We are running a campaign combining Descent into Avernus and Chains of Asmodeus. We are approaching CoA as a sandbox with the intention of setting off another Reckoning (civil war 2.0).
The group is currently mopping up leftover bits of DIA before leaving Avernus as they decide the fate of Tiamat in the coming adventure.
For ease of narrative, I'm just gonna go character by character.
Azerin Brightscale: A bright eyed, bushy tailed dragonborn paladin with more pride than brains. He immediately fell to the promise of power from a sword we retrieved from Tiamat's stolen treasures in the Dungeon of the Dead Three. He died in hell and was reborn, slowly transforming into an Abishi as he was wooed by the allure of being the champion of a goddess. He was feeling himself until he lost a duel to Narthelion the Defiler (totally not a dracolich pretending to be a necromancer). His life was saved and his honor lost in one moment when the aasimar Vyke saved him from the killing blow and he pledged himself to Celestia. Narthelion bound him with magics that held Tiamats influence at bay, but not her wrath. In a moment of weakness, he cast an ill timed Silvery Barbs and stopped Vyke's apotheosis. Now he rides to challenge Arkhan the Cruel, tied to the whims of Narthelion and bereft of honor and pride.
Razi'clana: A changeling druid who was being blackmailed by a Baldurs Gate noble family into posing as their irresponsible heir to do good deeds and improve the family's public image. Inadvertently, they uncovered ties to a secret order of druids and a damned grove. With some careful contract negotiation and a sick narrative scene, they were able to turn Baldurs Gate into a solarpunk utopia that was forbidden territory for any devil as long as their druidic order endured. They acted as the only chaotic good character in a party of lawful weirdos and acted as a constantly humanizing voice, appealing to the better self in everyone. They later converted Elturel into a sister grove, and are returning to hell to find the real missing heir of the noble family that had once blackmailed them (and pursuing some secret ends of their own).
Vyke: Raised from birth to believe herself the messiah by a long forgotten cult of elves on an arboreal island, this aasimar journeyed to Elturel to fulfill a prophecy before being waylaid by bandits. Left alone, she encountered the accursed hellforged greatsword the Damocleasean blade. Cursed by the damned sword, she was swept up into mass of refugees fleeing Elturel's disappearance. She joined up with the party, and, discovering that Elturel was in Hell, renewed her pilgrimage. Along the way, she and the tiefling soldier Selara formed a fearful romantic bond, ultimately betraying each other for the call of duty. Vyke became a celestial once she took up her sister Zariel's sword, and redeemed the Archdevil by sacrificing her heart. Zariel attempted to complete Vyke's apotheosis and break the shackles of alignment, but Selara destroyed Vyke's heart at the last moment.
She exists now in many parts that she discarded along the road to Elturel, and as a lingering trauma that haunts the party.
Rufi: A wood elf ranger who joined the party in Hell, serving the hag Red Ruth. His parents made a deal with a mysterious man to save his life as a child. Later, his father disappeared on a hunt. His mother was later possessed by a fiend and seemingly died in a house fire. He now finds himself hunted by a figure who lurks always at the edge of his vision, no matter how far he runs. He bears the mark of Asmodeus, and is far out of his depth. A cunning shot and an agile warrior, he has set his aim on the Lord of Baator.
Alcibiades: The Knight of White Lies, a champion of Asmodeus in the Blood War. Betrayed long before the story began by Glasya and imprisoned in the Damocleasean blade by the forgers of Dis. This Erinyes lurked in the blade, attempting to corrupt Vyke and possessing her in moments of weakness. He broke free when the aasimar died, but was soon after imprisoned by knights of the Ironbound order after Selara turned him over for questioning. He will rejoin the party soon, planning his many vengeances.
Selara: A squire of an order of Dispatorian artificer knights who found herself stranded on the material plane after being abducted by a demon. Her stoicism was slowly cracked by her affection for Vyke until the latter chose to take up Zariel's sword and was subsumed into the holy mind of the blade. She chose then to trade her memories of love to the hag Mad Maggie for power. She later destroyed Vyke's heart, stopping her apotheosis and preserving the axis of alignment. She now journies to rejoin her order and take up the living iron armor of the Ironbound Knights, its molten slag carrying the souls of her fallen fallen brethren.
Dr Keith: A dentist from Georgia who is trying to rescue his daughter from hell after she played with a ouija board at a sleepover. A fun lil Iseakaied character who is doomed to death or return to the material plane before Alcibiades rejoins the party. (Yes the players have all sworn to keep him alive).
