There are times when it is all about the framing of the encounter.
Haruman’s Hill, to me, represents all the problems Descent into Avernus has. Lulu brings the characters here as she thinks it’s where the Sword of Zariel is. Instead, it isn’t, and it fatally undermines Lulu as a character. From this moment on, Lulu is mostly useless. She’s not guiding the characters; she’s leading them astray.
It shouldn’t be that way. And you can change the import of this encounter to make it work better in the story.
But here are the lines that undermine everything:
When she beholds Jander impaled on the iron tree, Lulu’s memories of him return. She remembers his betrayal of Zariel and gives him a pitiful look. She then admits to the characters that she’s made a mistake leading them here and needs to ponder her dreams in more detail to discern the Bleeding Citadel’s whereabouts.
Is that meant to be a “pitying” look?
Imagine if, instead of Lulu dismissing Jander, instead she realised how important he was to her. If that the reason for her coming here was not simply a mistake, but instead was because this was one aspect of her half-remembered past she wanted to put right.
At that point, you have a smaller version of the conundrum that the players will face later: Do we save Zariel or not?
These are the plot points I think you need to hit:
- Jander joined Zariel’s attack in order to seek redemption.
- Lulu and Jander befriended each other, and Lulu encouraged Jander’s actions
- Jander faltered in Hell and betrayed Zariel – but this betrayal was after Lulu failed to meet him because there was something else she chose to do; this makes his betrayal a consequence of Lulu’s actions and soemthing she hopes to redeem
- Jander is now tortured by his one-time friend and companion, Haruman
- If the characters free Jander (his soul, not to life!), Haruman will come and find the party – and Haruman has been rewarded with great power by Zariel.
This reframes the situation into “Do we save Jander’s soul and endanger ourselves” while also having Lulu important in the decision-making.
I think it would be a nice touch that if the party free Jander, he receives a message from Torm that reveals the path forward can either be through the Path of Demons or Path of Devils. Lulu could give this information, but the book’s description of how she reveals the information is fairly weak, with no authority behind it. “Two sites in Avernus seem important” is not great. “Torm has sent me a vision of two sites we should go” seems stronger.
Haruman is dangerous. He can be defeated. Or fled from. Making the players feel like they had a tough decision? That’s important.
A note: I did not use the kidnapping of Lulu by the hellwasps in my game. The flight of the party from Haruman was engaging enough. You could easily move the Hellwasp encounter to any other place in Avernus where you feel things are getting slow and you want some excitement. It’s a nice mini-dungeon area that you can use for players who want more defined action with good rewards.
All I remember of this is my dwarf grappled Haruman into submission. I don’t know if it was the campaign or my DM but I always got the sense that the betrayal was desertion which seems understandable if the war was going bad for Zariel’s army.
Hello, new DM here running this module. I love the idea here of making this interaction more meaningful than it is presented in the book. However, could you elaborate on “but this betrayal was after Lulu failed to meet him because there was something else she chose to do”? Thanks for your help and this resource!
Im not sure if what i have to say should be said here, but I read what you wrote, and I know this is a very OLD thread…but it was still useful to me. So thank you for the info.
Since I’m casting true resurrection on this thread, I guess I’ll give my account of what happened last night in my own D&D group.
My players decided to stay and fight Haruman, But I changed a few things as well. First off I did use the idea of having Jaunder tell the party of the diverging paths. It worked well and gave him an ability to help the party for them helping him. But I had the spot where Jaunder was crucified on the tree start spurting blood after his release. The bark began to Crack and break apart, small metal shards splintering off, the wound gushing blood from the tear. From inside the tree bursts forth Haruman on his nightmare with hreen flames, although they never got his name, and a dozen Hellwasps. Then in a court style fashion, Haruman demanded to know what reason the accused might have to release a damned soul from their eternal punishment.
I had this table ready for deception Checks or persuasion, and what Haruman might accept as a valid answer, I try to encourage Role-playing at my table more than battle, and they usually prefer this. The Bard/Rogue told him “Because I felt like it, what’s it to you?” And so they were judged guilty and initiative was rolled.
I liked the whole thing about trees appearing with the players name on it, but I took it a step further and gave Haruman a type of Lair action I guess, where he could rip the soul out of someone’s body and attach it to a tree if they failed a DC17 WIS save. I thought about Con, but it’s not a physical attack he makes, it’s an ability he gives the trees themselves to pull the soul to them…so if taken fsr enough away from the hill he wouldnt habe been able to use it, but I liked the way it worked and my players liked it, though they hated it as well. One players soul was repeatedly ripped out of their body (they took psychic damage each time as well 3d10) but it was also the Bard/Rogue that kept failing, and it was her fault the fight even started kinda.
I’m not cruel though, they can try to break free from the tree using a type of death save, where they can make Wisdom Saving throws and if they pass three times their soul returns to their body, but if they fail three times they are bound to the tree with only others as a method of escaping.
We did end up taking a break in the middle of the fight because so much was going on that they all wanted a rundown of everything happening. It was very hectic. 12 Hellwasps, around 60 stirges, and Haruman (they called him “The Judge”) with his nightmare as it’s own creature during the fight (I used a buffed up Bucephalus (Strahds Nightmare) stat block)
I also used an online stat block for Haruman instead of the regular one, my players are higher level, 6 players between 17 and 19, so he had more abilities and the hellwasps kept making things harder. Lulu was knocked unconscious and 2 of the players were bound to the trees, failing their saves, so the hellwasps started carrying Lulu away toward the hive, Leaving Haruman alone and easy prey for his remaining 80hp.
The Wizard decided to chase the Wasps alone, but eventually with a Giant Goat statue the Bard/Rogue and the Warlock/Paladin caught up to them and the 3 players stopped the wasps from reaching the hive, and saved Lulu but just barely as she had fallen to the ground and no one caught her giving her 2 failed saves. They got her stabilized, and they took a much needed short rest before choosing Path of the Demons.
They had alot of fun, I had alot of fun. A very entertaining encounter, and no AOE cast as they worried about the poor souls on the other trees being hit. It took a long time to run however, about 80% of our session, all the players miraculously survived, the highest remaining HP was around 30, and he was hitting them for around 25 an attack…so it was close.