. HAAHAHA she's a SOLAR of a SUN GOD. According to Reya Mantlemorn, an npc in DiA, her name means "companion of light" (which is a nod to the Companion, the device that dragged Elturel into Hell, wow they really should've been more suspicious about the convenient ball of light that randomly appeared in the sky and wouldn't leave which the leaders of the city made all the citizens swear allegiance to). First and foremost, she is a soldier, she was created that way and it is her nature (which sounds kind of fucked up when I put it that way but I'll try to expand on this more later). She was basically a cosmic being forever tasked to fight for what is Good and Righteous.

Currently, she's an archdevil, specifically Archduke of Avernus. Archdevils do, in fact, include more than just the archdukes, and they're the most powerful in terms of infernal beings- their power is almost on par with deities. While most devils result from mortals who sold their souls, archdevils sometimes have different origins. Archdukes are just the ones who proved themselves to be the Baddest Bitches and most capable of being in charge, typically through displaying their cunning or power. Among the archdevils, and especially the ones who actually rule layers of hell, Zariel is voted Best at Kicking Your Ass Physically. The majority of other devils use deception, trickery, and cunning to get their way, and while they are definitely strong if it comes to a fight, they prefer indirect methods. Zariel typically skips all that bullshit. She can be cunning and manipulative, but her real skills lie in her martial prowess.

So, the thing about Avernus is that while it's the first layer of the hells, it's not exactly Baby Mode. I'm personally of the opinion that considering the hells to be Worse just based on what number you're on removes a lot of nuance. Avernus is the first because it's the one you go into first- there's no getting to any other layer of the 9 Hells without going through Avernus first. As a consequence of this, Avernus is the front lines of the Blood War, an ancient cosmic battle between the evil sides of Law and Chaos- Devils representing lawful evil and demons representing chaotic evil. They've basically been at a stalemate for Literal Eternity (except also not eternity because technically it did have a starting point somewhere- idk time is weird in d&d but on like a Cosmic Scale it makes sense sort of whatever it's handwaved because mortal minds aren't rly meant to make sense of it). Demons come into the Hells by way of Avernus, but almost none of them can make it any further than that; and Devils have held them there but haven't made any real progress into taking the fight to them in the Abyss. Yugoloths, essentially beings of neutral evil, sometimes hang out to fight with whoever the Hell (pun intended) they want.

Zariel's current job is to be The One In Charge of the devils' side in the Blood War- in this task, she only answers to Asmodeus and in a lot of cases she's kind of free to throw his advice aside if she sees fit. Personally, I think Asmodeus is smart enough to know that this is a fight that can never be won, but he recognizes the importance of keeping it where it is. Even though the devils can't win, the demons can't either. Not, like, in the "it'll be bad if either side wins" way, I mean it literally cannot be done.

Now, let's cover how she got from one point to the other (again, I'll say that I'm taking this both from DiA and the alexandrian remix of the setting while adding some of my own stuff):

Zariel fought in the legions of the Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia before the universe really Was Anything and the planes fully became what they are in settings that use the Great Wheel Cosmology. She was a soldier under the command of a celestial marshal named Ashmedai, who would later become Asmodeus (there are like 6 bazillion different origin stories for Asmodeus, I'm going with the one where he's also a fallen angel because Themes or whatever). Avernus was previously a paradise and eeeeeeverybody wanted it to add to their territory. This is a really complex chain of events that mortal minds can't really comprehend (wow this is becoming a running theme) and tbh it's not like. That Important. But it does make it so Zariel has a connection to Avernus from the beginning. What is important is that Ashmedai pulled a fast one and took Avernus for himself and ditched Heaven to align with the (at the time) Eight Hells. A bunch of angels followed him, but Zariel didn't. Stuff happened and Asmodeus became the leader of the Nine Hells, overthrowing whatever leader there was before him (Zargon in my mind but it doesn't really matter, there are also 6 billion versions of lore for this and it doesn’t come up in the campaign really, it’s just a cool tidbit you can throw in if you want). Zariel gave him the middle finger and refused to follow him.

(Important to note that Avernus actually remained a paradise for a long time, and Asmodeus kind of used it as a way to tempt mortals, showing that Hell was really no different from Heaven. This changed when the Blood War started, and now it basically sucks to be there because it's a war-torn wasteland, but traces of this paradise still remain in pockets of the plane.)

Ashmedai and his followers' betrayal made Zariel really bitter, so she was basically given a court-ordered chill-out time. During this time, she met a hollyphant named Lulu, who became her best friend and war mount. Eventually, she found some kind of peace, but it was really only temporary.

