I’m going to keep this relatively short. I’ve had problems running Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus that began when the characters reached Candlekeep.

Some of these are easily overcome. But others require more reworking.

Candlekeep’s chief function is to move the characters down into Avernus, the first layer of hell. They have in their possession the infernal puzzle box, and they have a contact: a sage.

What the Sage and the Flying Elephant know

The sage, Sylvira Savikas opens the infernal puzzle box and finds the contract between Thavius Kreeg and Zariel that doomed Elturel to Hell. And here’s the essential detail that is missing: They don’t know how to break the contract, And no-one knows how to retrieve Elturel.

And the characters are then going down to Avernus? Why? How does that work?

Lulu should reveal more than she does. Lulu is an amnesiac angel in the form of a flying miniature elephant. She was with Zariel during the fall, but can’t remember much, except a few memories of Zariel’s sword.

The Sword of Zariel is critical. And, if you go back to the introduction of the book, you can find what the overall plan is. But, even given the masses of boxed text on display here, the players don’t learn any of it in this chapter.

Providing More Information

Why are they going into Avernus? To free Elturel. How are they going to do that? No-one in this section knows. And this is where it needs to be. So, let’s rework this section:

Here’s what the characters need to learn:

• Elturel is in Avernus, bound by chains forged by Zariel and the pact of Kreeg.
• The Companion is the manifestation of the pact.
• The pact can be broken by destroying the Companion or persuading Zariel to break it. The Sword of Zariel can break the Companion.
• Lulu hid the Sword of Zariel, and – once she recovers her memories – can take you to it.
• Lulu will remember more as she spends time in Avernus.
• Breaking the chains would also free Elturel, but no-one here knows how to do that. (Except one, see following!)

Meanwhile, you also have Gargauth, the pit fiend imprisoned in the Shield of the Hidden Lord. Here’s what the players need to know about him:

• The Shield of the Hidden Lord holds the pit fiend Gargauth.
• Gargauth exerts a corrupting influence on people around it. His presence caused Baldur’s Gate to descend into a corrupt state.
• You need to rescue Duke Ravengard to help arrest the corruption of Baldur’s Gate.
• Gargauth knows a lot about Avernus.
• The major powers of Avernus would know how to break the chains holding Elturel if you’re willing to make a deal with them.
• Gargauth may offer advice – but beware! For those deals are likely to cost the characters more than they want to pay.

Gargauth wants to be free. Consequently, you can play with much advice he’ll give before requiring the players to free him from the shield.

The Quest for the Sword

Finding the sword is going to be tough, but it’s likely to be more straightforward than gaining the aid of a power of Avernus! And the adventure presumes that the players will try to get the sword. But if you want to rework the section in Avernus into a more sandbox experience – more power to you!

Thus, the characters have a goal: Find the Sword and use it to break Elturel free.

The later revelation in the Bleeding Citadel should then be changed to be “Lulu realises that the Sword might be able to redeem Zariel”. Which suddenly gives a difficult decision to the players!

For our session, the bearer of the Shield was taken aback to find the shield didn’t contain a solar but a pit fiend! And then, down into Elturel!