TEXT: I n t r o d u c t i o n
  1
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  under the Open Game License version 1.0a Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. 13th 
  Age is a trademark of Fire Opal Media, Inc. ©2018 Pelgrane Press Ltd. All rights reserved.
  www.fireopalmedia.com and www.pelgranepress.com
  13th age is a fantasy roleplaying game by
  Rob Heinsoo, Jonathan Tweet,  
  Lee Moyer, & Aaron McConnell
  BOOK OF 
  DEMONS
  a 13
  th age supplement
  by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan  
  and Rob Heinsoo
  
  13 th age - Book of Demons
  2
  Publishers
  Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin
  Authors
  Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and 
   Rob Heinsoo
  Developer
   Rob Heinsoo
  Additional Design
  Paul Fanning
  Art Direction
  Cathriona Tobin and Rob Heinsoo
  Cover Art
  Melissa Gay
  Interior Art
  Agathe Pitié, Lauren Covarrubias, 
  Rich Longmore, Karolina Węgrzyn, 
  Christine Griffin, Lee Dawn, Vlada 
  Monakhova
  Layout
  Badger McInnes
  Icons, Monster Tiles, 
  Spot Illos
  Lee Moyer, Aaron McConnell
  CREDITS
  Symbols on Page 103
  We slightly altered nine symbols we obtained via Creative Commons at http://game-icons.net. Full license at 
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode 
  Icons created by Delapouite: beehive, sailboat.  
  Icons created by Lorc: burning-book, daemon skull, daggers, flower-twirl, horse head, pentagram rose, skull-bolt.
  Playtest Credits
  Ariel Weinreich, Caleb Shoemaker, Chuck Dee, Dave Ledvora, Dmitryi Bokk, Durkon, Jason Fryer, Jeffrey Kahrs, 
  Jonathan Tweet, Marty Lund, Michael Todd, Paul Hughes, Paul Weimer, Rob Lightner, Roland Rogers, Sean 
  Dawson, Stiwen Parshukov, Thiago Juarez Ribeiro Silva, Tim Baker, Victor Faber, Vlad Tin
  
  O G L
  3
  OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc; Authors: Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, 
  Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
  Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material 
  by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
  Castles & Crusades, Copyright 2004, Troll Lord Games; Authors: Davis Chenault, Mac Golden.
  13th Age. Copyright 2013, Fire Opal Media, Inc.; Authors: Rob Heinsoo, Jonathan Tweet, based on material by Jonathan 
  Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
  13th Age Bestiary. Copyright 2014, Fire Opal Media, Inc. and Pelgrane Press Ltd; Authors: Ryven Cedrylle, Rob 
  Heinsoo, Kenneth Hite, Kevin Kulp, ASH LAW, Cal Moore, Steve Townshend, Rob Watkins, Rob Wieland.
  13 True Ways. Copyright 2014, Fire Opal Media, Inc.; Authors: Rob Heinsoo, Jonathan Tweet, Robin D. Laws, based 
  on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
  The Book of Loot. Copyright 2014, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Author: Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
  Eyes of the Stone Thief. Copyright 2014, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Author: Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan. 
  13th Age GM Screen & Guide. Copyright 2015, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Authors: Cal Moore, Wade Rockett.
  High Magic & Low Cunning: Battle Scenes for Five Icons. Copyright 2016, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Author: 
  Cal Moore. 
  The Crown Commands: Battle Scenes for Four Icons. Copyright 2016, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Author: Cal Moore. 
  Lions & Tigers & Owlbears: 13th Age Bestiary 2. Copyright 2017 Pelgrane Press Ltd., Authors: Rob Heinsoo, ASH 
  LAW, Liz Argall, Jaym Gates, Lynne Hardy, Paul Fanning, Cal Moore, Carrie Rasmussen, Wade Rockett, Aaron Roudabush, 
  Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Michael E. Shea, Ruth Tillman, Jonathan Tweet, Steven Warzeha, Emily Westfall
  Fire & Faith: Battle Scenes for Four Icons. Copyright 2017, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Author: Cal Moore. 
  13th Age Glorantha. Copyright 2018, Moon Design Publications, LLC; Authors: Rob Heinsoo, Jonathan Tweet, Greg 
  Stafford, Jeff Richard, Cal Moore, ASH LAW, Reinier Dobbelmann.
  Book of Demons. Copyright 2018, Pelgrane Press Ltd.; Authors: Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Rob Heinsoo, Paul Fanning. 
  
  13 th age - Book of Demons
  4
  Introduction 
  5
  Chapter One: 
  Demonologist 
  6
  Overview
  6
  Gear
  7
  Basic Attacks 
  7
  Demonologist Level Progression 
  8
  Demonologist Stats 
  8
  Class Features 
  9
  Summoning Rules 
  10
  Demonologist Talents 
  12
  Path of Corruption 
  12
  Corruption Path Talents 
  12
  Corruption Bonus 
  Summoning Spell 
  14
  Corruption Spells 
  16
  Path of Flame 
  19
  Flame Path Talents 
  19
  Flame Bonus Summoning Spell 
  20
  Flame Spells 
  23
  Slaughter Path 
  26
  Slaughter Path Talents 
  26
  Slaughter Bonus Summoning Spell 28
  Slaughter Spells 
  30
  Demonologist Multiclass 
  33
  Chapter Two: 
  Gamemastering 
  Demons 
  34
  Saluting the Worst 
  34
  Making Distinctive Demons 
  35
  Sympathy for the Diabolist;  
  AKA 13 Lies My Demon Told Me 
  36
  The Ecology of the Hellhole 
  42
  Demon Stats 
  43
  Random Demon Abilities 
  43
  New Demons 
  43
  Burner
  44
  Demon Toad 
  44
  Claw Demon 
  44
  Hopping Imp 
  44
  Hungry Maw 
  44
  Big Burner 
  45
  Giant Demon Toad 
  45
  Greater Claw Demon 
  45
  Hungrier Maw 
  45
  Chapter Three: 
  Six Hellholes 
  46
  The Ratwood
  46
  Denizens
  48
  High Heath of 
  Unending Woe
  49
  Perils
  50
  Encounters
  50
  1-3: Barren Land 
  51
  4: Fellow Travelers 
  51
  5: Burning Fog 
  51
  6: Flying Teeth 
  51
  7: Haunted Village 
  53
  8: Iconic Memories 
  53
  9: Bandit Camp 
  54
  10: Space Warp 
  56
  11: Haunt Hounds 
  56
  11 (Part Two): Demonic Hunters 
  57
  12: Fallen Wardstone 
  58
  13: The Miser’s Cabin 
  58
  14: Firestorm 
  59
  15: Demon Fort 
  59
  16: Center of the Hellhole 
  60
  Claw Peak
  61
  Six Contradictory Truths 
  of Claw Peak 
  61
  Perils
  62
  Locations
  62
  Denizens
  62
  Floating Market
  64
  Unusual Businesses of the 
  Floating Market 
  64
  Districts
  64
  The Floating Market & The Icons 
  67
  Denizens
  68
  Red Crag Castle
  70
  Factions
  70
  Baron Steel’s Brigade 
  70
  Baron Steel’s Brigade 
  Faction Abilities 
  71
  Skianzou (Knife Demon) 
  71
  Lesser Hooked Demon 
  71
  Steel Brigade Chopper 
  71
  Minor Serpent Demon 
  72
  Baron Steel 
  72
  The Rockgrubs 
  72
  The Rockgrub Faction Abilities 
  72
  Rockgrub Demon 
  73
  The Chiding Ladies 
  73
  The Chiding Ladies 
  Faction Abilities 
  73
  Chiding Lady 
  74
  The Revelers 
  74
  The Revelers Faction Abilities 
  74
  Reveler Demon 
  75
  The Golden Order 
  75
  The Vocnorts 
  75
  Locations in the Castle 
  75
  Hellgout
  79
  Perils
  79
  Against the Demons 
  81
  The Demonic Factions 
  83
  World breakers 
  83
  World Breaker Faction Abilities 
  84
  Azgarrak Breaker of Worlds 
  84
  Angel-Eating Demon 
  85
  The Smoke 
  85
  The Smoke Faction Abilities 
  85
  Queen of Smoke 
  85
  Smoke Shade 
  86
  Strangler Demon 
  86
  Queen-touched Smoke Devil 
  87
  Gulmagul All-Eat-All 
  87
  Gulmagul All-Eat-All 
  Faction Abilities 
  87
  Gulmagul
  88
  Locations
  88
  Chapter Four: 
  Citadels of 
  the Icons 
  94
  First Triumph 
  94
  Citadel of the Diabolist 
  100
  Whims of the Diabolist 
  103
  CONTENTS
  TABLE OF
  
