Recap after two month break

Arrival on Avernus

After traversing the bowels of the Necropolis with Ammareth Hartfort, our heroes defeat Markella and breathe a sigh of relief. Returning to Demi Urge Hurd, you learn the entire city of Mirador has been teleported to Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells.

Leaving the Necropolis, you're accosted by a creature who introduces himself as Drulgath. Mal identifies him as an Orthon, a creature known in the Nine Hells as bounty hunters and collectors of debts. Being held at bay by the Intercessors, Drulgath explains that Malbraxys bears the Mark of the Apostate and he is to die for his treason against his people. He urged Mal to turn himself in, or he will be forced to hunt him. Mal declines, but Suly is impressed with the Drulgath's civility given the reputation of the Nine Hells.

Exploring the city now floating hundreds of feet above the River Styx in Avernus, the sky is filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ravens. Returning to the Hartfort estate to reunite Ammareth with his family, the resource depleted party spends the night. Noteably, the food is pretty awful, even the rations they brought taste almost sulfruric.

Leaving the estate, the players finds a pair of winged, armored cambions weilding glaives and crossbows standing guard outside. The guards tells them to stay inside for their own safety, but Mal ain't having any of it, and begins turning the portcullis' wheel. Infuriated, the guards instruct Mal to stop or face summary execution, but instead turns his back on his people and beliefs even in the face of an occupying army roaming Mirador's streets.

With amazing timing, almost as if the DM didn't want to TPK the party, a Narzugon cavalier on a Nightmare mount approaches the party. This human-like, unholy paladin forces the guards to their knees, not caring about their petty concerns, tells the group that Zariel demands their presence.

Led by the Narzugon, the party makes their way to Mirador's Civil Administration building. Along the way, they see numerous guards patrolling the streets, corpses of citizens violating the mandated curfew, and even witness an execution of a human man trying to steal food for his family.

Machinations

On arrival, the party meets with Shawna Hastings, Archduchess Zariel of Avernus, and Lina DeFelius from the Thargate Assembly. Lina smugly congratulates the party for defeating Markella, and with a thinly veiled comment shows Fionula she is acutely aware of her... deadline. Ms. DeFelius is dismissed by Zariel, and has her escorted from the building.

Shawna, now acting as unofficial leader of the city with all other officials seemingly dead, is barely coping. Suly attempts to formulate a plan to use the city's clerics and other casters to create enough food and water to feed the city, but the numbers don't add up. Knowing this, Zariel offers to deal with all the city's needs, for the low price of 100 fresh souls a month. Mustering what courage she could, Shawna negotiates the number down to 75.

Zariel, hearing of the party's success in dealing with Markella, offers employment. Bring her Elysande Gracey and Gideon Lightfort to her alive, and Mirador will no longer have to pay the 75 souls a week tax. Zariel tells them to find someone named Mad Maggie, located in a place called Fort Knucklebone, who might provide them with a lead on the location on Gideon Lightfort. When Zariel departs, Shawna is given the news the entire Hartfort family was executed on the grounds of non-compliance with civil authority, but seemingly unaware of Mal's role in that affair.

Summoning Liriam for the first time since the battle, Tenraja hears a terse voice saying that transit of Legion officials is not permitted, Tenraja tries again after making a deal with Zariel. Liriam appears, but in the form a Nightmare. A pegasus that has been corrupted and transformed into a blacken, flaming horse and fiery wings. Seemingly unchanged personality wise, Liriam enjoys his new power and new flight capabilities.

Making their way to the edge of city, the party encounters a few bone devils and imps harassing a woman and three children. The bone devils want the youngest of them, a boy named Armand, on the basis of an Abyssal connection. The party intervenes, and does battle with imps and bone devils. In the battle, a familiar wolf runs into the fray, followed closely by bow wielding dwarf ranger.

The party is successful, but the children are killed during the battle. Suly is able to cast Revivify on them immediately after. Appealing to a neighbor who takes in the family, the party talk to Armand who talks about his friend Quinix who gave him some basic magical abilities. They theorize he's a warlock in the making, and tell the family to lay low.

Not sure what to make of Murie's and Dathon's reappearance after their deaths on Wincier Island, the party is cautious. After some conversation, it's revealed this is the Murie and Dathon from the original timeline. She met an elderly wizard named Mauthereign Vance, which is odd considering you encountered him in his late thirties. He told her that she was needed for the trials that were yet to come, but was unspecific. Murie, confused by the changes in this timeline, was glad to meet familiar faces and was eager to help you out any way she could.

