By the time the characters enter Elturel, they should have two NPCs with them: Lulu, the winged hollyphant, and Reya, the Hellrider of Elturel who has been doomed (with the rest of Elturel’s defenders) to Hell. As noted in my last instalment, the reasons for them descending are muddy in the adventure-as-written, but I suggest that they have already learned of the need to gain the Sword of Zariel. Not that they know where it is! The hope is that Lulu will remember.

The goals as they enter Elturel are basically:

• Find out what’s happened to the citizens
• Find Grand Duke Ravengard of Baldur’s Gate

I’m going to talk about the initial stage of these investigations in this article – discovering what has happened to the citizens of Elturel.

Welcome to Elturel

The initial encounter sees the PCs save some citizens (we hope!) and learn about the High Hall. This is important information, because it’s where the PCs have to go next! So, if the party fails to save this group, give them another group to rescue.

Note that the devils have information as well. My assumption is that most groups won’t discover this. There’s a key bit of information here that is mentioned in the introduction to the chapter which is otherwise not called out. You should be aware of it, and try to make the players aware of it as well:

• The Devils and Demons are fighting nearby (below). They want to get into Elturel but can’t while the other force is there.

The introduction mentions that the character can hear the fighting happening below them. This isn’t mentioned in the introductory boxed text, despite it being referenced once the players get to the bridges. You’ll want to mention it to the characters.

Now, with the survivors in tow, it’s time to explore Elturel!

It’s quite noticeable that Elturel is strangely bare of named locations. In fact, there are only five in a giant poster map: the character’s entry point, two bridges, the High Hall, and the Grand Cemetery. You’re basically on your own for describing the buildings of the city. You can find supplements on the DMs Guild to help you provide more detail, but otherwise you’ll have to do it yourself.

I originally believed that it’s too easy to move around Elturel, but as most of the devils and demons are below, this makes sense. Give the players a hint of how eerie the deserted streets are. Bring up the silence of the streets – and the distant sounds of the massive battle between devils and demons. If you can build suspense, all the better! And then you can up the tension with one of the rare encounters.

A Long Way Down

There are two bridges that lead to the characters’ destination. Aside from provide a fight with some devils, this is also the time when you can allow the characters to assess the situation. Assuming they haven’t captured and interrogated a devil, now they can see:

• Elturel is held five-hundred feet above the surface of Avernus by great chains
• The River Styx flows nearby
• The noise from below are armies of devils and demons – the demons keep crawling out of the Styx
• The demons are trying to climb the chains, the devils are fighting them back. They’re evenly matched, so neither can gain advantage.

That should give the context as to what’s happening in the city.

Around this point, you may be asking what happened to the citizens of Elturel? Harkina has told the characters that “many” of the citizens died. There were around 27,000 souls in Elturel before the fall. Now? 10,000? Less? More? The adventure is somewhat silent on this topic. I’d like to think that most of them have actually survived and are hiding in their homes, hoping for rescue.

These citizens gathering together outdoors would be folly, but I want to think that many of the citizens can be saved, rather than a pitiful handful of 100 or so.

Action in the High Hall

The major set-piece of this section of the adventure is the battle in the High Hall as the party is attacked by four bands of devils. The pacing of this is entirely up to you and gives you a great chance to up the tension.

It’s very important to pay attention to how easily the characters are dealing with the devils. The easier a time they have of it, the more you can throw at them. If they’re struggling, then you can delay the next attack until they can recover.

Four or five combats in a short space of time is something relatively rare with most D&D adventures – take advantage of the opportunity.

There’s a couple of odd pieces of editing here:

• The text notes that the remnants of the city’s leadership have gathered here. If so, where are they?
• The catacombs where the refugees are struggling should be protected from devils due to the secret door, but in the recessed mausoleums have a 5 in 6 chance of finding the remains of a devil attack. Hmm. But there are no devils attacking the main group of refugees who aren’t hard to find.

Justin Alexander has noted the problems with placing key encounters behind a secret door (as the characters need to find Pherria to learn about Duke Ravengard). So, what happens if the characters don’t find it?

There are two potions. you can have the devils find it – one of the bands finds it while the characters are elsewhere (perhaps recuperating after a battle), and the sound of the altar unfolding and the secret door opening (and shouts of triumph from the devils?) can draw them in. Then it’s a mad rush to protect the refugees before the devils kill them. You can make all of this quite exciting. Or you could have Seltern the Druid (found in the Private Chapels) tell the players about it.

With the discovery of the refugees in the cathedral, that ends this section of the adventure. The next article will deal with the search for Duke Ravengard and leaving Elturel.

In our play of the adventure, the cathedral fight was very enjoyable. Lots of tension, and though the characters won, I didn’t give them much time to refocus before hitting them with the next threat. And it was one of the better sessions of the adventure.