Help With the Hells

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey Playground, I need some help.

I have a warlock who wants to get Hell to let them go. Their contract is held by someone in Dis, probably Titivilius. I need an adventure in the Hells that I can adapt into an arc.

Party Composition:

Life Cleric
Fiend-Pact Blade Warlock
Conquest Paladin
Eldritch Knight
Berserker
Alchemist Artificer

I have access to Volo's, Mordenkainen's, and the core rulebooks, and I'm more than willing to grab something off DMsGuild if I need to. The catch is that I need something I can run tonight, so minimal prep work. The warlock's soul is definitely held in the Hells (that is, the devils have the rights to it after the warlock dies), and I would prefer the City of Dis. Otherwise, hit me.

[Great Dragon]

Let me see:

A lot of stories start at the Gate to Hell.
Which is usually guarded.
(Getting in is easy, getting back out, not so much)

Cerberus is supposed to be Hade's Guardian, but it's D&D, so….

Next, getting to the River Styx.
Attracting a Canoloth (or Charon himself, if you prefer) and paying for passage to the second layer is needed.

I think there were Fiendish creatures in the Styx, but don't remember what books they are in.

Plus possible Encounters with Demons and Devils (both attacking each other on sight) while traveling on the Styx.

I tend to use the same Concept for travel as a lot of the other "Spirit Planes" where Physical movement has little to no meaning, and it's more knowing what is sought, and applied willpower, that gets the person where they desire.

For possible examples of what to expect without looking up all the different Devils, the old Module "A Paladin in Hell" might work.

Once on Dis, the Party might need to "hire" a guide. An Imp is perfect for this, since lots of people tend to underestimate them.

Again, for a fast Encounter, you could use a Module, this time: "Hellgate Keep".

I'll leave the Boss Encounter to you.

[Brookshw]

Minimum prepwork is kinda tricky since at a you kind of want to know the module. If you have time today you could consider grabbing Fires of Dis (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17273/Fires-of-Dis-2e). You'd probably want to cut out the whole paladin sword bit and Dispater's plan, and sub in Titivilius holding the contract, and a Pit Fiend who has similar motives to embarrass him by helping the party succeed. A lot of the encounters could be redone without too much effort, you already have 5e stats for most of the creatures the party'd encounter and it shouldn't be too hard to redo any traps on the fly.

[JackPhoenix]

Wait until Descent Into Avernus comes out in 3 months?

[Sparky McDibben]

Thanks, all!