With the coast seemingly clear, you approached the edge of Mirador, which now floats above the River Styx some five hundred feet over Avernus itself. There are about a dozen, giant chains attached to the city's foundation, keeping Mirador tethered to the surface of Avernus. The party take turns riding Liriam down to the surface.

Suly finds a note right where he landed, from his new mysterious pen pal Yodth, who congratulated him on the success of the battle, asked for Mirador to be returned to the material plane, and made mention of "tempting Zariel with redemption."

Underland

Cartographer Fionula made a crude map of the surrounding area, and determined a general course of direction to where Fort Knucklebone may reside. That said, travel was difficult due to the heat, dry air, and noxious fumes rolling off the lands' many mountains. Tiring quickly, the party take a long rest in Fionula's Tiny Hut.

Fionula reached out to Nambria for help, and she was surprisingly quick to answer. You were transported to a large, underground cave filled with impossibly vast mushrooms and barely comprehensible vegetation. Nambria said she would send someone to help, and told the party what they needed to know about Maggie. It turns out, Maggie is a former archfey of the Winter Court and Nambria was responsible for her banishment to Avernus hundreds of years prior.

The next morning, a clearly unstable Eladrin elf shows up at their hut, and introduces himself as Smiler the Defiler. He's riding on some kind "motorcycle", as he called it, fueled by the souls of the damned. He gives detailed instructions on how to reach Fort Knucklebones and waxes philosophic about his love of killing devils.

Resuming travel, the party finds large black puddles of Ichor, which Malbraxys identifies as "demon ichor", a sort of residue left behind from decomposing demons. Emmerging from one such puddle, a mutated fey creature known as a Red Cap, who then begins hurling insults at the players. Fionula sasses the deformed redcap, but it's feelings hurt and a battle ensues.

Immediately after, a familiar individual wanders over, Ammareth Hartfort. He looks sickly, wounded, and pale. Babbling almost incoherently, he angrily confronts Malbrayxs over his death and the death of his entire family, as a result of Mal's open defiance of Zariel's soldiers. Suly identifies him as having become a revenent, and through a well worded appeal combined with magical means, talks Ammareth down from a violent encounter. The party decides to let Liriam travel back to the city with Ammareth to see if Demi Urge Hurd can try to help him.

Travelling the Avernus wastes for a while longer, they find Fort Knucklebone at last. They are dismayed to see it's inhabited more redcaps, but they approach as they have no alternative. A redcap manning the guardtower by the gate, asks for the password. Fionula correctly guesses that it's "password" and they let the party in.

A pair of Kenku named Chukka and Clonk accost and annoy you with their nonsense, until you're able to get through to them you want to see Mad Maggie. Clonk repeats the phrase "you bird brains call me Mad Maggie one more time and I'll cut your fucking heads off!" You conclude you should simply call her Maggie.

Maggie

Chukka escorts you into their excavation of an underground Dwarven city, which you could only guess arrived to Avernus by similar means as Mirador. Outside an entrance to the Dwarven structure, you meet Maggie. She is impressed by your manners even through Fionula trips all over herself trying not to reveal her association with Nambria.

You catch Maggie up on your adventure, who reveals to you that her and Zariel were friends before her descent. She was exiled from the Feywild due to her participation in an incident with "the lady of the White Well" but doesn't provide many details. You tell her of Zariel's request to bring her Gideon Lightfort, which to her makes no sense, as he is a former Hellrider who tends to their crypt in Avernus, and isn't particularly difficult to find.

She tells you of Zariel's plan to kill Yeenoghu, who was sending Gnolls into the material plane at an alarming rate. Zariel, a former Solar and servant of Pelor, defied Pelor's will by forming an army of soldier from the Empire to march into Avernus and kill Yeenoghu, who had used the River Styx as a staging area to send his gnolls to Mirador and it's surrounding towns.

Just before the assault, Zariel contacted Maggie, and Maggie suggested she make a simulacrum of her sword, which would then draw it's power from the original, in case she was walking into a trap. Which turned out to be the case. Upon killing Yeenoghu, Zariel and the Hellriders were met with the forces of Bel, who had cut them off from the portal.

The two armies fought for an extended period of time, and while casualties were beginning to mount, there was no clear winner emerging. But this was all part of the plan; Asmodeus himself appeared in the center of fight. His frightening visage terrified the battle weary Hellriders and sent them fleeing.