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balphagor · 5 years ago

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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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