Time passed and eventually the forces of Heaven dragged Asmodeus out of the Nine Hells to stand trial for a) his betrayal, b) lying to mortals and beguiling them to evil for nefarious purposes, and c) generally being an asshole. They called in Primus, who's like the Head Bitch in Charge of Law, and it was basically an eternity of angels testifying that Asmodeus was an asshole. Primus eventually got bored and decided he was done with hearing testimonies, but Zariel hadn't gotten a chance to testify to what she personally witnessed and she got pissed, which started a brawl and disrupted the proceedings for a hot minute. As her former commanding officer, Asmodeus had possibly had his eye on her since the beginning, especially since she was one of the few to defy him during his initial betrayal, but this is probably what really drew his attention to her for the first time. After things settled down, Asmodeus' defense was basically that he hadn't violated any principals of the Law, and he never lied to anyone, not even once. He also said he was doing the universe a favor by using the souls he earned to keep balance between the evil sides of Law and Chaos. Primus was like "I'm a little lost but fair enough" and let him off with a warning, but he does basically have to keep a baby monitor on him for the rest of time (a ruby rod that bound him and all other devils to uphold any bargains they made with mortals).

This is important: Asmodeus never lies. At worst, he simply doesn't make plain the whole truth because he expects you to read the fine print and he and the universe at large consider it your fault if you don’t. He is just extremely good at getting to the heart of what people want and he knows how to manipulate that desire so he gets what he wants. Of course, all archdevils in general have an incomprehensible amount of skill with this, but Asmodeus like. Fuckin INVENTED that shit, he was THE first #malemanipulator.

Another eternity passed during which Zariel kept at her Divine Warrior thing, until at one point, the demon lord Yeenoghu decided to start fucking around on the material plane, having his demonic army just murder a bunch of people. (In my version of the Lore, gnolls aren't actual animals, they're a form of demon.) He'd probably done it before, but this time Zariel and a force of planetars were sent to stop him. She caught him at a village called Idyllglen, where her force beat him back into the Abyss, but they had help- from some devils, actually. A small force led by Glasya, Asmodeus' daughter, showed up, and they allied briefly to massacre Yeenoghu's army. After the immediate issue was over, things almost came to a fight between them, but Zariel and Glasya had a private conversation; no one really knows what was said between them, but they agreed to call it quits and go their separate ways.

Before, Zariel's duties as a soldier of Good had been abstract to her, but now she was convinced that something needed to be done about the Blood War. It had led to incalculable amounts of mortal suffering, and to her, that was unforgivable. She was frustrated that the tides of the war never changed and she was convinced that the Heavens could do something about it. Her superiors didn't agree with her; they told her they would let Evil annihilate itself. But she felt that Heaven was complicit by turning a blind eye to the suffering it caused mortals. Evil was not annihilating itself, it was simply continuing. She felt it was Heaven's duty to fight it, and if the other celestials wouldn't help her, it would be her duty alone.

That’s the thing about Zariel. If she believes her cause is righteous, there is damn near nothing that can convince her otherwise. This can be a good or a bad thing, there’s a lot of nuance to it. She will not be intimidated into putting it aside, it is very difficult to persuade her that her path is anything but just. It turns out, it doesn’t matter to her what angle this is approached from. She sees fighting the Blood War as her duty, and it started when she was an angel, it didn’t happen out of nowhere when she became a devil.

So, following her battle at Idyllglen, the villagers there grew to see her as their angelic champion and their guardian angel. A few centuries passed on the material plane and Idyllglen came under attack again, this time by the forces of Bel, the (at the time) Lord of Avernus. The villagers prayed to Zariel to save them, particularly a young woman named Yael, who had organized a militia of sorts. Zariel and Lulu did arrive to help, and over the next few months, the militia grew to attract the attention of surrounding settlements as they fell under threat (though they were also drawn to fight alongside Zariel because it’s hard to just ignore it when an extremely powerful warrior from the upper planes comes to ask you for backup). Eventually, Bel’s forces were beaten back and Zariel said goodbye to Yael and returned to Mount Celestia, though not for long.

This encounter with another force in the Blood War only made her more eager to truly get involved. She had seen the passion mortals had despite how fleeting their lives were, had seen their determination, and it made her even more frustrated at how apathetic Heaven was in comparison. She and Lulu hatched their plan- since the celestial forces didn’t seem to care, they would lead a mortal army into the midst of the Blood War and create a third front. They didn’t have to win, just upset the balance of the war enough to spur Heaven into action.

Zariel returned to Idyllglen soon (though, soon for her is like 20 years for mortals tbh) and told Yael of her idea. Yael was all for it, and suggested she knew ways of bolstering their forces. They grew their army over the next few years as Zariel taught her new mortal followers how to fight fiends. Their cause attracted mortals who wanted to make a difference, to deliver true decisive blows to evil; many in the area even had personal experience with the suffering the Blood War caused the material plane. It can definitely be argued that Zariel was using them to further her agenda, I can’t disagree with that, but I think her true motivation was just the desire to see something done about it and she felt this was her best option- at this point in time, what she wanted was to see her fellow celestials caring about the mortals they were meant to protect.

