So who here has run Hellgate Keep? [Archive] - Wizards Community

So who here has run Hellgate Keep? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mystery Man
08-18-04, 10:06 AM sound off!
Tempus665
08-18-04, 11:03 AM Is that a module? Or do you mean: who has run an adventuring party through the site Hellgate Keep?
Mystery Man
08-18-04, 11:28 AM Both. :)

And if you would detail some stand out encounters.
Tempus665
08-18-04, 02:32 PM I do have a little story about the place, a setup for a campaign I was hoping to play, but it's in Dutch. I will put a translated version of it here later. :)
Mystery Man
08-18-04, 03:18 PM Originally posted by Tempus665
I do have a little story about the place, a setup for a campaign I was hoping to play, but it's in Dutch. I will put a translated version of it here later. :)

Wish I spoke dutch so you wouldn't have to do that. But I'd love to read it when you have the time to translate.
Tempus665
08-19-04, 05:29 AM First I made a tiny timeline, stating only the things of interest to what I wanted to do:

Ascal´s Horn, a fortress, was completed in –372 DR and inhabited by sun elves.

In 820, the first baatezu was summoned by the mage Wulgreth.

In 882, tanar´ri take control of Ascalhorn, which is renamed Hellgate Keep. The elven nation of Earlann falls.

Somewhere in between: the mage Jaluster dies, but the bard Maerstar recovers his Orizon.

In 1368 Hellgate Keep is destroyed by Harpers; Tarlung and his treants guard the smoldering ruins.

In 1370 a dragon of some power succeeds in evading the notice of Turlang and starts lairing in Hellgate Keep. The Cult of the Dragon takes an interest in this particular dragon.

And this is the campaign setup I've written (although sadly never got to play, yet):

A long time ago, when Hellgate Keep was still the beautiful city of Ascalhorn, some of the sun elves got dissatisfied about the way things were run. In 803 DR, some of the more prestigious houses made a pact that would unsettle the current ruling class, and install themselves as leaders.
The secret Alliance consisted of two families of sun elves, their former servants (an Efreeti and a Dao genie), and a corrupted Trumpet Archon. Their search for power led to its pinnacle in the year 820 DR, when the mage Wulgreth succeeded in summoning a pit fiend and demanding this devil let his infernal followers mate with the families of the Alliance. The pit fiend, a sage of sorts named Moses Angreth, saw potential in this proposal, and immediately wrote down a contract. The Alliance, too blind to see the consequences of their actions, readily signed, and Moses immediately sent a cadre of Erinyes to Ascalhorn. The result was the birth of half-fiends and Fey'ri.

And thus begun the well-known story about how Hellgate Keep came to be.

At the same time the Alliance was busy negotiating their infernal breeding programs, 5 sons and daughters of the leaders of the Alliance, all of them strong specimens, and pretending to be supporters of the Alliance, decided their parents' plans needed to be thwarted. These children retained the goodness their parents once possessed. They would inform the leaders of Ascalhorn later, but for now, they had different plans. One of the children, a priest of Labelas Enoreth, used all his powers to summon a representative of his deity. Gabriel the Historian, a powerful solar angel, appeared, and made up a counter-contract with these five enemies of the Alliance. This counter-contract enabled them to break the Alliance's contract, but only under the right circumstances.

Moses' Contract
Moses Angreth was a visionary, who had a couple hundred schemes running that would allow him to destroy worlds and let them bow down to his will. He realized the potential of what the Alliance proposed to him, and recalled a passage of an ancient scripture that said that when a mortal signed the right contract without doubt, without thinking twice, and without feeling sorry, it would enable him to decide the fate of the world.
After a little research, Moses found this piece of text still existed, and was thus valid, with or without Ao's consent. He also discovered that Leira (a now-dead deity of illusions and deception) had set in motion a wonderful plan of truth-covering in her conflict with Oghma, and once this plan would be completed, all artists, designers, crafters, inventors would lose their inspiration (see Faiths & Pantheons page 54 for more information on this). Moses made a slight change in Leira's plans, and wrote down in his contract that if her plan would be completed, Oghma would be bound and thus unable to put a halt to Gond's revolutionary ideas. (Moses knew his plan would work, if he found someone willing to sign his contract.)
Moses foresaw a great mechanical revolution that would enable Faerûn's leaders to wipe each other out in no time. He liked this vision, and adjusted his contract so that it now stated that when Ascalhorn would be destroyed twice, the covering of truth (Leira's plan) would be completed really fast.
This would mean that Faerûn would go down in chaos very soon (for a devil, anyway) by the destructive creativity that would burst loose. He foresaw the coming of weapons of mass destruction, advanced muskets, huge, armoured vehicles, flying machines able to wreck chaos and destruction, etcetera.

The Alliance signed the contract, without doubt, wthout thinking twice, and without feeling sorry, ignorant about the fact that they would be responsible for the end of Faerûn.

