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

[robus]

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?

 

[iserith]

If the portal is bound by a physical object such as an archway, perhaps physically destroying said object might do the trick. Just make sure it's suitably hard enough to destroy that it sets up a meaningful trade-off between attacking or casting spells at it versus attacking Tiamat, healing allies, etc.

If the portal is not bound by a physical object, then you might consider some kind of sacrifice being required as an offering to the Lords of the Nine. A PC with an alignment diametrically opposed to the Nine Hells (chaotic good) might do the trick. The PC voluntarily gives up his or her eternal soul to save the world from a terrible fate. That'd be an epic way to go out. I'd certainly take that option if I was a player in that game.

 

[robus]

If the portal is bound by a physical object such as an archway, perhaps physically destroying said object might do the trick. Just make sure it's suitably hard enough to destroy that it sets up a meaningful trade-off between attacking or casting spells at it versus attacking Tiamat, healing allies, etc.

If the portal is not bound by a physical object, then you might consider some kind of sacrifice being required as an offering to the Lords of the Nine. A PC with an alignment diametrically opposed to the Nine Hells (chaotic good) might do the trick. The PC voluntarily gives up his or her eternal soul to save the world from a terrible fate. That'd be an epic way to go out. I'd certainly take that option if I was a player in that game.

The portal is within a "temple" structure - so it's kind of bound to that but it's a massive structure so hard to destroy and perhaps might seem a bit of a cop out.

I love the idea of a PC sacrificing themselves (and it would make a nice parallel to the event that opened it - which was Severin sacrificing himself when he saw his plans being wrecked...!)

I guess I could have an NPC suggest it - especially if they ask how it was opened...

 

[iserith]

The portal is within a "temple" structure - so it's kind of bound to that but it's a massive structure so hard to destroy and perhaps might seem a bit of a cop out.

I love the idea of a PC sacrificing themselves (and it would make a nice parallel to the event that opened it - which was Severin sacrificing himself when he saw his plans being wrecked...!)

I guess I could have an NPC suggest it - especially if they ask how it was opened...

Making a big sacrifice in the present for the sake of the future is an archetypal story (perhaps even THE archetypal story) so it should in theory resonate with the players.

 

[Oofta]

I would run it as a series of skill checks using different types of skills and abilities. They can't simply destroy the temple, they have to destroy it in the correct manner.

So an entire adventure could be a series of religion/history/arcana checks so that the characters remember something similar happened once and how it was handled. Then a series of challenges where they need to disable or physically destroy certain pieces in certain sequences, all while fighting off enemies. Perhaps there are sets of spinning crystals hidden around the temple that need to be disabled or smashed (they explode if smashed of course) in a specific order or within a certain period of time.

Think of it like shutting down a nuclear power plant. You can't just bash away, you need to figure out what steps are necessary (maybe there's a book with details somewhere) then do things in order or risk the gate exploding and Tiamat getting out even more easily. You can also involve an NPC ritualist that the group needs to escort from place to place while protecting them from attack at the same time, or maybe a guide who can tell them what to do but the guide can't physically be there to do it themselves.

I've done variations on the theme a few times, the trick was to allow different skills, give the players enough hints (or just state "You know that in order to disable this you will need to ...") so they know the direction to take and keep the story moving. Remember that while Bob isn't a genius, his wizard Razzmattaz is, good ol' Razzy may think of how to do things Bob would never consider. That doesn't guarantee automatic success of course, just that the players know an option (or two) of what can be done.

 

[robus]

[MENTION=6801845]Oofta[/MENTION] - it's a bit late for that... Tiamat has appeared and she's not happy

But good advice for any following in my footsteps!

 

[MechaTarrasque]

The old "trick the big bad into destroying the portal" scheme is a good one, especially because you can marry it into the "one good person sacrifices everything to stop evil" idea by making one PC annoy Tiamat so much that she damages the temple trying to get at him/her (seems like a really good bit for a [dragonborn] paladin), although it would be nice to set it up before the big fight. It is also the kind of thing that works with some quick fortune cookie wisdom that an NPC might blurt out in the middle of a fight (the raging crocodile can only drown itself).

 

[Oofta]

[MENTION=6801845]Oofta[/MENTION] - it's a bit late for that... Tiamat has appeared and she's not happy

But good advice for any following in my footsteps!

D'oh! Well then maybe they should find a book on how to build a SpellJammer ship.

But I like [MENTION=6801226]MechaTarrasque[/MENTION] 's idea - trick her into destroy her own portal. Set up traps so that either she retreats back to hell or she gets decapitated as the portal closes. That or get her so PO'ed that she chases a volunteer into hell while the others close the portal. Noble sacrifice time!

 

[Bigsta]

The portal is within a "temple" structure - so it's kind of bound to that but it's a massive structure so hard to destroy and perhaps might seem a bit of a cop out.

I love the idea of a PC sacrificing themselves (and it would make a nice parallel to the event that opened it - which was Severin sacrificing himself when he saw his plans being wrecked...!)

I guess I could have an NPC suggest it - especially if they ask how it was opened...

Have ancient runes that translates to "A huminoid's worth of soul.". The PCs will likely think it simply didn't translate well and what is required is one humanoid soul sacrifice.

Smart parties will figure out that they can each give up one fourth of their souls (if a party of 4) to create one full humanoid soul to seal the portal.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

Tear off all your clothes, scream loudly the name of your local yoga instructor, then start dancing counter-clockwise in a circle around the gate/portal, while singing the theme to Happy Days. Don't forget to raise your hips high and include plenty of twerks during the choral transitions.

If that doesn't work, try tossing a squirrel at it.