Yeenoghu had this massive grudge against Zariel, and when he managed to hear of her plans, he once again attacked the material plane, essentially baiting her into going through with it. They met in combat once again at Idyllglen, at which point Zariel threw him back into the Abyss- though that wasn’t necessarily a bother to him. His job had been done. She decided it was time to mount a full assault into the front lines of the Blood War, and so, soon after, she led her army into Avernus.

They fought for months, battling the endless onslaughts of demons and devils alike. They certainly did make a dent in the tide of the war, but it wasn’t enough. One of Zariel’s soldiers, a vampire named Jander Sunstar, eventually had enough. He’d watched his friends and subordinates die for an unwinnable war and he had barely seen any real progress. He decided they should cut their losses and leave. So, they did, deserting the army and leaving only a few forces behind. This was where they truly started to lose.

Zariel’s remaining forces were quickly whittled down, but it took until they were in the single digits for her to give it up. She infused her sword with a spark of her goodness and had Yael and Lulu flee the battle, telling them to escape back to the material plane however they could and hide her sword so the fiends wouldn’t claim it.

Asmodeus had been contacting Zariel ever since she arrived in Avernus, beguiling her to seek him out, promising her power. She decided to face him herself, and she fought her way through each layer of hell until she got to Nessus, whereupon Asmodeus’ forces finally proved too much for her. The Lords of the Nine all gathered to see her defeat, intrigued by who this invader was. Asmodeus gave the still-living but incredibly injured Zariel to Bel, who was given freedom to torture her in retaliation for all the havoc she caused him. His motivation for this was seeing that Zariel still had it in her to defy him, and he wanted to see if she could be broken.

Eventually, she did break. An eternity later, Asmodeus ordered Bel to bring her before him, and he gave an extensive villain monologue. The way Asmodeus tempted her isn't something that I think can be boiled down very easily. After all, we're talking about two cosmic beings who are meant to be beyond total human comprehension. They conversed throughout multiple planes of existence, and this conversation probably took what the human mind would experience as eons. In the end, it really comes down to the fact that he offered her the ability to continue her fight, but for him this time, and she took it.

Zariel was taken to become a pit fiend- these are basically the top of Hell’s hierarchy, second only to the archdevils and actual lords of the hells. Pit fiends are made from worthy greater devils, who are scorched in the Pit of Flame (the main volcano in Phlegethos, the 4th layer). In my mind, she actually emerged as an archdevil, which Asmodeus thought was pretty cool. Despite that, however, he still had her serve in the Dark Eight, a group of pit fiend warriors that had a lot of duties but mostly were the generals of the Blood War. This meant she was under the command of Bel, but she frequently defied his orders, choosing to pursue more aggressive strategies that pretty much always worked better than his original ideas. This really pissed him off and he kept throwing her into more and more trouble, hoping she’d just die or become too inconvenient for Asmodeus to keep around, but she bested every challenge.

So, there’s this thing called the Reckoning. It’s kind of complicated and a lot of the details probably aren’t super important to whatever situation you have, but essentially, it was a conspiracy orchestrated by Glasya in order to win herself more power, up to and including the possibility of her overthrowing her father and taking rulership of the Nine Hells for herself. She essentially managed to convince one half of the Lords of the Nine that the other half was planning a rebellion and vice versa. She involved Fierna, Malagard, Tiamat, and since she already had interest in Zariel, she got her on board as well. They believed they could seize considerable power for themselves if the archdukes all warred against each other.

Bel was the target of a failed assassination, which left him in a magical stupor. Everyone pointed fingers at Dispater (though in reality, Glasya was behind it, and the assassination was planned to fail). This gave Zariel and Tiamat the excuse to lay siege to Dis. The rest of the Reckoning happened around this, but Zariel spent pretty much all of it in Dis, and since this is supposed to be about her and I’ve already gone on too many tangents already, I’m not going to explore it too much. Essentially, the important bit is that Tiamat betrayed Zariel. The siege of Dis was broken and Zariel became Tiamat’s prisoner. Glasya, Fierna, and Malagard were able to frame Moloch, the Lord of Malbolge, as the mastermind. Asmodeus deposed him and installed Malagard in his place, but Glasya soon betrayed Malagard and killed her, taking her place as Archduchess of Malbolge. Meanwhile, Asmodeus demoted Belial, Fierna’s father, and installed Fierna as Archduchess of Phlegethos. (For the life of me I can’t remember if the Fierna part is actually canon in any official lore, I think I made it up???)

Then, there was the Rift War. Essentially, a rift opened in Avernus, and a massive force of Baatorians invaded Avernus. (Baatorians are basically just baatezu, the difference really isn’t that important for most campaigns, but they were the ones who inhabited hell before Asmodeus’ time. You could get into it more if your campaign really dives into the nine hells). Asmodeus had Bel and the Dark Eight sent in to deal with it.

Bel’s a fuckin chump, though, so he blew it. Since Zariel had been imprisoned by Tiamat, he left the areas she had managed to conquer vacant and the baatorians were able to seize them. No alliance was made between the demons and the baatorians, but Bel was unable to fight both forces at once. With the situation rapidly deteriorating, Glasya took the opportunity to orchestrate Zariel’s release from Tiamat. There isn’t a solid conclusion as to how she did it.

