In May of
2017, Heir Malezia, a level 4 magic-user, signed an infernal pact
that granted him two additional levels of experience; that character
suddenly went from a puny caster of magic
missiles
to a multiple-fireball-throwing
badass.
In August of
2017, the entire party went to Hell, on a very specific mission. For
those of you who have been readers of this blog for a while, you’ll
probably remember that particular post. When the party reached
Avernus, each character appeared on a large rune belonging to one of
the nine Planes of Hell. Each player drew a card, and each of the
cards had a short text printed on it. “If
you ever return to Avernus after today, you will become a Lemur, and
serve Tiamat for all eternity...”
“If
you ever set foot in Dis, the Second Plane of the Nine Hells, you
will be transformed into a pillar of salt...”
Et cetera. Each character has one specific Plane of Hell where they
could never, ever return or go.
Fast-forward
to October of 2019. The level 6 Heir Malezia is visited by a contract
devil who basically tells him, “Dear Sir, your time is almost up –
but you can sign this contract right here, and resell your Mortal
Soul to my master, Duke Hutijin. Alas, any new contract will only
take effect if you break into the Infernal Vault and destroy the
original contract you have signed over two Years of Man ago. A
teleport circle is included herein, and you can bring up to eight
comrades along with you on that heist. You won’t be able to remain
inside the Infernal Vault for long, though. Every intruder will be
teleported out after a brief moment. Make each second count.”
Easy enough,
right?
But wait – the Infernal Vault is actually a meteorite that
constantly moves through six of the Nine Hells, between Avernus and
Malbolge. Which layer is the Vault currently into? Which
character is going to become a Lemur – or a pillar of salt –
because he was forever banned from that particular Plane of Hell?
Is it worth risking the ranger’s life, or the bard’s life, or
Brother Tom’s life, to save an evil-adjacent magic-user? That’s
for the group to decide. I expected a huge debate, but in fact it
proved to be rather quick and straightforward. When one member of the
party faces Imminent Death, the others usually step up. And so they
did.
Landa the cleric, Huthak the barbarian and Dalmas the monk did not
take part in that 2017 expedition to Avernus, so their lives
are not at risk. They could still perish, mind you, but not of a
“sudden death”
right at the beginning of the game. As for Heir Malezia himself, his
2017 rune had been the Nessus rune, so he can never set foot in the
ninth Plane of Hell. Anyhow, the Infernal Vault does not travel that
far.
They drew one of six cards – and that card told us that the
Infernal Vault was currently passing through the Sixth Plane of Hell.
A big sigh of relief. The bard cannot go to the Second; the ranger
can’t ever set foot in the Fourth; and Brother Tom can’t go to
the Fifth. In Malbolge, the PCs were all safe. Sudden death averted!
Each of the six PCs and three NPCs appeared on a different bluish
star carved in the Vault’s floor. They immediately observed that
seven out of nine vaults had guardians: 3 Death Knights, and 4
four-armed gargoyles.
Brother Tom and NPC Klovis charged one of the Death Knights. The
ranger and Landa attacked one of the gargoyles. Dalmas the monk
deployed his Diabolical Flying Carpet.
Nobody ever got within 5 squares of the vault on the far left or the
one on the far right, even though the one on the right didn’t have
any gargoyle or Death Knight standing in front of it.
A
Rage Drake emerged from the ominous cave-mouth underneath the tower.
The second Death Knight created a wall of ice right in front
of “his”
vault, and then left his post to go after Heir and Klynch, the
magic-users. The party wouldn’t be able to get to that frozen vault
for the rest of the scene, of course.
One stellar moment occurred when Klynch, the level 5 magic-user (the
one who didn’t sell his soul), decided to take on the Death
Knight who had left his post. Just to give you some perspective here:
Klynch has 14 Hit Points, wears a pair of cursed Bracers of
Defenselessness, and has a +3 dagger of Petrification with only 3
charges left in it, while the Death Knight has 75 Hit Points, a 50%
magic resistance, and wields a two-handed maul +1.
