Tanar'ri

[unimaginable]

Battle lines have formed between Eladrin and Tanar'ri in the forest of the Beastlands. I want to have the PCs be able to interact with the Tanar'ri but not just have an all out battle because they'll die horribly (lvl 5 party).

Concept I'm running with is to allow the party to kill a handful of Dretch while the other demons just stand back and laugh, and then a Hezrou steps forward. Hopefully someone in the party charges him, and we get a fun bit of them failing the forest save against his stench, and then he teases them (maybe a "stop! Hitting! Yourself!" bit) while insulting them but ultimately giving them a mission: figure out where the Obyrith they're chasing is.

So... I need details. How do I get them into the position of killing Dretch, why would the PCs want to approach anyway, how do I RP the Hezrou, and what are the Eladrin doing this whole time?

[iDM]

They could come across a dretch eating an eladrin corpse, which would make them attack it; when they do, more tanar'ri show up and send in a few more dretches (maybe with a line like, "This should be entertaining!" from the hezrou) and they force the PCs into a gladiator-type fight while they watch. The hezrou could then taunt the PCs, maybe cut them up a little bit, and the tanar'ri would goad them with threats of pain in the Abyss for eternity.

[Mikeavelli]

Or tormenting a still-alive Eladrin. Players are cold sometimes, they might not think the desecration of a corpse is worth their necks, but if they're at all good-aligned they'll try to save the still-living thing.

Gives you a good mouthpiece to tell players the story, also. Assuming it survives.

[unimaginable]

Well in that case, why would the Eladrin be holding back?

I was thinking of having the portal to the Abyss be in a cave or something, and nothing in particular stopping the PCs from entering. Eladrin are willing to wait until the Tanar'ri try to leave the cave. Near the entrance of the cave are the Dretch. Does that work?

[The Tygre]

That works for why the dretch are there. A Hezrou's personality can best be described as 'toxic'; they're smart, but they prefer beating crap up, breaking things apart, torture, rape, mayhem, etc. As such, they'll probably come off as bullies, but not so stupid as to intentionally drive themselves into defeat. They're usually riddled with some kind of deformity or delirium as well. The Eladrin might be stuck in trees, preoccupied with babaus or vrocks or some other kind of guard. They should probably swoop in if things turn ugly.