Zariel went in and almost immediately took control of the situation. She was able to gather the scattered remnants of her legion from when she was a Dark Eight member and reclaimed the fortresses Bel had lost. She cut off the baatorian’s biggest lines of communication and sacked their most important strongholds. The baatorian’s strength was broken. This show of power attracted the other Dark Eight members to her side, who decided to answer to her to handle the situation instead of Bel. They attacked the Rift and defeated the last of the baatorian invasion; the remaining baatorians swore fealty to Asmodeus and the nine hells as a result, as it was the best course of action to avoid being wiped out entirely.

Asmodeus demoted Bel to Zariel’s position in the Dark Eight and promoted her to the position of Archduke of Avernus. She is now the absolute commander over the Blood War, answering only to Asmodeus. He is massively pleased with his decision, seeing her as far more successful and efficient than Bel ever was. I’ll clarify that “successful” doesn’t mean that she’s “winning” because, as discussed, neither side will ever win the Blood War. She’s just a lot better at keeping the demons off of Asmodeus’s turf so they’re less of a distraction to him.

That’s the basic history, now let’s get into some like. Headcanons and disorganized thoughts.

-I made a post saying this but basically, the way I like to view Zariel is that she’s like if Lucifer was the Doomslayer and also a Girlboss.

-THE most important thing to understand about Zariel is her Wrath, followed by her Pride. Both of these elements of her character can be good or bad, depending on her motivations behind them. Zariel as an angel was, like, basically created as a condensed form of the universe's anger at unrighteousness, and this is what I was talking about earlier when I said it's in her nature to be a soldier. It's what made her defy Ashmedai, it's what made her defend mortals from the forces of cosmic evil, it's what made her defy her superiors to go fight in the Blood War, and it can be argued that it's what made her Fall to continue fighting. Her pride is another factor that made her decide to fight in the Blood War, because she believed she could end it and win. This is something she still believes as Archduke of Avernus and general of the infernal armies. This doesn't mean she's, like, stupid or anything; she's arrogant. And she's meant to be. She may know on a logical level that nothing will ever change, but it literally can't stop her from trying because it's what, not just who, she is.

-A lot has been said about what alignments in d&d mean and it is literally impossible to reach a consensus. I personally have chosen to see it as good being selfless while evil is selfish, at least when it comes to mortals. At the core of Zariel's being is the will to fight. In my mind, Zariel fell because her fight in the Blood War came to be motivated by selfish reasons rather than selfless ones. She wanted to continue her fight, but she has lost sight of who and what she was fighting for.

-Asmodeus basically trusts Zariel completely. In his mind, his corruption of her destroyed her former self and bound her to him- she won't destroy him because she doesn't want to, because he gave her what she wanted. Whether this is true or just arrogance on his part is up to you if it comes up. For my campaign, it depends on whether the party wants to go the redemption route or not.

-Zariel is the jewel in Asmodeus’ crown. A fallen solar serving as his best general is one of the best prizes and “fuck you”s to the rest of the planes he could imagine. In his mind, the fact he won her over helps prove his superiority.

-Zariel really wants her sword back. Her motivation for this is nebulous, but it pretty much comes down to the fact that it holds the spark of her Goodness. She either wants it back to destroy it completely, or to redeem herself, or just to prevent it from falling into the hands of anyone who would use it against her. She’s pretty sure it never made it out of Avernus, but with all the searching she’s done, she’s never found it.

-In DiA, if Zariel shuns redemption but gets her sword back, she destroys it and forges a new sword called the Blade of Avernus. If you think it sounds cool I can send you the stats for it if they haven’t been posted online.

-Fun fact! In DiA, she has the demon lord Kostchtchie’s hammer, Matalotok, and has imprisoned him in a ravine in Avernus. This led to him really hating her but she doesn’t really give a shit about him tbh. (And she shouldn’t considering his lore seems to indicate he’s a misogynist????? idk why that’s necessary but I guess if you’re gonna be a demon lord you can only get so scummy or whatever)

-Glasya considers Zariel to be very valuable to her, and Zariel doesn’t seem like she’s interested in becoming a threat to her for the moment, so Glasya wants to stay on her good side and keep her in power as long as possible (unless she starts encroaching on her territory). Probably a similar case with Fierna.

-Zariel’s biggest enemies are Yeenoghu and Bel- she and Tiamat also aren’t fond of each other. The only reason Zariel never outright starts shit with Bel and Tiamat is because they’d be a distraction and upset the balance. She usually just avoids dealing with them whenever she can, but tries to keep a watchful eye so they don’t try anything.

-She's large size category. Just a fun fact. Just saying.