  I n t r o d u c t i o n
  5
  The Empire is demon-haunted.
  Demons crawl beneath the skin of the world, clawing at 
  it, trying to break out of their prison. They want to destroy 
  everything. They’re everyone’s enemy. 
  The Crusader sees this danger. The Great Gold Wyrm died 
  to save us all from premature destruction. And the Diabolist 
  dances on the edge of the Abyss, stealing power from the demons 
  even as she helps them climb out of the pit.
  When demons break through into the world, they carve out 
  hellholes, cursed regions where the alien laws of the Abyss hold 
  sway. Each hellhole brings the world one step close to apocalypse.
  Take up your sword or staff, adventurer, and hold back the 
  hosts of Hell!*
  *Alternatively, see Chapter One for a new character class
  who has other ideas about the proper usage of the hosts of Hell. 
  INTRODUCTION
  In This Book
  The first chapter is aimed at players and GMs. Chapters Two 
  through Four are pretty much for the GM. 
  Chapter 1: The Demonologist is a newcomer to the Dragon 
  Empire, a new character class who uses demons and demonic 
  powers but might still be on the side of light. Or at least only 
  plausibly deniably evil! Demonologists devoted to the path of 
  corruption, path of flame, and path of slaughter have different 
  talents, spells, and summoned demons that can make them play 
  as very different characters. Speaking of very different characters, 
  the chapter closes with multiclass options.
  Chapter 2: Gamemastering Demons has advice and plot 
  seeds connected to demons, and how to extract maximum fun-
  juice from their infernal schemes. The lies demons might tell 
  about the cosmos could be so fascinating you’ll decide they’re 
  not entirely lies . . . The chapter also includes a 
  write-up of the ecology of the hellhole as well as 
  new monster stats for the demons introduced by 
  the demonologist’s summoning spells. 
  Chapter 3: Six Hellholes describes one more 
  than five and one fewer than seven hellholes of 
  varying size and power, from the blighted groves 
  of Ratwood to the world-shattering fury of the 
  Hellgout. 
  Chapter 4: Citadels of the Icons introduces 
  the Crusader’s fortress of First Triumph and 
  provides some impressions of the Diabolist’s 
  citadel. Which of the two strongholds holds more 
  demons? The answer isn’t clear . . .
  
  Book of Demons
  6
  There’s a new type of magician surfacing in the Dragon Empire 
  who might do something about the Empire’s demon problem. 
  It may not be something good. 
  OVERVIEW
  Fighters, wizards, clerics, and rogues are part of the ongoing 
  story of the world. It’s pretty clear that heroes with something 
  like the powers portrayed in many of our player character classes 
  took part in the major events of many past ages. 
  The demonologists we’re presenting in this book are a 
  different story. We’re presenting the demonologist class as 
  something extremely new in the world, something that hasn’t had 
  time to become a well-understood part of the Dragon Empire. 
  You are of course welcome to disagree, especially as part of what 
  makes one of your campaigns unique. Perhaps demonologists 
  existed in long-buried ages and have returned. 
  A three-part-collision: The simplest explanation for the 
  sudden emergence of the demonologist 
  in the 13th Age is that the three-part war 
  fought by the Crusader, Diabolist, and 
  Great Gold Wyrm is tearing usable holes 
  in the unwholesome fabric of demonkind. 
  Look closely at the three paths currently 
  accessible to the demonologist and 
  you’ll see connections to the three icons. 
  They’re not necessarily connections that 
  indicate approval or respect. . .
  The Crusader doesn’t trust anyone 
  but himself to ‘handle’ demons, so if 
  you’re any type of demonologist, even a 
  demonologist on the path of slaughter, 
  and are not in his positive graces, he 
  probably wants you dead. 
  The 
  Diabolist 
  was 
  never 
  a 
  demonologist (we think!) and she may 
  resent other mortals carving a slice of her 
  power. Then again, maybe she believes 
  that demonologists are by definition 
  corruptible. Perhaps she’s right. 
  You’d think that the Great Gold 
  Wyrm would be an outright enemy of all 
  demonologists, but he’s been fighting in 
  the Abyss a long time. Maybe his paladins 
  are more stuck up about who they’ll consider as allies than the 
  Wyrm is? Maybe demonologists on the path of flame are helping 
  the Great Gold Wyrm, somehow, whether they know it or not? 
  Play style: Your experience as a demonologist depends on 
  which path you’ve chosen. As a devotee of the path of corruption 
  or the path of flame, you’ll function somewhat like other 
  spellcasters, preferring to keep allies, or your summoned demon, 
  between you and the enemy. If you’ve focused on the path of 
  slaughter, you’re more likely to carry a serious melee weapon and 
  welcome enemies who seek to engage you as unwilling sacrifices! 
  Like the druid from 13 True Ways, this class can be fun for 
  players who like to figure out interesting combos from disparate 
  approaches.
  Ability Scores: Most demonologists rely on Charisma for 
  serious spellcasting, backed up by Constitution. Exceptions 
  include tiefling demonologists (see the That’s Intelligent class 
  feature on page 9) and slaughter path devotees, who use 
  Strength for some of their basic melee attacks when they’re too 
  staggered to use Charisma.
  DEMONOLOGIST
  CHAPTER 1
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  7
  Demonologists gain a +2 class bonus to Charisma or 
  Constitution, as long as it isn’t the same ability you increase with 
  your racial bonus.
  Races: Humans are the most common demonologists, 
  either for the lure of power, the thirst for knowledge, or to use 
  the mysteries of demons against the forces of the Abyss—and 
  there’s definitely nothing that can go wrong with motivations like 
  that. Other demonologist stereotypes include half-elves who feel 
  like outsiders, unbalanced gnomes who think demonic magic 
  is funny, and half-orcs and dragonics who embrace the path of 
  slaughter as a way of surprising musclebound rivals. 
  Of course we have saved the best for last. Some people call 
  tieflings ‘the demontouched,’ and there’s no denying that the race 
  has a natural affinity for all three paths. 
  Backgrounds: Possible demonologist backgrounds are 
  those that explain how you were driven to learn about demons, 
  or those that aid and conceal your activities, such as: escaped 
  sacrifice, child of cultists, survivor of a demon attack, survivor of 
  a Crusader attack, born of a hellhole, former clergy for the gods 
  of light, once-promising student at a Horizon college, decorated 
  soldier, Axis firefighter, respected doctor at an Imperial hospital, 
  resurrected ancient hero, demon-child. 
  Gear
  At 1st level, demonologists from different walks of life might start 
  with an incredibly diverse set of possessions. Use ideas from all 
  our other write-ups as you like!
  Armor
  Corruption and flame path demonologists wear light armor 
  made of padding and leather, if they wear armor at all. Slaughter 
  path demonologist wear heavier armor, often at least partially 
  made of demonic carapaces or other shells. Slaughter path armor 
  modifiers appear in the Path of Slaughter section on page 26.
  Demonologist Armor and AC 
  Weapons
  Corruption path and flame path demonologists aren’t melee 
  warriors. They’re better off skulking in the back with a sacrificial 
  dagger or a rune staff. Slaughter path demonologists are more 
  often built for melee, and their weapons show that. 
  The information in this section applies to most demonologists 
  oriented toward the corruption and flame paths. But slaughter 
  path devotees handle melee much differently; see their feature 
  and talent section for modifications to the stats below.
  Demonologist Melee Weapons
  Demonologist Ranged Weapons
  Basic Attacks
  Melee attack
  At-Will
  Target: One enemy
  Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC
  Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage
  Miss: —
  Ranged attack
  At-Will
  Target: One enemy
  Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC
  Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage
  Miss: —
  Type
  Base 
  AC
  Attack Penalty
  None
  10
  —
  Light
  11
  —
  Heavy
  12
  –5
  Shield
  +1
  –2
  One-Handed
  Two-Handed
  Small 
  1d4 dagger
  1d6 (–2 atk) club, staff
  Light or Simple 
  1d6 mace, axe, wavy 
  dagger
  1d8 (–2 atk) spear
  Heavy or Martial 
  1d8 (–2 atk) longsword, 
  flail
  1d10 (–3 atk) greataxe, 
    greatsword
  Thrown
  Crossbow
  Bow
  Small 
  1d4 dagger
  1d4 (–2 atk) hand 
  crossbow
  —
  Light or Simple 
  1d6 (–2 atk) 
  javelin, axe
  1d6 (–2 atk) light 
      crossbow
  1d6 (–2 atk) 
  shortbow
  Heavy or 
  Martial 
  —
  1d8 (–3 atk) heavy 
  crossbow
  1d8 (–3 atk) 
  longbow
  