Gabriel's Contract
Fortunately, the Alliance had five powerful opponents. Gabriel was informed about the evil plans of the Alliance, and was able to glean the content of Moses' contract through a series of visions. His master, the elven deity of time and history, Labelas Enoreth, realized a way that this dreadful future (the future history if you will) could be changed, and inspired Gabriel to write down the counter-contract.
This contract stated that when the progeny of the Alliance would unite under a single banner and throw the contratc of Moses, burning, into the Cavern of Eternal Rest (a sacred place on the plane of Arvandor), the contract would be declared void.
In return for this opportunity, the five enemies of the Alliance were to spend their lives in the name of goodness, and after they had left Ascalhorn and scattered across Faerûn (lest they be found out and destroyed by agents of Moses), they all became champions of righteousness.

Alas, Moses has found most of the documentation on this subject, and destroyed it, making it really hard for the progeny of the Alliance to even find out what is their destiny.

The tricky thing is, that Ascalhorn has been destroyed twice now: first by the demons and devils, and later by the Harpers. This means Leira's deceitful plan is now nearing completion. The PC's in this campaign were to play the (as of yet ignorant) progeny of the Alliance, and it was up to them to locate Moses' contract and hurl it down into the Cave of Eternal Rest.

I hope you can use some of this, even though it may not be what you were asking for :)
Mumm-Ra
08-19-04, 08:04 AM I run the Hellgate keep module with anti-heroes. The party was a planescape one (evil group of course) whose leader, a cambion, was asked by a distant cousin (kaanyr Vhok himself) to aid him in the evacuation of his forces from the keep. Kaanyr's spies knew that the harpers were hiring adventurers to seal the keep forever, and he asked the pc's to delay the harper agents.

This they did: after clearing the way underground to allow kaanyr's forces to enter the underdark and leave the keep, they met the adventuring party in the hellgate keep dungeons. The good NPC party was made up of a lvl 8 fighter, a lvl 9 cleric, a lvl 10 wizard, and a lvl 6 fighter/6 mage bladesinger (we were in 2nd edition). The bladesinger got killed by the Pc's, while the fighter went down. The mage teleported herself and the unconscious party away, while the cleric plane shifted to his god's realm.

After the victory, kaanyr gifted the group with one of the Dragon breastplates of ammarindar and other minor stuff, thanked his PC cousin, and departed the keep.

The keep was later found empty by a second group of harpers, and they sealed the keep.

it was a good adventure...a refreshing change of angle from the normal.
Mystery Man
08-19-04, 08:20 AM Alas, Moses has found most of the documentation on this subject, and destroyed it, making it really hard for the progeny of the Alliance to even find out what is their destiny.

