Help me be a Rat Bastard DM: You have one hour

[Rel]

I've got about an hour and a half until Game Time. See if you can give me some help:

Last week, the party unexpectedly Teleported into Hell. They probably won't be there very long (I think they're going to figure out the way back fairly quickly) but I want it to be a memorable trip. I've already got a fairly typical Devil encounter planned (an Imp, a few Barbezu and the Lemures they summon) but I'd like to hear any ideas you have for some extra diabolical encounters to toss at them in the day they'll probably spend there.

The party is 9th level and they're rather low on Arcane magic right now.

Let me hear what you've got. You have one hour. I'm counting on you, ENWorld! (I promise to write up what happens and post the results here too).

 

[Piratecat]

Rule 1: put them somewhere unexpected.

A big plain is boring. A bridge made from flayed souls and hanging over a river of burning blood, where the devils on either side are involved in intense negotiations that the PCs just crashed, is exciting.

Rule 2: involve the inherent nature of the place. Try to avoid any encounter that could take place elsewhere in the same way. For instance, maybe in hell the sins that the PCs have commited take physical form, and they're attacked by the greed and murder they've done in the past. Or perhaps old enemies who they've killed, and who have gone to hell, come back to taunt them from their place of torture. Or maybe the negotiating devils mentioned above try to use the PCs to aid or hinder the negotiations, sort of like pawns on a gaming board. Just embrace the nature of the plane (eternal torment and punishment) and use it to your advantage.

 

[Pielorinho]

My suggestion was going to be similar to Piratecat's suggestion of old enemies taunting them -- only what if the old enemies are instead begging for mercy, or aren't enemies but rather old acquaintances who turned out to be a lot worse than the PCs imagined?

Imagine them seeing somebody that had annoyed them near the start of their adventuring career, now tied to a rock as wasps build nests in his chest cavity. He's screaming with a throat raw and bloody from constant screaming -- and then he sees the PCs and begs for their assistance. Sure, he was an annoying, venomous little gossip in real life, and maybe the wasps are an apt metaphor -- but does he really deserve this pain?

The PCs might not be able to help him now, but maybe later they'll try.

Or what if someone totally unexpected is in hell? Maybe one of the sweetest people they ever met is there undergoing terrible torture? He won't tell the PCs what he did unless he absolutely must; it turns out that at some point he met a devil at a crossroads and offered his soul in exchange for winning the heart of the girl he loved, or something similar. And now maybe he's begging for help -- or maybe he's enduring his suffering, believing he deserves it for what he did.

Daniel

 

[KenM]

You can have fun if one of the PC's is a paladin.

 

[ConnorSB]

somewhere in the middle of all this death and destruction and torture, there has to be a little happy girl playing with a big red ball. A bouncy one. (the ball, not the girl)

 

[Pielorinho]

One more idea: temptation.

If they end up talking with demons, perhaps one of them could offer a wish to the party's least-moral character. "Oh, you're hunting a dragon, are you? Tell you what: I'm a gambling sort of demon. I'll give you this lovely scimitar of dragonbane, and I'll give it to you free of charge, no strings attached.

"Well, one string, but it's really a minor one. An adventurer like you isn't the sort to die lying down, are you? Die a hero, and there are no strings. But if on the off chance you should pass away in your sleep, in bed, then we'll meet again.

"So do we have a deal?"

Daniel

 

[Matafuego]

I liked the temptation idea, but wouldn't it be more appropriate for a Devil?

 

[maddman75]

Memorable scene I've used before. Might be from a planescape module, can't recall.

The PCs see a devil fortress/city/building of some kind. It looks like there's a wall being built around it. On closer inspection, it seems that when the petitioners (souls of the damned) build it up out of blocks of iron, another group dismantles it as fast as it can be built. This way there's maybe fifty feet of wall, slowly being built and dismantled around the city or whatever. Call it the Wall of Woe or something, and include lots of evil devils whipping the petitioners into working.

 

[Rel]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for the inspiration. I've decided to go with a bit of this:

old acquaintances who turned out to be a lot worse than the PCs imagined

Some of this:

Oh, you're hunting a dragon, are you? Tell you what: I'm a gambling sort of demon. I'll give you this lovely scimitar of dragonbane, and I'll give it to you free of charge, no strings attached

and a whole lot of this:

A bridge made from flayed souls and hanging over a river of burning blood

Won't that be nice?

 

[Felix]

Yeah, I'd go for the very friendly, very helpful, very obliging devil that does whatever he can to assist the party out of whatever connundrum they have at the time. Maybe even fight with them against other devils (devils do that anyway, right? heh)

In exchange for a price, of course. Make the promise as open-ended as possible, to allow the Devil to abuse it in the future.

So, once the PCs reach higher levels, have this devil show up and start turning their lives on thier heads!

Oh, and for flavor, have them cross the river Styx after waiting in line for Charon to take them accross. Hee.