  Book of Demons
  8
  Demonologist Level
  Total Hit Points*
  Total Feats
  Level-up Ability 
  Bonuses
  Damage Bonus From 
  Ability Score
  Level 1 Multiclass
  (Avg. of both classes) x 3
  As 1st level PC
  Not affected
  ability modifier
  Level 1
  (6 + CON mod) x 3
  1 adventurer
  ability modifier
  Level 2
  (6 + CON mod) x 4
  2 adventurer
  ability modifier
  Level 3
  (6 + CON mod) x 5
  3 adventurer
  ability modifier
  Level 4
  (6 + CON mod) x 6
  4 adventurer
  +1 to 3 abilities
  ability modifier
  Level 5
  (6 + CON mod) x 8
  4 adventurer
  1 champion
  2 x ability modifier
  Level 6
  (6 + CON mod) x 10
  4 adventurer
  2 champion
  2 x ability modifier
  Level 7
  (6 + CON mod) x 12
  4 adventurer
  3 champion
  +1 to 3 abilities
  2 x ability modifier
  Level 8
  (6 + CON mod) x 16
  4 adventurer
  3 champion
  1 epic
  3 x ability modifier
  Level 9
  (6 + CON mod) x 20
  4 adventurer
  3 champion
  2 epic
  3 x ability modifier
  Level 10
  (6 + CO  N mod) x 24
  4 adventurer
  3 champion
  3 epic
  +1 to 3 abilities
  3 x ability modifier
  Ability Bonus
  +2 Constitution or Charisma (different from racial bonus)
  Initiative
  Dex mod + Level
  Armor Class (light armor)
  11 + middle mod of Con/Dex/Wis + Level
  Physical Defense
  11 + middle mod of Str/Con/Dex + Level
  Mental Defense
  11 + middle mod of Int/Wis/Cha + Level
  Hit Points
  (6 + Con mod) x Level modifier (see level progression chart)
  Recoveries
  (probably) 8
  Recovery Dice
  (1d6 x Level) + Con mod
  Backgrounds
  8 points, max 5 in any one background
  Icon Relationships
  3 (4 at 5th level; 5 at 8th level)
  Talents
  3
  Feats
  1 per Level
  Demonologist Level Progression
  Unlike most other classes, demonologist spells and powers depend on which path the chosen talents belong to. Each path has its own 
  level progression chart detailing the number of spells you’ll choose to know each day.
  Note: Although not listed on the table, this class gets three talents. It does not gain more talents at higher levels.
  Demonologist Stats
  Initiative, AC, PD, MD, Hit Points, Recovery Dice, and Feats are level dependent.
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  9
  as you’d gain by being an initiate in a different path, but synergies, 
  character concept, and a slightly more reliable summoning spell 
  may mean it’s a good choice. 
  Some powers and spells specify that they work even better 
  for fanatics, but in most cases, they merely share the advantages 
  enjoyed by devotees. We’re choosing not to spell that out every 
  time by writing “devotees and fanatics” whenever there’s a 
  devotee advantage. Just remember that powers and bonuses that 
  apply to devotees of a path also apply to fanatics of that path. 
  Choice of Implements
  Some demonologists use holy symbols and staffs like clerics, 
  casting spells that qualify as divine magic. Perhaps that should 
  read unholy symbols in the demonologists’ case, but you get 
  the point. Other demonologists cast arcane spells using the 
  same implements as wizards and sorcerers: wands and staffs. 
  Choose which type of magic you’re using when you create your 
  demonologist. As a rule, you don’t use both, but perhaps your 
  One Unique Thing breaks the rule. 
  Curse Spells
  Some of the demonologist’s spells create curses that wait to 
  be triggered by an enemy. The corruption path is full of such 
  spells, the fire and slaughter paths have a few as well. Unless 
  otherwise specified curse spells are like most other spells: they 
  require a standard action to cast. Others only require a quick 
  action. 
  Unlike other spells, curse spells don’t have an immediate 
  impact, their full effect waits to be triggered by something 
  that’s outs of the caster’s control, usually a specific enemy 
  natural attack roll or some other specific d20 roll. 
  Most curses require you to use an interrupt action to take 
  effect when triggered. The enemy’s roll triggers the possibility 
  for the curse you have already set in motion by casting a spell 
  on your turn, but the curse doesn’t take effect unless you also 
  use an interrupt action to finish the job. 
  Unless otherwise specified, a spell’s curse effect is 
  expended when used. 
  One curse per roll: The major limitation on curse effects 
  is that a specific d20 roll can trigger only one curse spell per 
  demonologist. For example, if you have cast both curse of the 
  odd and whipping tongues of fire, you’ll choose one of the two 
  to trigger the next time an enemy has a natural odd attack roll. 
  If there are two demonologists in a group, the same d20 
  roll could trigger one curse from each of them. Decide on 
  whether or not you trigger a curse in initiative order. 
  Time limits: Like most other spells and powers, curse 
  effects end at the end of a battle, though they might still linger 
  Class Features
  In addition to the class features all demonologists have in 
  common, each of the three devotee paths has its own features 
  for initiates and devotees. You’ll find the additional corruption 
  path features on page 12, flame path features on page 19, 
  and slaughter path features on page 26. 
  Features in common for all demonologists follow. 
  That’s Intelligent
  Tieflings can use their Intelligence ability score in place of all 
  references to Charisma in demonologist class features, powers, 
  feats, spells, and so on. 
  You might think that truly intelligent members of other 
  races know better than to be demonologists, but for tieflings it’s 
  a logical development. If they handle it right, they can even give 
  the Diabolist a black eye while messing with powers she’d rather 
  have for herself.
  Initiate, Devotee, Fanatic
  Like many other classes, you have three talents to choose as a 
  demonologist. Unlike other classes, your talents are grouped 
  within three paths: the path of corruption, path of flame, and 
  path of slaughter. If you choose a single talent from a path, you 
  are an initiate of that path. If you choose two talents from a path, 
  you are a devotee of that path. If you choose all three talents from 
  a single path, you’re a fanatic of that path.
  The druid in 13 True Ways has a somewhat similar class 
  structure. But it’s only similar, not the same. If the demonologist 
  worked like the druid, you would invest one to three talents in a 
  path to unlock the features of that path. Instead, you’re choosing 
  specific varied talents that are each part of an overarching path. 
  For example, if you take the Contagion and Inimical talents 
  from the corruption path and the Demonic Reinforcements 
  talent from the slaughter path, you are a devotee of corruption 
  and an initiate of slaughter. If you switched one of your 
  corruption path talents out for Flickering from the path of flame, 
  you’d be an initiate of all three paths. If you replaced Demonic 
  Reinforcements with a third corruption path talent, like Misery, 
  you’d be a corruption path fanatic. 
  Initiates: Initiates gain access to a certain number of powers 
  and spells. They gain access to the path’s demon summoning spell 
  as a daily spell, but demons they summon from the path will have 
  fewer hit points than those summoned by devotees and fanatics. 
  The lower hit point numbers for demons summoned by initiates 
  appear in the summoned monster stats. 
  Initiates also tend to gain a small defense bonus or a small 
  amount of resistance, elements that improved markedly for 
  devotees and fanatics. 
  Devotees: Devotees gain more access to powers and spells 
  from their path and have the path’s bonus demon summoning 
  spell as a recharge 16+ spell. As you’ll see, there are also many 
  spells and feats that include devotee bonuses. 
  Fanatics: You can focus all three talents in one path if you 
  like. As a fanatic, you get an extra spell from your path each day, 
  and your demon summoning spell becomes a recharge 11+ spell 
  instead of recharge 16+. That’s probably not as much spellcasting 
  The demonologist weaves a line between raw 
  power and flaws that put it or its allies at risk. 
  You’ll soon notice that it’s not easy to get rid of those 
  drawbacks—feats that would eliminate a drawback 
  for another class slightly reduce the problem for the 
  demonologist. That’s intentional: when you dance 
  with demons, someone is going to get burned.
  Drawbacks
  
