Hunt for the Darkness

Hunt for the Darkness (level 15)

The party is a band driven by nothing but greed, brutal vengeance, or power. Their current alliance is only maintained by mutually assured destruction along with a promise of wealth (and possibly the ability to backstab the rest later). Everyone is lethal in their own right thanks to years of practice and potent magical artifacts, but together they can rival even demon lords. This collective power is what made them appealing to Asmodeus, the King of Hell, summoned all of them to the court of Nessus and offered a deal with them: Go through the Underdark and claim the Book of Vile Darkness from its holy guardians and return it him and you will be rewarded beyond your mortal imaginations… or keep it and hold one of the evilest artifacts in the world.


Party Items per character

1 very rare item
1 rare item
1 uncommon item
Any armor or weapon wanted
2 kits of any choice
2 rare potions of any choice

Plot Overview

• The party is assembled in the court of the deepest layer of the Nine Hells, possibly knowing each other beforehand, surrounded by 10 Pit Fiend dukes and duchesses and beneath the throne of the evilest deity alive! Despite being over 100 ft. away his voice reaches the minds of every character easily to say “You are all mortals of great, diabolical cunning. I know this for I am the lord of all misdeeds and I have accepted your works as an interplanar commission.”
• Asmodeus will persuade the party to go through a cave system of the Underdark and retrieve the Book of Vile Darkness from a lair of a blessed golden dragon named Narthane. “Narthane has converted his entire sector of the caves to a sacred domain of the pest Bahamut,” Asmodeus reveals with disgust before beckoning a Pit Fiend to bring out a contract for all of the characters to sign. The contract decrees that the party will venture forth and return with the ancient and terrible tome, if they refuse their soul will be sent to the Hells and reformed into an imp (this part isn’t true, but Asmodeus wants to guarantee the party’s loyalty for the time).
• Once everyone has signed the contract by choice, threat of death, or actual death when Asmodeus smites them and kills them instantly just to revive them just as quickly, the King of Hell plane shifts them to a tunnel in the Underdark along with a scroll of plane shift to send them back to Nessus.

Description of the Caves: The pitch-black caves you find yourselves in are darker than any night you’ve ever experienced. Everyone knows that the Underdark is intimidating for its shadow, but also for the skittering and wails of pain behind every cavern wall. The system you are in is silent. As if something came through and killed every living thing in here.

The tunnels are huge half cylinders with 40-foot wide grounding and a maximum height of 50-feet. They also contain very few offshoots and those that exist lead to dead-ends or treasure coves.

• This region is exactly 12 miles away from Narthane’s cavern which means the party gets to experience every Regional Effect of the dragon’s presence in the possible ways:
• If a party member rests, Narthane enters their dreams and tries to convince them to stop doing evil or coming after the book. “It will not end well for you” he says calmly but forcefully.
• A low, rolling fog creates false images of fiends big and small meant to intimidate the party away from Narthane’s cavern. They coincidentally show the Pit Fiends that will show up later.
• Small glowing runes of a flying gold dragon start appearing 10 miles away from the main chamber, lining the walls, and providing the normally dark caves with dim light. These sigils can lead the party to Narthane and thus the book.
• After an hour of travel a pair of Pit Fiend brothers show up and declare, “When Lord Asmodeus sees we’ve brought back the tome he’s sure to grant us the rank of Archdevils,” one of them starts, “Perhaps, even our own layer of Hell,” the other finishes with a hiss. They will fight to the death against the party because they were sent to report to Asmodeus of the players’ strengths and weaknesses later, not retrieve the book.
• The party is able to rest uninhibited by any creatures or natural hazards for as long as they’d like. But Narthane knows they’re here and knows what they’re after; he’ll keep trying to persuade all of them to join the side of good and be redeemed in the eyes of the Platinum Dragon. Whether members of the party accept, or reject is up to them, should they deny his appeals to their better nature Narthane grimly puts, “So be it.” and never contacts them telepathically again.
• 1 mile away from the dragon’s sanctum is a Storm Giant named Tumalohk who’s very unique in that he converted to Bahamut worship and now works with a dragon who lives in the Underdark. An unexpected sight to be sure but he stands guard outside the chamber door, sword in hand, and simply puts “You are not the first to come for the Book. And you will not be the last.” then begins the offensive, pulling stalagmites and stalactites to throw for his rock attack.
• The party does have time to rest after their fight, but Narthane will know about the death of his comrade and get his vengeance. When the party opens the massive double doors (DC 25 group Strength (Athletics) check) they will see a 200-foot-wide oval shaped room with 2 staircases that lead up to the infamous, nightmarish Book of Vile Darkness, on a crystal plinth surrounded by a 15-foot radius dome of impenetrable magic.
• Narthane is hard to spot in his chamber because he shapeshifted into a bat to land by the doors. When he reveals his true form, he casts gate from a scroll as big as a carpet and summons a Ki-rin to aid him in his battle (if any party members turned to the side of good now would be the perfect time to reveal their new allegiance). The Ancient Gold Dragon fights fiercely and will attempt to subdue the party before killing them (suggestion, slow, Weakening Breath) but will kill them if needed. The Ki-rin focuses on distracting the players so it can heal the dragon more.
• If Narthane dies the dome of force dissipates but the Ki-rin remains until it also dies. His lair has 125,000 gold pieces worth of loot and the BoVD is free to access and attune to. After the book is reclaimed, the party can bring it to Asmodeus or keep it for themselves, either way pleases the evil god who just wanted to sow malice and cruelty into the world. Asmodeus grants all of them all the Epic Boon, the Boon of the Fire Soul so they can live in Hell for as long as they’d like and takes the book from himself. If the party (or a renegade member) opts to keep the book, then they can wield its dark knowledge in any way they choose without being turned into Imps. Either ending results in them leveling up to 16.

Narthane: Narthane is an Ancient Gold Dragon and devotee of Bahamut. Due to his faith, he has been bestowed several spells which he uses in and out of combat. His holy quest was to confiscate the evil BoVD from the lich that held it. He killed the wizard and repurposed his chamber into a sanctum of good. He trusts Tumalohk with his life despite the bad blood between Dragons and Giants, he wants to look into the future where evil is extinguished across the material plane.

Ideal. I do not serve individuals, but rather history. By acting strategically, I tip the ultimate balance toward justice and virtue. (Good)

Spellcasting. Narthane can cast the following spells without any material components 1/day each using his Charisma (DC 24): bless, commune, cure wounds, geas, plane shift (+16 to hit), slow, suggestion, word of recall, zone of truth

Tumalohk: Used to be a Storm Giant general who was called into the service of Bahamut via holy omens 150 years ago. He was ostracized for this and was sent out in self-imposed exile where he met Narthane and decided to befriend him. Since then, he crafted and enchanted his own armor and lives in the Underdark on his divine mission of guarding the Book of Vile Darkness for as long as he lives. He’s lived a very long 400 years and can quickly strategize to take on almost any opponent.

Tumalohk is a regular Storm Giant with the following changes: AC 19 due to his +1 plate armor and he has the Thunderous Stomp action