-I have this idea that she never particularly emotes. Like you might get vague hints of emotion when she feels strongly about something, but she’s largely stoic to an extremely unsettling degree. I’m planning on using this to make some moments very dramatic (like in my campaign, if Lulu or Haruman or Olanthius die, she’s gonna lose her SHIT- I think it could make for a sympathetic moment).

-I also included an idea that when she walks, she makes no sound, but her feet burn into the ground and leave footprints glowing with embers. This phenomenon also happens to anything she touches- surfaces burn on touch.

-In terms of her voice, my plan is to make it kind of low and subdued, yet commanding. Even though the tone she uses should make her voice sound quiet, it booms louder than a human’s would. Not necessarily practical to act out, but I’m also adding the details that her voice echoes slightly and that behind her voice you can hear shrieking voices in infernal, like a choir in hell screaming with her, but they’re quiet so you can understand her. (As an angel, it was celestial voices.) She also has fire glowing in the back of her throat.

-Asmodeus’ body is reportedly covered in wounds that never heal. I’ve decided to extend this to all fallen angels, as these are horrific bruises and scrapes they received in their fall from grace. While most didn’t literally fall from an insane height and hit the ground hard (it’s usually like. metaphorical), they have wounds as though they did. Most of them, including Zariel, cover this up with their armor.

-Zariel as an arch devil has never taken a war mount. She could have any number of fearsome, powerful creatures as a mount into battle but she never has. This is partly cool-factor; imagine someone walking into a full battle on horseback and absolutely dunking on their allies in terms of kill count. The other part is that she has never found one that could take Lulu’s place. It’s mostly subconscious; none of them ever measure up to what she wants and she’s not sure why.

-I personally refer to her with mostly masculine terms- Lord of Avernus instead of Lady, Archduke instead of Archduchess, devils and worshippers call her “my lord” or “sir” instead of “my lady” or “ma’am”, etc. The source material also does this sometimes, but they flip around on it. Idk, it’s just my personal preference, I think it’s fun. She’s a celestial/fiend in a fantasy story, I have zero reason to think she’d conform perfectly to the real-world western gender binary.

-Zariel is metal as hell. I personally think at least 90% of songs used in moments with her should be metal, if you’re the kind of dm who uses music. The Doom 2016 soundtrack is your friend.

-My top 4 songs I like to listen to while planning for DiA are Archangel by Amaranthe (because duh), Baldur’s Gate 3 by Ilya Bov (just bc I listened to it while reading through DiA for the first time so now the two are permanently connected in my mind but tbh I think it has Vibes), One Winged Angel in the Style of Doom Eternal by Geoffplaysguitar (seriously this song kicks ASS, I’m absolutely using it if my party decides to try fighting Zariel), and The Only Thing They Fear is You by Mick Gordon (also using this in the final leg of the adventure, specifically if they redeem Zariel and have to fight their way out of Avernus).

#zariel my beloved #dnd #long post #avernus #asks

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balphagor · 4 years

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Elturel Has Fallen: An Orphan in hell - Part 1

Preface: In my D&D group we were playing Descent into Avernus and instead of doing the first section of the story they instead simply jumped off the floating city for... strange reasons, so this is my old high level character from the previous campaign traveling to Avernus for personal reasons playing through the opening quest in their place from his point of view.

After speaking with experts in Candlekeep on the process of infernal contracts and what happens to souls ensnared by them Orphan (A Drow, or Dark Elf male) used his magics and Plane Shifted himself to Baator or "The Nine Hells" to the first level of Avernus, concentrating his mind on a city there apparently names Elturel under the sage of Candlekeep he had met with.

A hot, stinging air assaults your senses. The city street in which you stand is lines with buildings that are crumbling, if not already collapsed. The ground shudders beneath your feet. In the red, smokey sky, a 400-foot-diamater sphere of darkness discharges strokes of bluish-white lightning that strike the city at irregular intervals. Perched atop a distant bluff, overlooking the rest of the city is a crumbled fortress. - Baldur's Gate - Descent into Avernus

Wondering the streets carefully he notes many things, the demons and devils in the skies above, seemingly fighting, though at a distance too far to tell for sure, and all but sounds of battle a deafening silence. Realizing he would need to find others for information, or even better yet maybe even find a guide Orphan sends his Sprite companion Lilly into the air using their bond to see through her eyes the surrounding area, and as luck(?) would have it there seemed to be a gathering of people to what he presumed to be the north of the city so carefully began setting off in that direction to meet up with them. Though the streets were far from safe, and where people were lacking demons and devils stood in place, such as a fierce looking devil all in black riding upon a equally blackened horse (A Narzuhon riding upon a Nightmare), thus showing Orphan that this was not a place to tread lightly. Hiding in a nearby building was enough, and he watched as the devil patrolled by, thankfully in the opposite direction to where he was heading, the fear he felt reminding him this this time he was alone in his quest, so caution was key!

