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A Zealot's Downfall: A Descent into Avernus (2024)
One night, one festival, one rift to Hell, and a city that vanished with your friends still in it.
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Saturday - 11:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 2.75–3.25 hours
Campaign Length / 45–55 Sessions
0 / 4 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
It's the Feast of the Morninglord in Elturel, capital of Elturgard, the one day a year every soul in the city, noble and gutter-born alike, shares the same streets. Fire whip dancers spin light against the dusk. For one night, nobody here is a stranger. Your characters are in the city for their own reasons, caught up in the celebration like everyone else, until rumors start crawling through the alleyways, and somebody's willing to pay to have them chased down. You take the job. By the time you understand what you've uncovered, it's already too late. A devilish figure stands in the heart of the city, and Elturel begins tearing itself apart. A rift opens beneath a hundred thousand people, and you watch your city get dragged down into the Nine Hells in real time. You escape. Not everyone does. From there, the campaign runs in two long acts. First, the Sword Coast, no longer just survivors, you're among the few who know the truth of what happened to Elturel, which makes you either useful or a liability to everyone you meet. Expect to run down cultists still loyal to what took the city, untangle the buried politics of the region's oldest societies, meet names out of Faerûn's history who may help you or may not, and make calls with no clean answer attached. Then, Avernus itself. Nothing here plays by the rules you've learned. This is a hellscape of red deserts and endless war, and you won't just witness it, you'll operate it. Fiendish war rigs and salvaged infernal machines are yours to commandeer if you're bold enough to try. You'll bargain with devils that exist nowhere else in the multiverse, see a culture entirely alien to anything on the material plane, and fight for the chance to drag your city back out of Hell before it happens to anyone else. This is Descent into Avernus rebuilt to deliver on its premise: you live the fall instead of hearing about it, and every choice made on the Sword Coast follows you down into the Nine Hells and back. I run character-driven tables, your backstory isn't flavor text, it's plot, and you'll have real control over how this story unfolds.
Game style
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Roleplay Heavy
Combat Lite
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
4.2
(23)
2 years on StartPlaying
86 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, World Builder
About me
Hi, I'm Davi. I'm currently a university student from the UK and an unapologetic fantasy nerd. I started running D&D when I was eleven after falling in love with fantasy worlds where ordinary people could become legends. What began as running games for friends somehow turned into a huge part of my life. Seven years later, I still spend most days thinking about stories, worldbuilding, and the next adventure. Outside of tabletop games, you'll usually find me buried in fantasy novels, sketching out new ideas for settings, or disappearing down some obscure bit of lore that absolutely didn't need three hours of research. I'm also a player whenever I get the chance. I love being on both sides of the screen, and some of my favourite memories come from sitting at someone else's table and getting completely swept up in their world. More than anything, I enjoy meeting people through this hobby. Some of my closest friendships started because a group of strangers decided to roll some dice together. When I'm not studying or running games, I'm usually building something new, whether that's a homebrew system, a setting, a one-shot, or a completely unnecessary spreadsheet that seemed like a good idea at the time.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
We'll use 2024 D&D 5e rules, with legacy 2014 subclasses allowed where no update exists yet. Characters start at level 3, living in or visiting Elturel on the day of the Feast of the Morninglord, no blank slates, you have a reason to be there and something at stake in the city. Milestone leveling throughout, no XP tracking, ending around level 15. Characters are built on D&D Beyond; I'll send the campaign link once you've joined. Stats via standard array, point buy or manual roll, your choice. Most official 2024 content is allowed, and multiclassing/feats are fine. If you want a warlock, know that patrons in this setting will want real things from you in return, dips should serve your character's story, not just the build. Come with at least one tie to Elturel you'd genuinely grieve losing. a person, a place, a life you had before the bells rang that night. We'll finalize backstory details together at Session 0. You're welcome to tweak or re-roll between session 1 and 2 without needing permission, just give me a heads-up.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You'll need a working microphone (webcam optional), and free accounts for D&D Beyond, Discord, and our VTT. Come to Session 0 with a character concept and a clear answer to: why were you in Elturel for the Feast, and what would it cost you to lose this city? No prior D&D experience necessary, new players get walked through everything.
What Davi brings to the table
I run a rich, immersive experience where your backstory genuinely drives the narrative, this isn't a module played straight through, it's your story about losing a city and fighting to get it back. Expect fully prepared sessions, character voices and expressive NPCs (familiar faces and new ones), immersive maps and soundscapes built for both mortal streets and infernal wastes, and operable war machines once you reach Avernus that are yours to commandeer and wreck. My games balance roleplay and character-driven storytelling first, with investigation and political intrigue on the Sword Coast, exploration across Avernus, and fair, meaningful, genuinely dangerous combat throughout. Choices you make in Act 1 follow you all the way into Hell and back, nothing here is set dressing.
Homebrew rules
Full current house rules pinned on Discord, including specifics on vehicle operation and combat rules for Avernus. Will review key highlights before Session 0.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Headphones
Platforms used
Safety
How Davi creates a safe table
Session 0 is a full session: expectations, safety tools, and character ties to Elturel, before a single die is rolled. Lines and Veils are collected individually and kept private, pinned in Discord for easy reference. Every session includes a real break, and we'll do Stars & Wishes periodically so I know what's landing. You can message me anytime between sessions if something needs addressing sooner.
Content warnings
Safety tools used