  Book of Demons
  10
  Roll an easy save (6+) whenever one of your summoned 
  demons drops to 0 hit points. Bump that save up by 5 points 
  if you are unconscious at the time; in other words, probably a 
  normal save (11+). But for each summoned demon you have 
  in play at that moment, bump the save up another 5 points. To 
  take an unlikely but mathematically interesting example, if you 
  somehow managed to summon three demons at the same time, 
  and are conscious, the control save when a demon drops to 0 hit 
  points will be effectively a hard save, 16+. If you’re unconscious 
  when one of your three demons goes down, the necessary save 
  will be 21+, something you’ll only succeed on by rolling a natural 
  20 or having save bonuses. 
  If the save succeeds, no problem, the demon is dead and 
  banished. If the save fails, the demon gains hit points equal to its 
  staggered value plus its level. It’s no longer in your control and is 
  now an enemy! By preference it attacks its former summoner, but 
  it may fight somewhat intelligently to do as much sadistic harm 
  as possible to the summoner and their allies. We play that the 
  demonologist’s player has to roll for their out-of-control demon’s 
  attacks using their lucky d20, but maybe you’re more forgiving 
  than us.
  The degradation damage the demon has been suffering from 
  in the battle continues. When the out of control demon finally 
  drops to 0 hit points again, it’s eliminated. 
  Enemies, allies, and out of control demons: Out of control 
  demons usually aren’t allies of the player characters’ other 
  enemies, but an out of control demon isn’t interested in helping 
  its summoner by fighting their enemies. Creatures that aren’t 
  smart or evil enough to notice and take advantage of that may 
  still target the out of control demon, but the demon will focus on 
  its true enemies. 
  No healing: Unlike other summoned creatures, demons 
  summoned by demonologists can’t heal. 
  Adventurer Feat: You have a +1 bonus to the save to avoid 
  losing control of your summoned demons when they drop 
  to 0 hit points. 
  Champion Feat: Demons you summon can be placed nearby 
  you instead of next to you.
  Epic Feat: You gain a +4 attack and defense bonuses against 
  demons you summoned that are now out of control. (Unless 
  they’re extremely angry with you, demons understand that 
  you’re a tougher target and are more likely to attack your allies.)
  Summoning Rules
  These new summoning rules are not meant to be used with the 
  druid and necromancer class from 13 True Ways. Those classes have 
  their own power ecosystem that doesn’t integrate with the general 
  rules below. 
  The all caps tags about elements that have been CHANGED 
  are for people who have played with summoning spells as they were 
  introduced in 13th Age Monthly and in 13 True Ways. If you’re all 
  caught up with the latest versions of summoning rules as they appear 
  in 13th Age Glorantha, you’ll only need to take special note of the 
  NEW paragraphs below, which mention ways that these summoned 
  demons diverge from standard summoning rules. 
  if the GM pushed the party into another battle without giving 
  them a quick rest. 
  If the GM feels permissive and the demonologist believes 
  they are about to enter combat—say, when about to open a 
  door into the monsters’ guard room—it might be OK to cast a 
  curse spell first, but a curse waiting to be triggered eliminates 
  any chance for surprise. Curses are a non-subtle ugly feeling 
  that’s something bad is about to happen. 
  Demon Summoner
  If you have played other summoning characters, the mechanics 
  of demonologist summoning are more like the druid and 
  necromancer summoning in 13 True Ways than the wizard 
  summoning in the Summoning Spells issue of 13th Age Monthly 
  and the earth priestess and hell mother summoning in 13th 
  Age Glorantha. Most significantly, as a demonologist, you get 
  superior summoned creatures that don’t require you to spend 
  actions to control them. 
  Good news, bad news: The good news is that we can skip 
  all the rules that apply to creatures that have to be controlled by 
  their summoner’s actions.
  The bad news is that your summoned demon has a half-life, 
  because every demon summoned by a demonologist takes special 
  ongoing damage called degradation that can’t be saved against or 
  stopped! 
  Degradation: Each of the demonologist’s summoned 
  demons has its own degradation statistic, usually expressed as 
  something like this: “At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  [demon] suffers 2d6 damage.” If you and your GM want to cut 
  down on die rolls, use the average result . . . but rolling at the end 
  of each of your demons’ turns is more in the spirit of the class. 
  Effects that end conditions can’t affect degradation. Nor 
  can effects that move conditions around between creatures—
  degradation is an ability that can’t be moved off a summoned 
  demon or copied onto another creature. Your summoned demon 
  is stuck taking its degradation damage until it drops to 0 hit 
  points, and will continue to take that damage if you lose control 
  of it.
  Degradation damage continues even when battles are over, 
  but once a battle is over you can dismiss your demon with a quick 
  action. Not before!
  Loss of control: Remember how we said you don’t have to 
  use actions to control your demon, the way wizards and earth 
  priestesses do? The bad news is that when your summoned 
  demons drop to 0 hit points, there’s a chance they’re actually 
  breaking free of your control and are about to become fanatic 
  enemies. 
  One of the side effects of our path-based approach 
  to the demonologist class is that the class could be 
  expanded someday. Creating a fourth demonologist 
  path isn’t something we’re planning, but let us know 
  if you see another demonologist path that’s begging to 
  be unsealed.
  Other Paths
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  11
  Dismissal (NEW): Like most other summoners, you 
  can dismiss your summoned creature using a quick action. 
  However, dismissing a demon during combat isn’t that simple: 
  after dismissing the demon, roll a control save as if the demon 
  had dropped to 0 hit points. If the demon goes out of control, 
  use its current hit points or the amount it would have if it 
  dropped to 0 and then went out of control, whichever is higher. 
  Out of combat you concentrate fully and dismiss your 
  summoned demon without rolling a control save. 
  Hit points: Each summoned creature stat block indicates 
  its base hit points. Starting hit points for summoned creatures 
  are nearly always lower than hit points for non-summoned 
  versions of the same creature. Some class feats might increase 
  the hit points of summoned creatures.
  Attack bonuses (CHANGED): Summoned creatures use 
  the default bonuses of their summoner’s magic weapon or 
  implement, if any. In other words, if you have an attack and 
  damage bonus from a magic weapon or implement, so do any 
  creatures you summon.
  Defense bonuses (CHANGED): Similarly, summoned 
  creatures use the default bonuses of their summoner’s armor, 
  cloak, and and head items, if any. In other words, default 
  bonuses to AC, PD, and MD from magic items also apply to your 
  summoned creatures. 
  As with the attack bonuses covered above, this only applies 
  to default bonuses. Bonuses and abilities that come along with 
  an item that are not default bonuses only apply to summoned 
  creatures if they specify that. At present, not many do. 
  Escalation die (CHANGED): Summoned creatures use the 
  escalation die. There are creatures summoned by the druid and 
  necromancer that don’t, but your demons do. 
  Allies? (CHANGED): Summoned creatures generally count 
  as your allies, but you can choose to treat them as non-allies 
  when that’s better for you. For example, when a monster’s attack 
  is against one of its random enemies, it’s good for you to have 
  your summoned creature count as an ally of yours and an enemy 
  of the monster. But take the case of the bard’s 3rd level spell, wild 
  heal. Odds are the bard PC in your group doesn’t want to have to 
  include your summoned creature as one of the random allies that 
  might get to heal, so they can choose to ignore your summoned 
  creature as an ally. 
  A corollary to this is that if PCs have spells or effects that 
  count the number of allies, count all creatures summoned by a 
  single PC as a single additional ally. This isn’t a hugely important 
  rule, but if it comes up in some weird corner cases, it’s sitting 
  here in case the GM wants to prevent tacky abuses. 
  No nastier specials: If a creature you’re summoning 
  sometimes has nastier specials when it appears as a monster, 
  that’s not the version of the creature you’re summoning … unless 
  you create a story with the GM explaining why this one time you 
  have managed to summon the powerful version of the creature 
  that has the nastier special.
  Spell or creature?: When a summoning spell is cast, it’s 
  definitely a spell. After casting the spell, a summoned creature is 
  a creature, though if the GM is feeling puckish they might allow 
  effects that generally only interact with spells to interact with a 
  summoned creature. That seems dicey, but it’s possible.
  Standard action spells: Casting a summoning spell generally 
  requires a standard action. The creature(s) you summon appears 
  next to you, though feats or powers might enable you to summon 
  it nearby instead.
  Four types (CHANGED): There are four types of summoned 
  creature, but the demons you summon are all superior creatures. 
  Superior creatures take their turns like any other creature 
  without needing to be controlled. 
  Duration & death damage (CHANGED, NEW): A 
  summoned creature fights for you until the end of the battle, 
  until it is dismissed, or until it drops to 0 hit points. Other classes 
  suffer damage when their summoned creatures drop to 0 hp, but 
  you don’t: we’ve already gone into your control problems above!
  And yes, your summoned demon still fights for you if 
  you’ve been dropped to 0 hit points and are unconscious, but as 
  mentioned above, the save when the demon drops to 0 hit points 
  is tougher if you are unconscious yourself.)
  Action economy: The turn you summon it, your demon 
  takes its turn immediately after your turn in initiative order. The 
  summoned creature continues to take its turn immediately after 
  you (even if your initiative order changes) until the end of the 
  battle. 
  Simpler timing (CHANGED): Having summoned creatures 
  take their turn immediately after their summoner is the 
  mechanically correct way to handle the timing. But in practice, 
  we notice that hardly anyone wants to play that way. Most players 
  want to mix their summoned creature’s actions in during their 
  character’s turn. If you want to fudge the timing and allow this, 
  it’s almost always fine. So our simpler rule is that you can mix the 
  actions together if you want, but if the GM decides it’s confusing 
  or the rules are starting to have conflicts, the GM can enforce the 
  ‘proper’ turn order.
  Superior creatures’ actions: During its turn, a superior 
  creature can act like any other creature, taking a standard, move, 
  and quick action. 
  