First, Klynch casts spider climb to haul his ass up on the
lower ledge of the tower. The following round, he casts monster
summoning, and a dire wolf appears right next to the advancing
Death Knight. On the third round, Klynch performs a “Kirk’s
Flying Tackle” from above, and
jumps
back down on the fully armored Knight, attempting to stab him with
his +3 dagger. I allow him another +2 To Hit bonus
for the
jump. Still, he misses, and takes 5 points
of damage from that
25-foot fall. Everyone hears a loud crunch. Klynch lies on the ground
as if unconscious or dead; he’s right beside the Death Knight’s
left leg, but the Knight is busy fighting the dire wolf. On round
four, Klynch attempts to stab the Knight in the foot – and misses
yet again. The Knight pays no attention to him, and tries to finish
off that pesky wolf.
Round five: Klynch attempts to
stab his opponent in
the nuts, since he’s
lying on
the ground, and quite perfectly positioned to do so. He needs 16.
With the +3 dagger, he needs 13. He rolls a solid 15. This time, it’s
a hit! I roll 2d10 for the Death Knight’s magic resistance, and get
80. The Knight doesn’t resist to the magic. Then I make a Saving
Throw vs Petrification, and roll a 2.
The Death Knight is turned to
stone!
Epic
and
hilarious.
Remember, kids: killing huge
monsters is
possible, even if you only have 14 Hit Points!
Elsewhere in the Infernal Vault,
Landa, the bard and the ranger whacked
two of those
4-armed gargoyles, and quickly
emptied two vaults full of
infernal contracts. Rot
grub rained down on the ranger and the bard as they poured acid onto
the contracts to destroy as many of them as possible.
Dalmas the monk brought his
flying carpet around: Landa,
the bard and the ranger
hitched a ride on it. Down by the pool of lava, the
first Death Knight cast
power word: kill
on Brother Tom. Save or die!
Brother Tom made
a successful Saving Throw. There was another big sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Ashtag the Drider, an allied NPC, fought against the Rage
Drake. Heir cast one of his jump spells to close in on one of
the remaining gargoyles. He then cast fireball, and rolled 30
points of damage – his best damage ever on 6d6, beating a previous
record of 28.
A
pair of shrieking harpies then showed up. The Rage Drake disengaged,
skirted the base of the tower, and leapt 20 feet onto the flying
carpet. Ashtag took it upon himself to tackle both harpies. Dalmas
had no other choice but to fight hand-to-hand with the Rage Drake.
Monks – what can I say?
In the end, the party had enough time to empty 5 out of 9 vaults,
destroying 1742 infernal contracts. Then, everyone was teleported
out. It’s a safety feature of the Infernal Vault. But the devils
really need to improve their security, right? Eighty-one Dukes and
Duchesses of Hell just lost 1742 souls – their most precious
holdings and valuables.
Duke Hutijin, the one who “bought
back” Heir Malezia’s
soul by facilitating the party’s access
to the Infernal Vault, couldn’t care less for the mighty
mess
he’s created. Hutijin serves Mephistopheles, and Mephistopheles is
Asmodeus’ main rival. The Infernal Vault contains infernal
contracts belonging to Duchesses and Dukes aligned with Asmodeus.
Vassals of Baalzebul and Mephistopheles keep their paperwork
on their own Planes of Hell: the Seventh and the Eight. They
didn’t lose a single
soul during that most brazen heist.
Yes: the party has unwittingly entered the tortuous field of Hell’s
politics. Powerful devils will certainly seek swift revenge!
Even the final reveal was great. I put 9 cards on the table, face
down – one for each of the 9 vaults. Heir had to pick 5 cards,
since he and his comrades had managed to open 5 vaults and destroy
all infernal contracts stored inside.
Of the 5 cards that had been drawn, the “Heir’s
Contract!”
card turned up fourth. We had awesome
suspense up until the very end. The other players yelled, “Nope…
Nope… Nope!…”
and then, when the right card was
flipped, there was a loud
cheer around the table. What a perfect ending to a D&D
game session. Imagine if “Heir’s Contract!” had turned up
first; talk about jumping the gun!
A
time constraint, killer odds, and epic Saves to make.
After such a game, players can truly say, “We
played D&D!”
One friend told me, “My
social life ain’t much these days, and your gaming events are a
welcome break from monotony!” I
couldn’t have asked for a better thank you.
Several gods smiled
down on us. Arneson. Gygax. Istus. Mephistopheles…