Alas neat story thanks!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mystery Man 08-18-04, 10:06 AM	sound off!
Tempus665 08-18-04, 11:03 AM	Is that a module? Or do you mean: who has run an adventuring party through the site Hellgate Keep?
Mystery Man 08-18-04, 11:28 AM	Both. :) And if you would detail some stand out encounters.
Tempus665 08-18-04, 02:32 PM	I do have a little story about the place, a setup for a campaign I was hoping to play, but it's in Dutch. I will put a translated version of it here later. :)
Mystery Man 08-18-04, 03:18 PM	Originally posted by Tempus665 I do have a little story about the place, a setup for a campaign I was hoping to play, but it's in Dutch. I will put a translated version of it here later. :) Wish I spoke dutch so you wouldn't have to do that. But I'd love to read it when you have the time to translate.
Tempus665 08-19-04, 05:29 AM	First I made a tiny timeline, stating only the things of interest to what I wanted to do: Ascal´s Horn, a fortress, was completed in –372 DR and inhabited by sun elves. In 820, the first baatezu was summoned by the mage Wulgreth. In 882, tanar´ri take control of Ascalhorn, which is renamed Hellgate Keep. The elven nation of Earlann falls. Somewhere in between: the mage Jaluster dies, but the bard Maerstar recovers his Orizon. In 1368 Hellgate Keep is destroyed by Harpers; Tarlung and his treants guard the smoldering ruins. In 1370 a dragon of some power succeeds in evading the notice of Turlang and starts lairing in Hellgate Keep. The Cult of the Dragon takes an interest in this particular dragon. And this is the campaign setup I've written (although sadly never got to play, yet): A long time ago, when Hellgate Keep was still the beautiful city of Ascalhorn, some of the sun elves got dissatisfied about the way things were run. In 803 DR, some of the more prestigious houses made a pact that would unsettle the current ruling class, and install themselves as leaders. The secret Alliance consisted of two families of sun elves, their former servants (an Efreeti and a Dao genie), and a corrupted Trumpet Archon. Their search for power led to its pinnacle in the year 820 DR, when the mage Wulgreth succeeded in summoning a pit fiend and demanding this devil let his infernal followers mate with the families of the Alliance. The pit fiend, a sage of sorts named Moses Angreth, saw potential in this proposal, and immediately wrote down a contract. The Alliance, too blind to see the consequences of their actions, readily signed, and Moses immediately sent a cadre of Erinyes to Ascalhorn. The result was the birth of half-fiends and Fey'ri. And thus begun the well-known story about how Hellgate Keep came to be. At the same time the Alliance was busy negotiating their infernal breeding programs, 5 sons and daughters of the leaders of the Alliance, all of them strong specimens, and pretending to be supporters of the Alliance, decided their parents' plans needed to be thwarted. These children retained the goodness their parents once possessed. They would inform the leaders of Ascalhorn later, but for now, they had different plans. One of the children, a priest of Labelas Enoreth, used all his powers to summon a representative of his deity. Gabriel the Historian, a powerful solar angel, appeared, and made up a counter-contract with these five enemies of the Alliance. This counter-contract enabled them to break the Alliance's contract, but only under the right circumstances. Moses' Contract Moses Angreth was a visionary, who had a couple hundred schemes running that would allow him to destroy worlds and let them bow down to his will. He realized the potential of what the Alliance proposed to him, and recalled a passage of an ancient scripture that said that when a mortal signed the right contract without doubt, without thinking twice, and without feeling sorry, it would enable him to decide the fate of the world. After a little research, Moses found this piece of text still existed, and was thus valid, with or without Ao's consent. He also discovered that Leira (a now-dead deity of illusions and deception) had set in motion a wonderful plan of truth-covering in her conflict with Oghma, and once this plan would be completed, all artists, designers, crafters, inventors would lose their inspiration (see Faiths & Pantheons page 54 for more information on this). Moses made a slight change in Leira's plans, and wrote down in his contract that if her plan would be completed, Oghma would be bound and thus unable to put a halt to Gond's revolutionary ideas. (Moses knew his plan would work, if he found someone willing to sign his contract.) Moses foresaw a great mechanical revolution that would enable Faerûn's leaders to wipe each other out in no time. He liked this vision, and adjusted his contract so that it now stated that when Ascalhorn would be destroyed twice, the covering of truth (Leira's plan) would be completed really fast. This would mean that Faerûn would go down in chaos very soon (for a devil, anyway) by the destructive creativity that would burst loose. He foresaw the coming of weapons of mass destruction, advanced muskets, huge, armoured vehicles, flying machines able to wreck chaos and destruction, etcetera. The Alliance signed the contract, without doubt, wthout thinking twice, and without feeling sorry, ignorant about the fact that they would be responsible for the end of Faerûn. Gabriel's Contract Fortunately, the Alliance had five powerful opponents. Gabriel was informed about the evil plans of the Alliance, and was able to glean the content of Moses' contract through a series of visions. His master, the elven deity of time and history, Labelas Enoreth, realized a way that this dreadful future (the future history if you will) could be changed, and inspired Gabriel to write down the counter-contract. This contract stated that when the progeny of the Alliance would unite under a single banner and throw the contratc of Moses, burning, into the Cavern of Eternal Rest (a sacred place on the plane of Arvandor), the contract would be declared void. In return for this opportunity, the five enemies of the Alliance were to spend their lives in the name of goodness, and after they had left Ascalhorn and scattered across Faerûn (lest they be found out and destroyed by agents of Moses), they all became champions of righteousness. Alas, Moses has found most of the documentation on this subject, and destroyed it, making it really hard for the progeny of the Alliance to even find out what is their destiny. The tricky thing is, that Ascalhorn has been destroyed twice now: first by the demons and devils, and later by the Harpers. This means Leira's deceitful plan is now nearing completion. The PC's in this campaign were to play the (as of yet ignorant) progeny of the Alliance, and it was up to them to locate Moses' contract and hurl it down into the Cave of Eternal Rest. I hope you can use some of this, even though it may not be what you were asking for :)
Mumm-Ra 08-19-04, 08:04 AM	I run the Hellgate keep module with anti-heroes. The party was a planescape one (evil group of course) whose leader, a cambion, was asked by a distant cousin (kaanyr Vhok himself) to aid him in the evacuation of his forces from the keep. Kaanyr's spies knew that the harpers were hiring adventurers to seal the keep forever, and he asked the pc's to delay the harper agents. This they did: after clearing the way underground to allow kaanyr's forces to enter the underdark and leave the keep, they met the adventuring party in the hellgate keep dungeons. The good NPC party was made up of a lvl 8 fighter, a lvl 9 cleric, a lvl 10 wizard, and a lvl 6 fighter/6 mage bladesinger (we were in 2nd edition). The bladesinger got killed by the Pc's, while the fighter went down. The mage teleported herself and the unconscious party away, while the cleric plane shifted to his god's realm. After the victory, kaanyr gifted the group with one of the Dragon breastplates of ammarindar and other minor stuff, thanked his PC cousin, and departed the keep. The keep was later found empty by a second group of harpers, and they sealed the keep. it was a good adventure...a refreshing change of angle from the normal.
Mystery Man 08-19-04, 08:20 AM	Alas, Moses has found most of the documentation on this subject, and destroyed it, making it really hard for the progeny of the Alliance to even find out what is their destiny. Alas neat story thanks!