Mission 7 - The Streets Of Elturel

[!abstract] The Job
Cross the ruins of Elturel to High Hall, past ghouls, zombies and devils, with the refugees in tow.

The Tower in the Clouds

Reality has come unstitched. We ride griffins to a tower that floats, unmoored, high in the clouds. There we meet an odd otter and an elephant. Their names are Traxigor and Lulu, and neither one looks like what it is.

Lulu speaks first, her memory a shattered mirror. She was with Zariel when the fabled Hellrider led the charge into Avernus, and she helped Zariel hide her sword when some of the Hellriders turned on her. The rest of it is fog.

Without ceremony, Traxigor casts planeshift. The serene clouds are ripped away and we land in the acrid, burning air of Elturel. A city of death. Black smoke sears our noses and scrapes our lungs. Traxigor vanishes. Lulu, in a flash of clarity, remembers she can turn into a mammoth and use some kind of magic.

Elturel is a hellscape. The streets run with magma. Giant black chains rise out of the ground, holding the whole city suspended over a pit of infernal horror. We follow Lulu toward the keep.

A City in Torment

First we find a woman, Harkina Hunt, and her two toddlers, running from a pack of fiends. We charge in and burn them to ash with divine fire. Harkina tells us of the countless dead. No food, no water, and creatures preying on anyone who goes looking. She's headed for High Hall, and we offer to escort her.

On the way she tells us about the constant war between devils and demons. A block on, goat devils are tearing into a man, surrounded by an aura of filth. Baktha Tassup - Ryan starts coughing up flies but kills one. Boils erupt on my skin just before I kill the other. The man is Oren Ragron, a blacksmith, who's been hiding and foraging, unable to get back to his shop.

A building collapses and cries rise from the rubble. We dig. Lulu's uncanny communication leads us to three trapped dwarves: Valkora Ashenwell, a mason and acolyte of Moraden, along with Stroven Ironfist and Cartra Boldenstern. Valkora is also on her way to High Hall, to help with the rebuilding.

When we try to scout the bridge, ghouls swarm us. Thomus - Thomas throws a distraction flare to protect the dwarves, and they turn on us, clawing and biting. I bash one in. Iliran Tilorri - Mike steps between two of them and drops a lightning bolt that hits seven of the eight, killing five outright. We finish the last.

One ghoul wore a nice set of studded leather. I needed better protection. It turns out to be +1 studded leather. A tall building nearby gives us a view of the bridge and the heavy guard on it. We rest for the night. Salah Secumber - Hal digs through a pile of filth and comes up with a ring of invisibility. Of course he does.

A Dark Bargain

In the morning we head north. An imp is menacing a halfling, and I put an arrow through its throat. Reya Mantlemorn rushes up and finishes the job. The halfling is Pillster Pebblechuck, a baker before the descent. He and his family had run out of food, and the imp, Perchulux, offered a month of food and water in exchange for his soul. He took the deal. We arrived just in time.

We read the contract. A hidden clause gives the imp the souls of his whole family. Baktha incinerates it with sacred flame, and half the imp's corpse vanishes with it, leaving behind a mysterious iron disc, five inches wide and an inch thick, that feels like it holds something inside. Lulu knows it: a soul coin, the currency of Avernus, with a trapped soul inside.

Lulu's memory returns in a flash: Yeenoghu, a demon lord, wants to destroy Zariel's sword, a goal he once fought for. She can't remember where, but it's locked in now.

We detour to fetch Pillster's starving family and feed them rations. They join our little band of refugees and heroes. It's a caravan now. I'm mostly a cook.

The North Bridge

As we approach the north bridge, a rotten stench hits us, a hundred times worse than any corpse. Through a window I see four shadowy figures gnashing their teeth and devouring something. Thomas throws a fireball in. I charge, the stench clawing at my throat and blurring my vision. They swarm me, biting and clawing. My muscles seize, nearly paralyzed, but I shake it off. Mike hits them with a bolt of frost, but Salah's holy flame sputters out before reaching them.

Baktha and Reya move in, seemingly immune to the smell. Salah and Thomas burn another with spells and Lulu takes out the last of the ghasts. Hiding in a cupboard, crying, Baktha finds a small girl, Shora Hevron, who clings to him and asks if her family is gone. Salah heals me.

The tower nearest the bridge is an old schoolhouse, now packed with zombies. We hoist Thomas to a second-story window and he rains down a fireball. I try to kick the door open but the zombies pile against it. Thomas follows with burning hands, killing half of the dozen. Mike bursts in and takes five with thunderwave. Baktha finishes the last.

In the corner, a floor hatch leads to a stash of fifteen gallons of water in flasks. I also find a crate with a false bottom holding prized possessions and a letter signed by a "Fraxus" who hid his belongings there.

During a short rest, Lulu remembers hiding in the Wandering Emporium, and thinks it might be able to help us.

We set a trap for the bridge. Mike, wearing his new ring of invisibility, goes ahead to prepare a thunderwave. I hobble along like a feeble old man with the rest in tow. Two bearded devils and four spined devils arrive. Baktha spots a rune on the arch and activates it, and every devil on the bridge takes radiant damage. They scream. Mike's thunderwave kills four. Baktha kills a fifth. I put an arrow through the last one's brain. We cross the bridge mostly unmolested.

The Road to High Hall

On the far side, a burned human corpse. Baktha reaches for a silvered sword in its hand and triggers a trap of hellfire. He puts himself out, then collects the silvered sword and a potion of frost giant strength.

Further on, a vulture-like devil perched in a burned tree reaches into our minds. This is Abathrax. He doesn't seem hostile, just contemplative and worn out by the entire descent. As we pass, he says only: "Mind the portal."

Ahead, an armored creature with a battleaxe steps out of an alley, followed by four spined devils. He looks exasperated, like a teacher herding unruly children. A sudden quake knocks Salah and Mike down, and two of the spined devils too. They shout, alerting the rest. I rush the first and Thomas finishes it with a radiant bolt. Baktha and Reya kill a second. Salah gets up and casts guiding bolt, Mike knocks another back with thunderwave. Thomas and I focus on the big one and drop him in a single round. We finish the last two.

Lulu warns us of a Narzugon riding a nightmare down a nearby street. We duck into a building and hold our breath until it passes. After a short rest we go on, using Lulu's eyes in the sky to reach the base of High Hall undetected.

Previous: Mission 6 - Journey to Candlekeep · Next: Mission 8 - High Hall

#session #mission