It does not take long for Orphan to reach the northern point he spotted the group only to find the group gone. "They hid in that building over there." a voice resides within his mind, spinning around he spots a strange creature reminiscent of a humanoid vulture (a Vrock) perched upon a nearby ledge looking down upon the grounds below with a despondent look in it's eyes. "The humans I mean, I presume you were looking for them?" it continues, "Yes!" he replies "I had seen a group and thought to meet up with them, I am admittedly rather new to this place so would have appreciated more information", "No offense but..." he begins "You are a Vrock, is that not correct? I do not wish to offend, but I am more used to your kind hunting for hiding humans, rather than helping, or even ignoring such an easy target!", the Vrock pauses for a moment before letting out what could be seen as a laugh "What's the point? I have been in this war for hundreds of years, killed and died and killed and died over and over and over again and honestly... I just dont see the point of it all any more.", a silence filled the air for a few moments, then Orphan replied "Well then why not try something new?" in confusion and intrigue the Vrocks head perked up, "Why not come with me for a bit, see what it is like on the other side of the war, who knows, it might even be fun!", the Vrock stared long and hard at Orphan then looked up at the battles raging above, then back at Orphan "I could ripe out your eyes and feast upon your innards, many a times I have, and yet you would still welcome me?" with a smile Orphan replies "Sure, though I would prefer to keep my eyes" before beginning to laugh. The Vrock smiles back wryly "Then consider me your traveling buddy.".

Heading over to the house that the Vrock pointed out there was obvious noise coming from inside, the noise of several people bickering, and a child crying. The voice of a female could be heard from within, seemingly trying to assuage the group "I know things seem bleak, but we must band together! All we need to do is get over that bridge and we are half way to High Hall!", "But there are devils guarding the bridge!" a much meeker voice returned "Don't worry I have an idea we could use to..." suddenly there is a silence in the group "Who is out there?! I could hear your footsteps.", shocked Orphan looks back at his new companion who shrugs back at him "Uhh... hi, we didn't meant to like spook you or anything, we just didn't know how to introduce ourselves" the silence continues for a moment "How many of you are there? Are you citizens of Elturel?" the female demands, "Uhh... well there are just the two of us" his sprite gestures to him annoyed "Ok technically there are 3 of us, and no we are... I guess from out of town?" more silence, then "What is your purpose here, are you a friend or foe?" the female questioningly continued, "Well we are not enemies or anything like that, just travelers and I saw your group and thought it wise to come find you since I'm new to this city, and as I overheard, sorry, it sounds like you might need some help clearing a bridge, we'd be more than happy to help out!" one final moment of silence then "I alone will come out, put away any weapons you may have and we will speak further" to which Orphan replies "But of course" completely forgetting that his new companion may scare this woman, the door opens slowly, and upon her eyesight catching the Drow she lets out a sigh, "My name is Reya Mantlemorn and I'd..." her eyes widen in shock as she quickly draws her sword upon seeing the demon behind Orphan "Get down, demon!" she yells, Orphan suddenly realising that most people dont just try to make friends with passing demons jumps in the way speaking up "Nonononono wait waaaaaait, he isn't bad, well, mostly not I think, he is taking a break of sorts from this war stuff to see what it is like on the other side of the battle!" Orphan shouts out with haste "Isn't that right?!" he gestures towards the Vrock who shrugs with a smirk, "See! ...I think. Just like... give him a chance." Orphan pleads, Reya looks the demon up and down "I do not trust you, and I do not like you, I would be happy if all of your kind vanished from existence... but I did not realise how desperate things would be in Elturel, and at the moment I need to consider the safety of my people over my personal feelings, and if this... thing truly will help keep my people safe, then I will stay my blade... for now.", "See best of friends!" Orphan jokes, trying to break the sudden silence, "So... your plan?" he continues, "Hmm... yes... the plan is, that we need to cross the bridge to get to the western half of Elturel, the only problem being the bridge is guarded by a group of devils, but we may have an ace up our sleeve." she continues "Unbeknownst to the devils guarding the bridge there are enchanted holy runes carved upon it, and if I can get close enough I should be able to activate them, which they wont like, it wont be enough to kill them, but it will hurt like... well hell, the help I will need is after this they will be angry, and I will need help finishing them off." for a moment Orphans face scrunches before "Ok so you turn on the holy light show, then we take out the stragglers... sounds easy enough!", "And though I will not actively attack my brothers, I am more than happy to see another devil ridden from this plane!" the Vrock cheerily adds, "Then we head to the bridge." Reya responds, before leading both towards their destination.

Peeking out from the ruins of a nearby house we see that in total 6 devils occupy the bridge, two with writhing tentacle beards (Bearded Devils) and 4 covered in many sharp spines with wings (Spined Devils). The plan was for Reya to quietly and quickly activate the runes, then once they attempt to flee the bridge I will be lying in wait ready to launch a Wall of Light to attempt to blind the devils and keep them on the bridge for as long as possible while peppering them with other spells, then the Vrock (being careful not to touch the bridge itself) will fly up and use it's Stunning Screech to attempt to stun the devils and then retreat, and should they escape the bridge Reya would step in to fight them with martial combat while we help to finish them off.