  Book of Demons
  12
  Ignore poison resistance
  Corruption path initiates ignore resist poison 14+ or lower. 
  Corruption path devotees ignore resist poison 16+ and lower.
  Corruption path fanatics ignore resist poison 18+ and lower.
  Bonus summoning spell
  Corruption initiates gain summon corruption demon as a daily 
  spell.
  Corruption path devotees instead have summon corruption 
  demon as a recharge 16+ spell.
  Corruption path fanatics instead have summon corruption 
  demon as a recharge 11+ spell.
  Corruption Path 
  Talents
  Contagion
  You can use this power a number of times per day equal to 
  your Constitution modifier (or 1, if your demonologist has low 
  Constitution). 
  When an enemy suffering from a save ends effect (including 
  ongoing damage) or a save ends condition caused by one of your 
  demonologist spells drops to 0 hit points, transfer that save ends 
  spell effect or condition to a different nearby enemy with 90 hit 
  points or fewer as an interrupt action. (Contagion only applies to 
  effects created your spells, not your summoned creatures.)
  The save required for the new enemy to end the effect 
  decreases; a hard save becomes a normal save, a normal save 
  becomes an easy save, and an easy save stays as an easy save. 
  2nd level demonologist 
  110 hit points or fewer
  3rd level demonologist  
  150 hit points or fewer
  4th level demonologist  
  188 hit points or fewer
  5th level demonologist  
  230 hit points or fewer
  6th level demonologist  
  300 hit points or fewer
  7th level demonologist  
  380 hit points or fewer
  8th level demonologist  
  450 hit points or fewer 
  9th level demonologist  
  600 hit points or fewer
  10th level demonologist  
  750 hit points or fewer
  Adventurer Feat: Once per battle, if you are conscious when 
  the escalation die reaches 5+, gain another use of the 
  Contagion power that day. 
  Champion Feat: Saves required against spell effects that you 
  have moved using this talent no longer decrease; a hard save 
  stays hard, a normal save stays normal.
  Epic Feat: Moving a condition with the Contagion power is a 
  free action for you rather than an interrupt action, so you’re 
  not limited to using it once per round. 
  Ritual Magic
  You can cast your spells as rituals. Demonologist rituals tend to 
  horrify other magicians. That could be for dramatic effect, or it 
  could be an important element of your seriously twisted magic. 
  DEMONOLOGIST 
  TALENTS
  Each of your talents belongs to one of three demonic paths: the 
  path of corruption, the path of fire, or the path of slaughter. 
  Choosing a single talent from a path unlocks spells and 
  powers that are not available to characters who are not initiated 
  onto that path. Demonologists who choose a second talent 
  from path are devotees. A third talent from a path makes you 
  a fanatic. Devotees and fanatics gain greater powers and spells 
  than initiates. 
  We’re presenting the three demonologist paths as separate 
  micro-classes, similar to our handling of the druid. The paths 
  are meant to mix, but the talents and the spells they unlock are 
  simpler to parse when presented one path at a time.
  We’ll start with the talents, bonus summoning spell, and full 
  spell list for the path of corruption. The path of flame comes next 
  on page 19, followed by the path of slaughter on page 26. 
  You’ll probably want to skim through the talents for each of the 
  paths before designing your first demonologist. 
  Path of Corruption
  Poison, plague, contagion, weakness, confusion, and madness: 
  these are a few of your favorite things. 
  Resist poison power
  Corruption initiates gain resist poison 12+, taking half damage 
  from poison attacks unless the attack’s natural attack roll is 12+
  For corruption path devotees, the power increases to resist 
  poison 14+. 
  For corruption path fanatics, the power increases to resist 
  poison 16+. 
  The demonologist has a number of spells and talent-
  based powers that use interrupt actions. If it has been 
  awhile since you read the details of the various types of 
  actions on page 162 of the core 13th Age rulebook, you 
  can use one interrupt action when it’s not your turn, 
  but you can’t use another interrupt action until the end 
  of your next turn. Depending on the talents and spells 
  you choose, there may well be times you decide to skip 
  using a possible interrupt action, hoping for a better 
  opportunity before your next turn. 
  Interrupt Actions
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  13
  enemies engaged with you, deal the damage to a random 
  nearby enemy. 
  Diabolic: If you have one or more relationship points with 
  the Diabolist, you gain a +1 bonus to all your defenses 
  against attacks by demons. Maybe devils, also, if that fits 
  the story of your campaign at this tier. This advantage may 
  be represented by having a familiar that chats familiarly 
  with demons, regardless of whether or not you’re fighting 
  those demons. That’s a special effect that should supply 
  the GM with story hooks and you with occasional bits of 
  unexpected information.
  Misery
  The first time each round that a nearby non-mook enemy fails a 
  save, deal psychic damage equal to your Constitution modifier 
  to a different nearby enemy. At 5th level, the damage increases to 
  double your Constitution modifier. At 8th level, triple your Con 
  mod. 
  Adventurer Feat: The enemy that takes the psychic damage 
  can now be far away instead of nearby. 
  Champion Feat: Two battles per day, you deal Misery damage 
  to a nearby enemy the first time each round that anyone else 
  in the battle, enemy or ally, fails a save.
  Epic Feat: As the champion feat, but every battle instead of 
  two battles a day. 
  Corrupt Beyond Degradation
  You gain a +2 bonus to MD and resist 16+ psychic damage.
  Adventurer Feat: If you have at least one relationship point 
  with the Diabolist, you roll saves against conditions caused 
  by attacks against MD at the start of your turn instead of the 
  end of your turn. 
  Champion Feat: When an enemy rolls a natural odd attack 
  roll against your MD, they take psychic damage equal to the 
  attack roll. Increase this damage to double the attack roll at 
  8th level. 
  Epic Feat: You gain a +2 bonus to death saves. 
  Inimical
  Enemy saves against effects created by spells you cast are more 
  difficult. Easy saves require a 7+, normal saves require a 12+, and 
  hard saves require a 17+. 
  Adventurer Feat: If you are a corruption path devotee, twice per 
  day as a free action, you can choose a condition created by an 
  ally’s spell to gain the increase in saving throw difficulty you’d 
  get from Inimical. 
  Champion Feat: You’re even more inimical than most. Your spells’ 
  easy saves require an 8+, your normal saves require a 13+, and 
  your hard saves still require a 17+ (that’s hard enough). 
  Epic Feat: Once per battle, force an enemy to reroll a save that 
  has been affected by this talent. 
  Infernal Familiar
  You have an infernal familiar, much like a wizard’s familiar (core 
  13th Age rulebook p. 149). Infernal familiars are usually imps of 
  some description, but might also take the form of toads, bats, 
  insects, talking skulls, living flames, animated tattoos, sinister oil 
  paintings, or your own eerie shadow. 
  Use the rules for the Wizard’s Familiar with the following 
  modifications. 
  Infernal familiars are always Talkative and possess one 
  other power of your choice from those available to familiars on 
  page 150 of the 13th Age core rulebook, except that Tough is off-
  limits; demonologist’s familiars aren’t tough—no easy +1 save 
  bonus for you. Flight is a popular option, unless those impish 
  wings are just for show. 
  Other familiar powers you can choose from for you infernal 
  familiar include: 
  Blighty: When you heal using a recovery, deal damage equal 
  to your level to an enemy engaged with you. If there are no 
  First, it’s worth noting that Contagion doesn’t apply to 
  effects created by your summoned creatures. Second, 
  Contagion moves effects that the target was suffering 
  from before the attack that drops it to 0 hit points. You 
  can’t eliminate a target that wasn’t suffering from any 
  of your spell effects with a spell and transfer anything, 
  even if that attack spell would have created a condition 
  if the target had survived. 
  Contagion Details
  
  Book of Demons
  14
  Summoned Demon Toad
  1st level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +3
  Toothy bite +6 vs AC—4 damage
  C: Foul belch +6 vs. PD (1 random nearby enemy)—6 poison 
  damage, and target is dazed until the end of its next turn. 
  Limited use: 1d4 times per battle.
  Dissssgusting: Attackers that roll a natural odd melee attack roll 
  against the demon toad take 1d6 poison damage
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  demon toad suffers 1d10 damage.
  AC 15
  PD 14 
   
  HP 36 (Initiate: 30)
  MD 11
  Corruption Bonus 
  Spell
  Corruption initiates gain summon corruption demon as a daily 
  spell (as explained in the class features above). 
  Corruption path devotees instead have summon corruption 
  demon as a recharge 16+ spell.
  Corruption path fanatics have summon corruption demon 
  as a recharge 11+ spell.
  This bonus spell is not counted against the spells you choose 
  from according to your level progression.
  Summon Corruption Demon
  Ranged Spell
  Usage depends on talents in path
  Effect: You summon a demon to fight for you until the end of 
  the battle as a superior (but degrading!) summoned creature. The 
  demon summoned is determined by the level you cast the spell 
  at, as follows: 
  1st level spell
  summon hopping toad
  3rd level spell
  summon hopping imp
  5th level spell
  summon vulture demon
  7th level spell
  summon hezrou
  9th level spell
  summon boar demon
  Demonologist Level
  Corruption Initiate 
  Spells
  Corruption Devotee 
  Spells
  Corruption Fanatic 
  Spells
  Spell Level
  Level 1 Multiclass
  1
  1
  2
  1st level
  Level 1
  1
  2
  3
  1st level
  Level 2
  1
  3
  4
  1st level
  Level 3
  2
  3
  4
  3rd level
  Level 4
  2
  4
  5
  3rd level
  Level 5
  2
  5
  6
  5th level
  Level 6
  3
  5
  6
  5th level
  Level 7
  3
  6
  7
  7th level
  Level 8
  3
  6
  7
  7th level
  Level 9
  3
  7
  8
  9th level
  Level 10
  3
  7
  8
  9th level
  Corruption Path Level Progression
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  15
  Summoned Hezrou
  7th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +10
  Meaty, clawed hands +12 vs. AC (2 attacks)—15 damage
  Demonic stench: While engaged with this creature, non-demon 
  enemies with 84 hp or fewer are dazed (–4 attack) and do not 
  add the escalation die to their attacks.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  hezrou suffers 4d12 damage.
  AC 21
  PD 15 
   
  HP 150 (Initiate: 120)
  MD 19
  Summoned Boar Demon
  Large 9th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +12
  Musky claw or slimy hoof +14 vs. AC—34 damage
  Miss: The nalfeshnee gains a +4 attack bonus until it hits. 
  Unlike most effects, let it stack.
  R: 
  Accursed 
  burst 
  +14 
  vs. PD (1d3 
  n e a r b y 
  enemies)—34 
  c o l d / f i r e /
  lightning/negative 
  energy damage (your 
  choice), and the boar 
  demon can make an abyssal 
  curse attack as a free action
  [Special trigger] Abyssal curse 
  +14 vs. MD (each creature hit 
  by accursed burst)—the target is 
  weakened until the end of its next turn
  Limited use: 1d3 times per battle, or any number of times if the 
  summoned boar demon is out of the demonologist’s control.
  Flight: Boar demons are clumsy but powerful fliers with strangely 
  small wings.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned boar 
  demon suffers 5d12 damage.
  AC 23
  PD 18 
   
