D&D 5E How to destroy or close a portal to the Nine Hells?

SkidAce · Dec 15, 2017

Storyteller Hero said:
If that doesn't work, try tossing a squirrel at it.

...prompts image of all of Tiamat's heads swiveling in one direction going "squirrel" and forgetting about the characters.

aco175 · Dec 16, 2017

To close a portal to hell and stop Tiamat, I want to see an ultimate sacrifice by one of the PCs. I would like to see one of the heroes step up and jump in.

"Tell everyone, I was awesome..."

Quickleaf · Dec 16, 2017

robus said:
So my players are in a battle with Tiamat (end of the RoT), just her heads, fortunately, as she's slowly emerging through the portal. They spent the end of the last session battling her and of course it's not going particularly well ...

None of them have had the idea of destroying or closing the portal as a way to deal with the threat, so in case that comes up (and I may have an NPC suggest it if they don't cotton on soon!) I wondered what would be an effective method of disrupting or closing the portal? (I'm now wishing that they'd found some strange device on their travels that would do the trick )

Has anyone had something similar happen in their game and have some advice?

You could play up the more subtle insinuating side of Tiamat (there's a reason she has cultists!), having her slowly possessing a dark-haired sorceress/wizardess if there happens to be one in the party or suitable NPC in the scene. She's known to assume that form among mortals, in some traditions of D&D.

Alternately, you could play up her greedy/vain weakness, such that if the PCs throw a suitably tempting offering through the portal it distracts Tiamat long enough for them to collapse the portal's threshold physically, or such that if the PCs successfully heap on the draconic brown-nosing Tiamat physically grows along with her ego until she is too large for the portal which ruptures, banishing her back to the Nine Hells.

Eltab · Dec 16, 2017

Tiamat is the ultimate greedy dragon and she loves treasure. Throw something VERY valuable through the portal. Display it to her so she knows how valuable it is and will follow it.
What's your coolest magic item? Or the costly material component for your best spell? Tiamat may not care about souls but a Paladin of Bahamut charging around to smite her from behind (like he is a Paladin/Rogue) might get her attention. Especially if he is wielding a Holy Avenger of Dragon Slaying Greatsword. Or something like Hadryllis (named sword, part of the Regalia of State for the king of Rashemen).

Kurotowa · Dec 16, 2017

The tact I'd take is based around the idea that Hellgates are unnatural. If a single sacrifice was all it took to open a permanent portal then the legions of hell would have conquered the Prime long ago. Thus, any portal opened so easily must be a temporary portal.

This means the goal of the PCs is to stall Tiamat long enough for the gate to expire and close on its own. During that time they need to prevent her from either completely traversing it or applying additional effects to stabilize it, preferably not dying in the process. Have someone make an Arcana check, give them an estimate with a margin of error (maybe roll 1d12+8 and only tell them it's 9 to 20 rounds), and see what they can do to stall her and interfere with her actions.