Reya successfully sneaks up to the closest activation rune and begins chanting the holy words, and it is with that flash of light that our battle began. The devils all scream out in pain, but there is but a short reprieve as a sudden Wall of Light spans the length of the bridge, catching all the devils in it's light instantly evaporating the four Spined Devils, and though one of the Bearded Devils managed to look away in time, the other was blinded, next the Vrock swoops in and let's out a deafening cry, stunning the first of the Bearded Devils, while the other managed to shake it off. Though realising the sad situation it found itself in, watching it's last remaining stunned ally burning in holy light the only remaining devil who could still move charged towards Reya, and using all of it's strength it dashed across the bridge, finally it was free of the holy light, but sadly the dash had taken all of it's strength, meaning it was wide open for attack. Reya lunged at the devil, making three quick slashes with her swords with the first two going wide using her longsword, but the third striking it's mark with her shortsword and though it smiles for a moment at her mistakes it all too quickly realises it's folly as it is assaulted from all angles by Eldritch Blasts before being finished off by a portion of the Wall of Light splitting off to strike it from behind, evaporating the creature where it stood. The party them watched as the near dead final devil screamed out in pain, it leapt from the bridge hoping to end things on it's own terms only to also be caught in the back blasted by the same Wall of Light as it's fallen comrade.

And with that, the bridge was clear.

After doubling back to retrieve the townsfolk who were left behind, we slowly crossed over the bridge and made our way south, Orphan was informed that High Hall was the safest place for survivors to gather, and thus that was where Reya was taking the people she had found, all the whole there she still mistrustfully watched over the Vrock, while also trying to watch for any other threats, and despite some flaming spouts of hellfire scaring the life out of the group, and thanks to hiding and resting in abandoned houses along the way the journey to High Hall was majorly uneventful, much to the joy of the townsfolk, and very much to the joy of Reya. Though this peace would not last, as when High Hall came finally into view, from the obvious damage the scene was clear, High Hall was currently suffering from a rather devilish invasion!

This clifftop castle was once the crowning architectural jewel of Elturel. Only three of its five watchtowers still stand, though they appear abandoned. The Wooden gates that once led into the castle grounds have been shattered, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. The west side of the castle has been reduced to a pile of smashed brick and broken wood. The surviving buildings are blackened by soot. At the center of the castle grounds, the High Hall cathedral stands defiant. - Baldur's Gate - Descent into Avernus

As they approached all was eerily quiet, once again the townsfolk were ordered to hang back in hiding, waiting until receiving the all clear, peering through the wrecked entrance way it was clear a battle had took place, there were bodies on the floor, blood still oozing from their fresh bite wounds, and at the other side of the courtyard, the likely contributors of the bites, two hellish dogs (Hell Hounds) seemingly guarding the central cathedral doors, and as there didn't seem to be anyone else around they chose to strike hard and fast!

"Ok so hear me out, I have an idea." Orphan relays in a hushed tone, "They dont know we are here yet, so I have a spell perfect for this situation!" with which he once again pokes his head out and pointing towards the direction of the hounds begins to utter foul eldritch words, and from the Abyss pop a pack of eight Dretches (which Orphan notes are strangely more canine and bestial than he is used to), which lunge at the surprised Hell Hounds!

Quickly swarming the hounds the Dretches begin clawing and biting at them, which while annoying does very little in terms of damage to them, they both return by trying to blast as many as possible with their Fire Breath, managing to hit two each burning all four, and even yet burnt as they are they continue their assault! The second assault shows much more ware from the hounds, but they are not about to give up, the first launches another Fire Breath once again leaving them nigh on deaths door, but they still cling to life, while the other hound unable to breath fire again so soon lunges at one of the Manes with a bite, killing off one of it's previously torched foes! Sadly though for the Hell Hounds the Manes are not even close to ready to give up and once again strike relentlessly leaving both hounds barely able to stand as they take what is likely to be their final action, with all their might they both unleash one final roaring flame, finally killing off several of the Dretches, but it is simply not enough, as the remaining few claw, bite and tear the Hell Hounds limb from limb.

"Oh great, now instead of 2 Hell Hounds to combat we have four demons!" Reya hisses as Orphan, to which he snaps his fingers and the remaining four vanish back to their realm and retorts with a smile "What demons?", at which Reya scowls.

Inside the cathedral it is a scene of chaos, blood and bodies everywhere, the group head deeper inside eventually spotting a strange white bipedal dragon like creature (A White Abishai) laughing over two human corpses with a group of six humanoids in robes (Cultists) who are currently stabbing at the now obviously dead bodies.

"Does this please you master? Will our great overlords look kindly upon us for our blessed work" a mad cultist gibbers, bloody dagger in hand looking up at the Abishai who simply looks down at him, "Yes you are quite right, there is much to be done, many to kill!" the cultist quickly states, almost as if in reply to something, standing up and commanding the other cultists to continue on their way.