  HP 220 (Initiate: 190)
  MD 22
  Summoned Hopping Imp
  3rd level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +7
  Festering claws +7 vs. AC—7 damage, and 3 ongoing damage
  R: Blight jet +7 vs. PD—7 damage, and the target is dazed (save ends)
  First natural 16+ each turn: The imp can choose one: the 
  target is weakened instead of dazed; OR the imp can make 
  a blight jet attack against a different target as a free action.
  Curse aura: Whenever a creature attacks the imp and rolls a 
  natural 1–5, that creature takes 1d8 psychic damage.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  hopping imp suffers 2d6 damage.
  AC 19
  PD 13 
   
  HP 40 (Initiate: 33)
  MD 15
  Summoned Vulture 
  Demon
  5th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +8
  Filth-covered claws +10 vs. AC (2 attacks)—7 damage, and 5 
  ongoing poison damage
  Natural even hit: The vrock can make a demonic screech 
  attack as a free action.
  [Special trigger] C: Demonic screech +10 vs. MD (1d3 nearby 
  enemies), 3 psychic damage, and the target is vulnerable (attacks 
  vs. it have crit range expanded by 2) until the end of the battle
  Limited use: 1d3 times per battle, or any number of times if the 
  vulture demon is out of the demonologist’s control.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  vulture demon suffers 4d6 damage.
  AC 19
  PD 16 
   
  HP 82 (Initiate: 68)
  MD 16
  
  Book of Demons
  16
  Diseased Blood
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily for initiates, or recharge 16+ after the battle for corruption 
  devotees/fanatics
  Free action, when a melee attack hits you.
  Target: The enemy that hit you (unlike a curse, this does not 
  interrupt their attack, you’re attacking after taking the damage).
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 4d12 + Charisma poison damage.
  Miss: Half damage.
  3rd level spell
  6d12 damage
  5th level spell
  6d20 damage
  7th level spell
  9d20 damage
  9th level spell
  4d8 x 10 damage
  Adventurer Feat: Spell is now recharge 16+ for initiates, 
  recharge 11+ for devotees and fanatics.
  Champion Feat: You can cast this spell even if you are 
  unconscious. 
  Epic Feat: When you take a critical hit in melee, you can cast 
  this spell even if it was already expended. 
  Minor Curse
  Ranged curse spell
  Recharge 6+ after battle
  Quick action to cast
  Special: This spell creates a curse that’s waiting to be triggered 
  by a nearby enemy’s natural 1-5 attack roll. Only the first attack 
  roll of a creature with 60 hit points or fewer, on its turn, or the 
  first attack roll in a round by a particular mob of mooks can 
  trigger this curse. When an enemy triggers the curse, make the 
  following attack as an interrupt action. 
  Target: Enemy that triggered the curse. 
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: Target is dazed and vulnerable until the end of its next turn. 
  Hit by 4+: Target is weakened and vulnerable (normal save 
  ends both). 
  Miss: —
  3rd level spell
  120 hit points or fewer
  5th level spell
  200 hit points or fewer
  7th level spell
  350 hit points or fewer
  9th level spell
  570 hit points or fewer
  Adventurer Feat: Add 30 to the hit point threshold. 
  Champion Feat: If you are a corruption path devotee, the spell 
  is now a once per battle spell. 
  Epic Feat: Add another 100 to the hit point threshold.
  CORRUPTION 
  SPELLS
  Now for the rest of the corruption path spells, the spells you’ll 
  choose. 
  1st Level Corruption 
  Spells
  Curse of the Odd
  Ranged curse spell
  Recharge 11+ after battle
  Special: This spell creates a curse that’s waiting to be triggered 
  by any nearby enemy’s natural odd attack roll. Only the first 
  attack roll of a creature on its turn, or the first attack roll in 
  a round by a particular mob of mooks can trigger the curse. 
  When an enemy triggers the curse (and remember, you can 
  only trigger one of your curses per attack roll), make the 
  following attack as an interrupt action. 
  Target: Enemy that triggered the curse. 
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: 20 psychic damage. 
  Miss: —
  3rd level spell
  30 damage
  5th level spell
  50 damage
  7th level spell
  80 damage
  9th level spell
  120 damage
  Adventurer Feat: If you’re a corruption initiate, curse of 
  the odd is now a recharge 6+ spell. If you’re a corruption 
  devotee, curse of the odd is now a once per battle spell. 
  Champion Feat: You now deal half damage with curse of the 
  odd attacks if you miss.
  Stab in the Soul
  Ranged spell
  At-Will
  Target: One nearby enemy
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: 2d8 + Charisma negative energy damage. 
  Miss: You take damage equal to the target’s level. 
  3rd level spell
  4d8 damage
  5th level spell
  6d8 damage
  7th level spell
  9d8 damage
  9th level spell
  9d12 damage
  Adventurer Feat: Add this trigger effect to the attack: Natural 
  even hit: As above, and negative energy damage equal to your 
  Constitution modifier (5th level: double your Constitution 
  mod; 8th level: triple) when target misses with an attack (save 
  ends).
  Champion Feat: Can now target a far away enemy.
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  17
  3rd Level Corruption 
  Spells
  Carrion Screech
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily
  Targets: 1d3 nearby enemies
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: 6d6 + Charisma psychic damage, and the target is vulnerable 
  (save ends)
  Miss: Half damage, and the target is vulnerable until the start of 
  your next turn.
  5th level spell
  10d6 damage
  7th level spell
  9d10 damage
  9th level spell
  2d8 x 10 damage
  Adventurer Feat: If you are a corruption initiate, this is now 
  a recharge 18+ spell. If you are a corruption devotee, this is 
  now a recharge 16+ spell.
  Champion Feat: Spell now targets 1d4 nearby enemies.
  Epic Feat: One battle per day, the ongoing poison damage 
  created by the champion feat is accompanied by a hampered 
  effect. 
  Even Worse Curse
  Ranged curse spell
  Recharge 6+ after battle
  Special: This spell creates a curse that’s waiting to be triggered 
  by a nearby enemy’s natural even attack roll. Only the first 
  attack roll of a creature on its turn, or the first attack roll in 
  a round by a particular mob of mooks can trigger the curse. 
  When an enemy triggers the curse (and remember, only one 
  curse can be triggered per attack roll), make the following 
  attack, interrupting their attack. 
  Target: Enemy that triggered the curse. 
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 30 negative energy damage. 
  Miss: 10 damage
  5th level spell
  50 damage, 15 on a miss
  7th level spell
  80 damage, 25 on a miss
  9th level spell
  120 damage, 40 on a miss
  Rabble Babble
  Close spell
  Daily, or recharge 16+ after the battle for corruption devotees 
  Target: 1d3 nearby enemies with 30 or fewer maximum hit 
  points, and/or any number of nearby mooks in a mob with 
  printed hit points of 30 or less. (In other words, ignore damage, 
  this only works against targets that start with low hit points.)
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: The target is confused (save ends).
  Miss: The target is confused until the end of its next turn.
  3rd level spell
  45 hit point threshold
  5th level spell
  76 hit point threshold
  7th level spell
  140 hit point threshold
  9th level spell
  240 hit point threshold
  Adventurer Feat: If a creature confused by this spell drops an 
  enemy to 0 hit points, the confusion effect on it continues an 
  additional turn after it would normally end. 
  Champion Feat: On an even hit, the save to end the confusion 
  is hard (16+). 
  Epic Feat: Add 60 to the hit point threshold. 
  Spreading the Rot
  Ranged spell
  Daily, or recharge 16+ after the battle for corruption devotees/
  fanatics
  Target: One nearby enemy. 
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 10 poison damage, and target takes 5 ongoing poison damage; 
  when the target saves against the ongoing damage or drops to 
  0 hit points, increase the amount of ongoing poison damage to 
  10 and move the effect to a nearby enemy as a free action. The 
  spell’s effect doesn’t go beyond this second creature. 
  Miss: Regain the use of this spell.
  3rd level spell
  20 damage from the initial hit
  5th level spell
  30 damage from the initial hit, 
  10 ongoing that increases to  
  15 ongoing
  7th level spell
  40 damage from the initial  
  hit, 20 ongoing that increases to  
  30 ongoing
  9th level spell
  70 damage from the initial hit, 
  30 ongoing that increases to 50 
  ongoing
  Adventurer Feat: Add the current escalation die to the 
  ongoing damage (5th level: double the escalation die; 8th level: 
  triple the escalation die). 
  Champion Feat: When the spell spreads to a second enemy, it 
  also spreads to a third. 
  
