316vas - Jinx In Hell 01

Jinx in Hell, Part 1 An AD&D Campaign Report Jim Vassilakos ([email protected]) Taking yet another break from Ragamuffin, I thought I’d inflict upon you all the goings-on of a single-player AD&D campaign which I’m currently running. As to be expected, the backstory here is quite long and convoluted, and only rarely and accidentally does it actually make any sense. Suffice it to say that this sucker has been running for years. These days we hit it about once or twice a month, dropping into PBeM mode between the face-to-face sessions. The main character is Jinx, the daughter of Malarea1, and a mannish hero of great renown who once traipsed through the Hells, sword in hand, butchering a great many devils and generally causing terrible anarchy in his wake. Jinx was born on a little-known prime material world, secreted there by her mother, where she quietly developed her talents as a warrior and later as a necromancer, only to save the primary mannish kingdom from near-certain destruction before she left. As of late, she’s been plane-hopping, getting into the sort of trouble her daddy used to get into, although in a slightly more subtle manner, often trying to work from within societies and their laws rather than completely outside them. This is a bit odd, in a way, for though she views herself as half-devil, she really isn’t, as Malarea was never quite what she seemed to be... something that Jinx has only recently come to understand. It’s really impossible for me to get into her whole back-story without droning on for several dozen pages, so without further ado, we’ll simply pick up the action with her recent entrance into Nessus, the 9th Plane of Hell.

Upon crossing through the planar vortex into Nessus, Jinx feels as though she’s at the center of a clap of thunder, the 1

See Dragon #91, p23.

deafening noise echoing into the distance, leaving her ears ringing. As she looks around, she sees that she and her Nightmare steed, Laertes, are at the mouth of a mountain cave which is ringed by an eerie blue luminescence. That must be the portal back to Caina from which she just emerged. Amidst a crimson red skyline which is blanketed with mists, several other mountains rise upward from the cloud layer, some of them spewing magma, others standing dormant like black cinders rising from a sea of white haze. Despite the ringing in her ears, she can hear the flapping of several sets of wings off to the right, just beyond the cliff face. Whatever they are, they seem to be getting closer. “Welcoming committee,” Jinx directs Laertes to take to the air, glancing over her shoulder as they put in some distance. There are about a dozen Pit Fiends behind her now. She brings Laertes about, pulling back her hood. “Do you pursue me with the desire to kill a princess,” she inquires in the tongue of devils2, “or to escort messenger to Octiverus’3 Mephistopheles?”4 There is one who appears larger than the others, and he bows slightly in midair. “Our apologies... we were not informed that Octiverus had a new messenger. We will escort you to the gate.” He makes a signal with his claw, and the others fan around Jinx in a protective circle. “Follow me,” he says, flying downward to the mists below. The cloud 2

Also known as Mabrahoring. In my game this also doubles as the lawful-evil tongue in those instances where I’m playing with alignment languages. 3 Octiverus was once the gold dragon sage of Bahamut before he sacrificed his soul during the Dragon Wars to the clutches of devilkind in an episode of high adventure which would probably make you groan out loud if you ever had the misfortune of hearing about it. 4 Asmodeus was slain during a chapter of the DemonWars known as the Quest of Achellios, leading to a series of events where Mephisto finally attained the crimson throne.

layer is thick and strewn with the dust of volcanic ash. Below it, Jinx sees deep canyons cutting across the landscape, smoke billowing up here and there. Several minutes later, they are over a burning forest, the trees themselves seemingly composed of a mixture of wood and elemental fire. She can’t help but wonder how their branches are able to keep burning ceaselessly without being consumed. Then, as she looks closer, she can see that humanoid beings appear to be impailed upon many of the branches, forever burning as punishment for past deeds. Then there’s a range of mountains, rising like black pillars up through the clouds. On the way up, she can see that they are dotted with caves, one in the facade of the skull vomiting forth a stream of lava which falls down through the cloud layer and into the canyons below. Oddly enough, from the lava seems to emanate the noise of voices screaming. She looks closer only to see that there are bones amidst the lava, scorched by its heat, and living skulls, crying out in hideous pain as they fall, burning, down through the clouds. At this point, they circle around to the other side of the mountain, and enter through one of the caves, an ornate opening made to look like the mouth of a laughing devil. There are sentries there in the eye-sockets, and as they land on the tongue (effectively the welcome mat), Jinx can see a huge set of double doors composed of a strange black iron and enscrawled with magical glyphs. They open for the Pit Fiend leader without him so much as uttering a word, and Jinx is escorted into a large chamber which is basically empty save for doorways and torch sconces in which are placed some of the everburning branches of the forest below. “This is the keep of my lord, Duke Morax5. You will need his leave to gate to the palace of the Overlord. How shall I introduce you?” Let me if you liked this little installment, and perhaps I’ll scrape up a few more. -Jim 5

See Dragon #76, p38.