"What is that?" Orphan asks pointing at the Abishai "They are part devil and part dragon, some say they serve Tiamat, and some claim them her jailers." the Vrock chimes in "Part dragon huh?" Ophan says under his breath, then "Watch this!".

The Abishai stares into space for a moment, then snaps back, almost as if it was somewhere else for a moment "Dominate Monster, a very useful spell, only recently learned it too!" Orphan relays to the group. "You will go to your followers and tell them your master contacted you and told you the others are traitors, all aiming to kill her followers as soon as their backs are turned, and you have been ordered to take them out instead, have your cultists kill as many of your men as possible, and then kill them yourself, and this killing is to take top priority over all else, as you must not hurt any of the people residing within High Hall, and if your cultists question this, tell them their master has found a use for them, I will contact you if there is anything else." Orphan states with a very serious face to which the Abishai begins to follow in the direction the cultists went, "As I said, very useful.".

Going in the opposite direction to the Abishai to try to cover as much ground as possible, the group finds themselves running into a Spined Devil who seems to be yelling at a group of 3 humans "Ok there is only one, we strike it again hard and fast and it wont know what hit it!" Orphan quickly says, the party leaping into action!

With a flash Orphan unleashes a Lightning Bolt from his staff and before it even gets a moment to realise what is happening it explodes in a storm of Lightning and ichor, upon seeing which the 3 humans collapse to the floor crying and screaming. Reya does attempt to calm them down, but their minds seem to be broken, and decides that we should continue on and send help back for them once the hall was safe.

Some time later the group heard yelling "Traitors", "Praise the one God!" and so on, and decided to investigate, finding the previous group of cultists with the Abishai (all looking rather tattered and burned, and with several cultists missing) fighting against a Barbed Devil in a room FILLED with Giant Crabs!

"This is our chance to take out a huge group of them" Reya commanded and quickly began running at the devil swords drawn, "Or you know... we could have waited and made and plan while they killed each other? But oh well..." Orphan said to himself with a sigh preparing to launch his attack.

Quickly launching a Fireball into the fighting crowd in all but vaporizes everything but the White Abishai and the Barbed Devil, both of who are immune to fire, the Cultists and Giant Crabs were not quite so lucky, following up Reya lunges at the Barbed Devil with a flurry of blades, all landing their mark and taking the devil by surprise as she emerges through the smoke to slash at him! Shocked and unable to see anyone else for the smoke the Barbed Devil quickly returns the attack with a flurry of its own directed straight at Reya it's tail bouncing off her armour, but it's claws finding their mark slashing at her arm causing her to wince back. Next up the White Abishai dashes at the Barbed Devil and Recklessly slashes at it with sword and claws, the clawing being easily batted aside, but the sword easily finding it's mark, though it more annoyed the devil than hurt it but before it even had a moment to think, out of the shadows launched a Vrock to which he exclaimed "A demon? Here?" before being on the receiving end of a sharp beak, and its even sharper talons, the talons driving deep into its shoulder with a pained yelp in response. The smoke beginning to clear Orphan could see that the group had advanced on the Barbed Devil, but that it still looked like it had plenty of fight left in it, so he knew he had to strike it hard running to the other side of the room to be sure to get a good angle he once again launched a Lightning Bolt from his trusty staff and well and truly shocking the life out of it, but it refused to go down, it was hurt, but it was not dead yet! Seeing that the spellcaster was clearly a threat he launched two motes of fire straight at Orphan, he dodged nimbly out of the way of the first, but in doing so directly placing him in the path of the second in a fiery explosion, and though it clearly had hurt, the fact that he simply shook off the pain worried this devil to his core. In the next moment he realised his surroundings, realised he was outnumbered and tried to run catching a claw and a talon on the way, limping towards the exit to the room he met his end with a simple Eldritch Blast.

The next half hour or so was spent scouring the remainder of the High Hall for any further intruders and grouping together all survivors, during this time Reya also retrieved the townsfolk who had been ordered to remain in hiding until it was safe.

As the hour of Orphans Dominate Monster would soon be up, he commanded it to tell him it's true name (Victuusa) before ordering it to fly as far away and as fast as it could from High Hall, deeming it more useful to him alive than dead.

Much time from then passed as order of a sort began to return to High Hall, and while Oprhan rested off his minor wounds he tranced, and was contacted by his Patron god "This is the final gift I can bestow upon you, may it aid your greatly, and may you succeed in your quest" a gentle smile graced his face and for the first time in a while, he allowed himself to sleep. After some time had passed Reya requested that Orphan come meet with someone important, and though he made everyone very uncomfortable, for his aid in the freeing of High Hall the Vrock was allowed to stay while Orphan did, though the lack of trust in him was very obvious.

#D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #An Orphan in hell #Baldur's Gate #Descent into Avernus #Baldur's Gate - Descent into Avernus #Elturel Has Fallen

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