  Book of Demons
  18
  Melting Flesh 
  Ranged Spell
  Daily
  Target: A number of nearby enemies with a total of 160 hp or 
  less, targeting enemies with the fewest hit points first.
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 5d8 + Charisma poison damage and the target takes ongoing 
  poison damage equal to triple your Constitution modifier and 
  is stuck and hampered (save ends all)
  Miss: Half damage.
  7th level spell
  250 hit point total, 7d8 damage, 
  ongoing 
  damage 
  equal 
  to 
  quadruple your Constitution 
  modifier
  9th level spell
  500 
  hit 
  point 
  total, 
  10d8 
  damage, ongoing damage equal 
  to five times your Constitution 
  modifier
  Champion Feat: Spell is now recharge 16+. 
  Epic Feat: Save is now a hard save (16+). 
  7th Level Corruption 
  Spell
  Abyssal Bargain
  Ranged Spell
  Once per level
  Special: You can only cast this spell once on each of your player 
  character allies
  Target: One ally at 0 hit points, or that has died since your last 
  turn. 
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD, or automatic hit against a 
  willing target
  Hit: Instead of dying or staying at 0 hit points, the target heals to 
  their staggered hit points, regains consciousness, and loses an 
  icon relationship that’s important to them.
  The character then gains an ambiguous relationship with an 
  icon of the GM’s choice (if they were unwilling), or perhaps 
  a positive one (if they were willing). This can exceed the 
  normal relationship maximums. This isn’t necessarily with 
  the Diabolist, but it’s probably with the Diabolist, Great Gold 
  Wyrm, or Crusader, whatever will disappoint the newly risen 
  hero the most. And last and most complicated: advantages 
  used with this icon always have complications! 
  Miss: You regain this spell after your next full heal-up.
  Misfortune
  Ranged spell
  Recharge 6+ after battle
  Quick action to cast
  Target: One nearby enemy with 70 or less hit points
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: The target suffers a misfortune (hard save ends, 16+): When 
  the target hits with an odd attack roll, it is a miss instead, and 
  the target gains a +5 bonus (cumulative) to the save against this 
  misfortune effect.
  5th level spell
  100 or less hit points
  7th level spell
  170 or less hit points
  9th level spell
  280 or less hit points
  Adventurer Feat: On a miss, you regain the use of this spell, 
  though you can’t cast it again until a subsequent turn. 
  Champion Feat: When target misses with a natural odd attack 
  roll, the attack instead targets and hits an ally of theirs engaged 
  with the target, if any, for half damage (no new attack roll, it’s 
  an automatic hit). If an enemy is damaged in this fashion, the 
  target gains a +5 bonus (cumulative) to the save against this 
  misfortune effect.
  Epic Feat: On a natural 1, or when the target misses with an 
  odd attack roll and none of the target’s allies are engaged with 
  the target of their attack, the target of this spell somehow hits 
  themselves for half damage. They still get the +5 cumulative 
  bonus to save against this spell. 
  5th Level Corruption 
  Spells
  Killing Doubt
  Ranged spell
  Daily, or recharge 16+ after the battle for corruption devotees 
  Interrupt action to cast, when an enemy does something besides 
  move normally or make a basic attack.
  Target: One enemy with 160 hp or less
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: The target loses whatever attack or power triggered this 
  spell (hard save ends).
  Miss: The target is dazed until the end of your next turn.
  7th level spell
  266 HP
  9th level spell
  400 HP
  Champion Feat: On a miss, the target loses whatever attack or 
  power triggered this spell until the start of your next turn. 
  Epic Feat: A hit also cancels the use of the attack or power that 
  triggered this spell, unless that makes NO sense! 
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  19
  PATH OF FLAME
  It’s no surprise that demonologists summon hellfire. The surprise 
  is that some of the magicians on the path of flame seem to have 
  been called to it by the Great Gold Wyrm. 
  Resist fire power
  Flame path initiates gain resist fire 12+, taking half damage from 
  fire attacks unless the attack’s natural attack roll is 12+.
  For flame path devotees, the power increases to resist fire 14+. 
  Flame path fanatics have resist fire 16+.
  Ignore fire resistance
  Flame path initiates ignore resist fire 14+ or lower. 
  Flame path devotees ignore resist fire 16+ and lower.
  Flame path fanatics ignore resist fire 18+ and lower.
  Bonus Summoning Spell
  Flame initiates gain summon flame demon as a daily spell. (The 
  spell appears on page 20.)
  Flame path devotees instead have summon flame demon as 
  a recharge 16+ spell. 
  Flame path fanatics instead have summon flame demon as 
  a recharge 11+ spell. 
  Flame Path Talents
  Breath of Fire
  You have a breath weapon attack. You can decide whether it 
  seems demonic, draconic, or like something else entirely. 
  Flame Breath
  Close-quarters attack
  Daily, or Recharge 16+ for a flame path devotee
  Target: 1d3 nearby enemies in a group; breath weapon
  Breath Weapon: For the rest of the battle, roll a d20 at the start 
  of each of your turns; on a 16+, you can use flame breath that 
  turn if you wish.
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 3d6 + Charisma fire damage.
  Miss: Half damage.
  3rd level spell
  5d6 damage
  5th level spell
  4d10 damage
  7th level spell
  6d12 damage
  9th level spell
  10d12 damage
  Adventurer Feat: If you have a positive or conflicted 
  relationship with the Great Gold Wyrm, natural even flame 
  breath attack rolls against demons deal maximum damage. 
  Champion Feat: If you have a positive or conflicted 
  relationship with the Great Gold Wyrm, you gain a +1 bonus 
  to flame breath re-use rolls during the battle and flame 
  breath recharge rolls after the battle. 
  Epic Feat: If you have a positive or conflicted relationship with 
  the Great Gold Wyrm, you gain flight during any turn you use 
  flame breath. The flight lasts until the end of your next turn. 
  9th Level Corruption 
  Spell
  Herald of Apocalypse
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily
  Effect: Until the end of the battle, you can teleport once per round 
  as a move action, provided that you teleport into engagement 
  with a creature you have not already attacked with the attack 
  associated with this spell. 
  Special: Once per round until the end of the battle, you can use 
  the following attack as a quick action. All ongoing effects that 
  a specific target suffers from the spell are ended by a hard save 
  (16+). The natural odd and natural even effects of the spell may 
  cause a creature to make saves while its hit points are still too 
  high to be fully affected by the spell, but when its hit points 
  drop below the threshold it will suffer the consequences if it 
  hasn’t saved. 
  Close-quarters spell
  Target: One engaged enemy you have not already attacked 
  with this spell this battle. 
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. MD
  Hit: 5d8 + Charisma negative energy damage and the target 
  takes 15 ongoing negative energy damage (hard save ends).
  Natural even hit or miss: Target is stuck if it has 600 hit points 
  or fewer (hard save ends).
  Natural odd hit or miss: Target is hampered if it has 600 hit 
  points or fewer (hard save ends).
  Effect: While making saves from effects created by this spell, 
  an enemy takes a –4 attack penalty against the caster of 
  herald of apocalypse, and also deals half damage to the caster. 
  Some playtesters were unhappy with abyssal bargain’s 
  ability to alter another player’s character. If you and 
  your group agree that this is a line that shouldn’t be 
  crossed, one simple revision to the spell is to rule that it 
  can only be used against a willing target. We’re happier 
  with that variant ourselves. We preserved the harsher 
  variant in case your epic level campaign wants to have 
  things shaken up a bit. 
  Grief?
  
  Book of Demons
  20
  Flare-Up
  You can use this power a number of times each day equal to your 
  Constitution modifier. 
  As a free action when an enemy saves with a natural odd roll 
  against an effect you caused with a demonologist spell or power, 
  move the spell effect off the creature that just saved to a nearby 
  enemy.
  As for the corruption path Contagion power, Flare Up can’t 
  move an effect created by one of your summoned creatures.
  Adventurer Feat: Once per battle, if you are conscious when 
  the escalation die reaches 5+, gain another use of the Flare 
  Up power that day. 
  Champion Feat: You can now use the power even if the target 
  fails the save. As before, the effect moves off the target onto 
  a new creature of your choice. 
  Epic Feat: Saves against spell effects and ongoing damage you 
  have moved using this talent are 2 points harder. (Easy: 8+, etc.)
  Master of Flames
  You gain the wizard cantrips light and spark (13th Age core 
  rulebook, page 147), and can cast them at-will as a quick action. 
  When you choose spells during a full heal-up, you can 
  replace one demonologist flame path spell you would choose 
  with another spell that does fire damage from a different class. 
  You cast this spell at your demonologist level, replacing the 
  ability score for attack and damage with Charisma, and any other 
  ability score mentioned with Constitution.
  Adventurer Feat: You gain the adventurer feat, if any, for the 
  spell you choose from a different class. 
  Champion Feat: Ditto for the champion feat. 
  Epic Feat: And for the epic feat.
  Flame Bonus Spell
  Flame initiates gain summon flame demon as a daily spell.
  Flame path devotees have summon flame demon as a 
  recharge 16+ spell.
  Flame path fanatics instead have the spell as a recharge 11+ 
  spell. 
  Summon Flame Demon
  Ranged Spell
  Usage depends on talents in path
  Effect: You summon a demon to fight for you until the end of the 
  battle as a superior (but degrading!) summoned creature. The 
  demon summoned is determined by the level you cast the spell 
  at, as follows: 
  1st level spell
  summon burner
  3rd level spell
  summon hellhound
  5th level spell
  summon fire-imp
  7th level spell
  summon glabrezu
  9th level spell
  summon balor
  Flickering
  Twice per day, before rolling initiative, you can decide to use 
  flickering power in an upcoming battle. 
  If your natural initiative roll in a battle is odd, you take a –1 
  penalty to all defenses. If your natural initiative roll is even, you 
  gain a +2 bonus to all defenses. 
  Each time you are hit by an attack, your situation flips after 
  the Attack: the –1 penalty becomes a +2 bonus, or the +2 bonus 
  becomes a –1 penalty. 
  Adventurer Feat: Once per battle you can choose not to flip 
  the bonus/penalty. 
  Champion Feat: The defense penalty is now –2. The defense 
  bonus is now +4. 
  Dance in Flames
  Once per battle when an enemy moves to engage you, you can roll 
  a normal save (11+) as an interrupt action. If the save succeeds, 
  deal 5 ongoing fire damage to that enemy (5th level: 10 ongoing 
  fire damage; 8th level: 15 ongoing fire damage). 
  Adventurer Feat: You can use the Dance in Flames save twice 
  per battle.
  Champion Feat: If you are a flame path devotee, you can use 
  the Dance in Flames save at-will, though it still requires an 
  interrupt action (and is therefore likely to apply only once 
  per round). 
  Epic Feat: Once per battle, you can use Dance in Flames as a 
  free action. 
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  21
  Summoned Hellhound
  3rd level wrecker 
  [demon]
  Initiative: +5
  Savage 
  bite 
  +9 
  vs. 
  AC—6 
  damage
  Natural even hit or 
  miss: The hellhound 
  can make a fiery breath 
  attack as a free action.
  [Special trigger] C: Fiery breath +9 
  vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies in a 
  group)—8 fire damage
  Resist fire 16+: When a fire attack targets this creature, the 
  attacker must roll a natural 16+ on the attack roll or it only 
  deals half damage.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  hellhound suffers 3d6 damage.
  AC 17
  PD 15 
   
