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.