The Grand Cemetery

Get past infernal forces to reach Paelias

• Xandar can use invisibility and flight to recon the area.
• Hearing their issues and hint of desperation, might be a better time to use the deception we tried at the bridge.
• Piles of infernal ash encountered here and there.

Paelias informs group of current state

• Paelias invokes forbiddance daily, preventing teleportation and planar travel into the area, and inflicting radiant damage on any undead or fiend that might enter. Some shock troops have tried rushing the area, but they can't withstand Paelias' spells on top of the radiant damage.
• Ravengard took a contingent of his men to the Grand Cemetery to find the Helm of Torm's Sight. Has been missing 2 days.
• Paelias recoils at the presence of Harad's shield. If Harad mentions his rationale, Paelias tells him that by attuning the shield, he's brought whatever might be inside that shield past his defenses. While he is protected from the evil of Avernus, his powers might not help him against the attuned shield.
• Paelias comes with group to find Ravengard. Varanis stays behind to protect the refugees should forbiddance fail.
• How to get out past the devils?

Encounter Gideon Lightward

• Stops characters at 30 feet by calling down lightning. Demands to know their purpose. Could be convinced to let them pass going in, but not coming out with Ravengard. Paelias suggests possibility that Ravengard may be alive, but incapacitated. Might be better to fight now.

Sea of Shadow

• Massive shadow creature inside circular part of crypt. Rises to surround party, up to their knees. Like a "shadow ooze".
• Cold and necrotic continual damage while immersed.
• Appendages look like shadows and attack. Can be destroyed, but simply reform.
• In dim light, creature is invisible and has resistance to all damage except radiant.
• Vulnerable to radiant. Negative Dex score.
• Immune to necrotic and poison damage, and to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. Resistant to magical same.
• When in bright light, casts a large, flat shadow against one wall. That is the target that must be attacked.

Baphomet's minions

• Ravengard struggles with helm in final room.
• East wall is portal into Baphomet's infinite maze. Ravengard has been dragged there, watched over by goristro and bulezau.
• Demonic minotaur skeletons bar the way. Add save vs. confusion effect from abyssal energy swirling within empty eye sockets (theme like maze/minotaur). Can avert gaze, but disadvantage on attack rolls.
• Brute force encounter. Demons are destroyed if on other side of portal.

Ravengard and the Helm

• Dispel Evil and Good will get the helm off him, but heal is needed to restore his mind.
• He received no information. Someone else must don the helm and defeat Baphomet in mental combat to reach Torm. Baphomet acknowledges that whoever takes the helm has more metal strength than Ravengard.
• Wandering the labyrinth, DC 18 Charisma save to keep sense of self and purpose. Failure loses mind, requires heal spell to recover.
• As labyrinth closes in, DC 18 Wisdom save to keep from becoming lost. Failure loses sense of self, requires dispel evil and good to remove helment.
• To reach the end, DC 18 Con save. Only get this far if first two succeed. Failure, have 4 levels of exhaustion when the journey is done. Either way, the user reaches Torm.
• Receive vision of each of Zariel's generals and what became of them. All those around are struck by the vision as well.
• Haruman is transformed into a narzugon and mounts a nightmare. His expression is exultant.
• Olanthius falls on his sword, then Zariel raises him as a death knight. He kneels, but his expression is cold.
• Yael stops running on a desolate plain and plunges Zariel's into the ground before dying. A spectre of Zariel's angelic nature rises above the sword, then the Alabaster Citadel erupts from the ground around it. A verdant paradise springs up around it and the view pulls back. The paradise sickens and pales, growing twisted and corrupted. The citadel shimmers and fades from sight. Within the twisted landscape, the ghost of Yael sighs, her expression grim but determined. She turns and walks away, disappearing into a shimmering curtain of light.
• The portal to the Abyss grows faint, but does not disappear. The wall at the far side appears faint but intact. Anyone who touches it must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom save or be pulled into Baphomet's Infinite Maze.
• The portal can be closed by destroying the Helm of Torm. Attacking it with a divine smite at any level will suffice
• If asked about Gideon Lightward, Ravengard remembers him as a priest of Lathander.

Won't Be Fooled Again

• Seeing the crew leave with Ravengard, Gideon Lightward determines they were in league with the demons and attacks.
• The purple glow around the chapel is gone.

Back at the High Hall

• Why did Torm show visions of Zariel's generals and her sword?
• How does the Companion / solar insidiator work? Who made it? Can it be reversed?
• Can the chains be broken or the gears jammed?
• Why are the chains even needed? How is Elturel resisting its descent?
• Can the remains of other ruined cities provide any clues?
• Do we need to save the city? Can the people be evacuated instead? Could the Noctilith Gate be repurposed?