4E - Devil Lieutenants - Need Help

[Markn]

Hey folks,

Got a campiagn going that is approaching 19th level. The next adventure involves going to Hell to take out a powerful Outcast Devil on the Plane of Avernus (1st layer of Hell). My thinking is that they need to get an audience with this powerful Devil (so that they can kill him). As an incentive to get this audience the PCs have gained a magic item called the gem of souls (my own creation) that contains 666 souls. Since souls are essentially a currency in Hell I have decided that this would be something that would be enticing to this devil. However, said devil, is very cautious and doesn't let anyone just enter his court - he is an outcast afterall and even other devils are scheming to see him destroyed.

Thus, I have come up with the idea that he has three trusted lieutenants. If these lietenants will vouch for the PCs (because the PCs will likely offer them something or best them somehow) then the PCs can get the audience with the devil they want to kill. What I would like help with is coming up with 3 interesting fights/skill challenges besides just a straight up fight that would make the encounter more interesting. For example, the 1st lieutenant is more of a brute and so he respects strength. With this one, he will fight for a time because he believes the PCs are nothing. Maybe once they have him bloodied he will call for a truce and discuss the situation a bit more and then make a counter offer to the PCs with him trying to garner wealth (perhaps even the gem himself), knowledge or power in exchange for him vouching for the PCs. Perhaps he even has the PCs face a "champion" of his choosing to prove their mettle.

So there you have it, I have the seed for the 1st lieutenant (but this can still be greatly improved), and I am asking for your help with the others. Throw me some ideas, personalities, skill challenges or anything else that would help.

Appreciate it and thanks in advance.

 

[aco175]

Each lieutenant has ambition to become captain and may see the PC's as a means to make this happen. A controller type may not be able to confront the party directly but can have his vote swayed by having the party go after something that has been bothering him for a while. This could be most anything from killing his in-laws to surviving the wild rapids if Avernus. It could also be along the lines of going back to the material world and commiting some sort of evil, kidnapping a princess, tricking someone into letting 1000 devils loose in the world.

Depending how powerful the party looks through this side event, the lieutenant may keep his word and back the party with seeking audience and maybe distracting reinforcements from arriving, for al least a short rest, or secretly tell his lord and both scheme to trap the party.

 

[Markn]

That pretty much rings with what I have been brainstorming. One other thing to note is that this campaign has 2 DM's who rotate after each 3 level adventure. For the moment, I have enough long and short term plots going that I would like these lieutenant encounters to be pretty straight forward. Essentially, 3 different personalities that translate to 3 encounters with different feeling. I am looking for crunch ideas for each encounter based on a personality concept and how it would apply to a fight or to a skill challenge or a combination of both to give a different feel for each encounter.

 

[Saagael]

I've always thought it might be fun to set the characters in a gladiatorial arena style combat, where they are pitted against several waves of enemies. Perhaps one of the devils decides to test the character's endurance and has them fight several waves of devilish creatures along with having traps in the arena the players must dodge and avoid. The battle could end after a certain number of rounds, and then the devil would jump in and test the players after they're worn down some.

Of course, this could also be run as a skill challenge, with three complexity 1 or 2 components. One challenge to brace against the oncoming attackers, one to deal with traps and one to aid or heal allies. The players go in turn from one challenge to the next, rolling a primary/secondary check, then moving on. So you've got a three turn round that continues until the players succeed or fail the "defend against attackers" challenge. If they succeed the devil jumps in for the final confrontation. If they fail, they still fight the devil, but perhaps they start at their bloodied value, missing 1/3 their total surges and 2 encounters/1 daily of their choice (or whatever you choose).

I prefer the skill challenge idea personally, but if your players are less into them, go for the regular wave combat.

For another devil, maybe one of them pits the players against a maze they have to navigate to the end that is filled with traps and monsters. Sort of like a mini "Tomb of Horrors".

 

[Gilladian]

Perhaps one of the devils wants something that ISN'T evil, for once. He has a secret desire for some item/food/creature. He can't tell the PCs what he wants, and why he wants it, so he makes it a riddle contest, or a scavenger hunt.

"Bring me the object which is the answer to this riddle, and I will vouch for you," sort of thing. And if the PCs find out his weakness (skill challenge, insight), they have a lever to prevent him from betraying them.

 

[Markn]

Thanks for the replies guys. It's been a busy week and I haven't given this much thought all week until today. I started setting up some of the encounters and have created some of the personalities for the 3 devil lieutenants. They are:

Scaramander (took the name from Adven. Tools): This devil is ambitious, enjoys power and like to lord it over others. His court consists of euphoric devils that utter prayers to him and act on his every whim. Part of his court includes a nightwalker and a larva assassin. He is very fond of flattery and he likes to have his power recognized.

Malphas: A decorated champion from the Blood War. He has many slaves, some demonic (even a Goristro slave) that is part of his court and bodyguards. Because he supports (perhaps forced to) an Outcast Devil, he is on dangerous ground but for him it has also provided more power and wealth than what he would have obtained otherwise.

Bist: This devil is incredibly cunning, aloof and generally keeps to his own court or to himself. In the recent past he has bound several Pit Fiends to several artifacts which he uses to power rituals or devices of his own creation. Perhaps the bonds that hold the Pit Fiends in place are weakening, perhaps not.

All 3 of these lieutenants share the same physcial location (that is a fortress) but each has his own area. They all follow Lamashtu (name stolen from Pathfinder) and Lamashtu is an Outcast Devil because 10,000 years ago an artifact from the Far Realm perverted his nature and altered his physical form. Now, his driving goal is open a permanent portal on the Prime to the Far Realm and bring the entity known as the 9 Nine Tongued Worm to the Prime. This does not align with the powers of Hell and therefore he was labelled an Outcast Devil.

The crux of the adventure is that Zamnaster (another name ripped off from somewhere ), who is the right hand man (devil) of Lamashtu and has aided the PCs before, has decided that now is the time to take down Lamashtu so he can have power for himself and remove his Outcast stigma that association with Lamashtu brings. Unfortunately, Zamnaster needs to do this secretly and the PCs through other means need Lamashtu killed as well. Thus, while Lamashtu and the PCs are not allies per se, their goals currently align. So Lamashtu has given the PCs some extra incentive to do this. The trick is, however, is that no one knows exactly where Lamashtu's abode is. To get an audience with Lamashtu, Zamnasters knows that at least 3 devils need to recoommend them to Lamashtu before they are given the location. Therefore, the PCs need to face each of these devils. I'd like to have a different dynamic in each one, some fighting, some skill challenges or a combination of the two so it doesn't feel like a straight forward dungeon crawl. They need to be contained, that is, no subquests or ongoing plots, sort of a 1 and done thing and then the devil recommends the PCs. I'm looking for something dynamic, perhaps with several phases befoere they win that devils confidence.

Hope that helps. Looking for more ideas!