  HP 58 (Initiate: 48)
  MD 11
  Summoned Burner
  1st level archer [demon]
  Initiative: +7
  Flickers of flame +7 vs. AC—3 fire damage
  R: Flickers of flame +7 vs. AC—5 fire damage
  Miss: Deal 3 fire damage to a random nearby creature (yes, 
  could be enemy or ally!). 
  Quick flicking fire: The summoned burner adds escalation die to 
  its disengage checks.
  Flight: Bobs along low to the ground, if it gets higher than 6’ it 
  drops, as if tethered to the earth. 
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  burner suffers 1d6 damage.
  AC 17
  PD 15 
   
  HP 24 (Initiate: 20)
  MD 13
  Demonologist Level
  Flame Initiate Spells
  Flame Devotee Spells
  Flame Fanatic Spells
  Spell Level
  Level 1 Multiclass
  1
  1
  2
  1st level
  Level 1
  1
  2
  3
  1st level
  Level 2
  1
  3
  4
  1st level
  Level 3
  2
  3
  4
  3rd level
  Level 4
  2
  4
  5
  3rd level
  Level 5
  2
  5
  6
  5th level
  Level 6
  3
  5
  6
  5th level
  Level 7
  3
  6
  7
  7th level
  Level 8
  3
  6
  7
  7th level
  Level 9
  3
  7
  8
  9th level
  Level 10
  3
  7
  8
  9th level
  Flame Path Level Progression
  
  Book of Demons
  22
  Summoned Big Burner
  5th level archer [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Flickers of flame +11 vs. AC—10 fire damage
  R: Flickers of flame +11 vs. AC—18 fire damage
  Miss: Deal 10 fire damage to a random nearby creature (yes, 
  could be enemy or ally!). 
  Quick flicking fire: Adds the escalation die to its disengage checks.
  Flight: Bobs along low to the ground, if it gets higher than 6’ it 
  drops, as if tethered to the earth. 
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned big 
  burner suffers 3d6 damage.
  AC 21
  PD 19 
   
  HP 66 (Initiate: 56)
  MD 17
  Summoned Pincer 
  Demon
  7th level caster [demon]
  Initiative: +14
  Pincer +12 vs. AC—20 fire damage
  Natural even hit: 10 ongoing damage
  R: Painbolt +12 vs. MD (one nearby or far away creature)—35 
  psychic damage
  C: Hellfire + 12 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies in a group and any 
  glabrezou allies engaged with those enemies)—25 fire damage
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  pincer demon suffers 4d12 damage.
  AC 20
  PD 20 
   
  HP 170 (Initiate: 144)
  MD 16
  Summoned 
  Lesser Balor
  Large 9th level wrecker [demon]
  Initiative: +13
  Abyssal blade +14 vs. AC—50 damage
  Natural even hit: The balor deals +1d8 lightning damage to 
  the target and to one other nearby enemy of balor’s choice. 
  Then repeat that damage roll against the targets once for 
  each point on the escalation die (so if it’s 4, that’s four more 
  d8 rolls)
  Natural even miss: 25 damage.
  C: Flaming whip +14 vs. PD (one nearby enemy)—15 fire 
  damage, and the target is pulled to the balor, who engages it.
  Natural even miss: 7 fire damage.
  Limited use: 1/round, as a quick action.
  Desperate escalator: While staggered, the balor adds the 
  escalation die to its attack rolls.
  Flight: Giant bat wings are good for something besides looking 
  tough.
  Shadow and flame: When out of control, but not before, the 
  summoned lesser balor gains a +5 bonus to all defenses against 
  attacks by far away enemies.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  lesser balor suffers 1d10 x 10 damage.
  AC 24
  PD 22 
   
  HP 340 (Initiate: 290)
  MD 18
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  23
  Everburn
  Ranged spell
  Recharge 16+ after battle
  Target: One nearby enemy
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 1d8 + Charisma fire damage, and the target takes 5 ongoing 
  fire damage and is vulnerable (hard save ends both, 16+).
  Miss: Half damage, and the target takes 5 ongoing fire damage 
  and is vulnerable (save ends both).
  3rd level spell
  3d8 damage, 15 ongoing 
  damage and in addition to 
  being vulnerable, the target 
  can’t turn invisible or hide 
  from you or your allies 
  (save ends all)
  5th level spell
  5d8 damage, 25 ongoing 
  damage and the target also 
  can’t teleport (save ends all)
  7th level spell
  7d8 damage and 35 ongoing 
  damage
  9th level spell
  10d8 
  damage 
  and 
  50 
  ongoing damage
  Flame Shroud
  Close-quarters spell
  At-Will
  Target: 1 enemy you are engaged with
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Natural even hit: 9 damage, and you can pop free of target.
  Natural odd hit: 7 damage
  Miss: Damage equal to your level, and you cannot target this 
  enemy with flame shroud again this battle. 
  3rd level spell
  Even 16 damage, odd 11 
  damage
  5th level spell
  Even 25 damage, odd 19 
  damage
  7th level spell
  Even 36 damage, odd 28 
  damage
  9th level spell
  Even 62 damage, odd 47 
  damage
  Whipping Tongues of Fire
  Close-quarters curse spell
  Recharge 16+ after battle
  Quick action to cast
  Curse Effect: As an interrupt action later in the battle, or as a 
  free action if you’ve already spent your interrupt action this 
  round on this curse, deal 10 ongoing fire damage to a nearby 
  enemy that attacks with a natural odd attack roll; the curse 
  effect can be used a number of times this battle equal to your 
  Constitution modifier.
  3rd level spell
  15 ongoing fire damage
  5th level spell
  20 ongoing fire damage
  7th level spell
  35 ongoing fire damage
  9th level spell
  50 ongoing fire damage
  FLAME SPELLS
  1st Level Flame Spells
  Burn It Off
  Ranged spell
  Special: You take half-damage on the second and subsequent 
  castings of this spell in a battle. 
  Once per battle, or at-will for flame path devotee (but see 
  special!)
  Target: Nearby enemy
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 2d6 + Charisma fire damage. 
  Natural even hit: Subtract 2 from the target’s AC until the end 
  of the battle (not cumulative).
  Miss: —
  3rd level spell
  4d6 damage
  5th level spell
  6d6 damage
  7th level spell
  9d6 damage
  9th level spell
  8d12 damage
  Adventurer Feat: Burn it off now deals miss damage equal to 
  your level. 
  Champion Feat: Spell is now cumulative up to –4 AC. 
  Epic Feat: The penalty now also applies to PD. 
  Feed the Flame Demons
  Ranged spell
  At-Will
  Special: You can’t cast the spell while a creature is taking ongoing 
  fire damage from a previous casting of the spell. 
  Target: One nearby enemy
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 2d8 + Charisma modifier fire damage, and 5 ongoing fire 
  damage.
  Miss: Deal 5 ongoing fire damage to a random nearby ally.
  3rd level spell
  4d8 damage and 10 ongoing 
  damage
  5th level spell
  6d8 damage and 15 ongoing 
  damage
  7th level spell
  8d8 damage and 20 ongoing 
  damage
  9th level spell
  12d8 
  damage 
  and 
  30 
  ongoing damage
  
  Book of Demons
  24
  Swarming Flame Demons
  Close-quarters spell
  Recharge 11+ after battle
  Target: 1d3 nearby enemies
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 20 fire damage.
  Miss: Damage equal to twice your level
  Effect: Regardless of your attack rolls, the next time an enemy 
  rolls a natural 1-5 with an attack this battle, deal 3d6 fire 
  damage to that creature and each enemy nearby them as the 
  flame demons swarm (only deal this damage once to each mob 
  of mooks). 
  5th level spell
  30 fire damage on a hit, 5d6 
  effect damage
  7th level spell
  50 fire damage on a hit, 8d6 
  effect damage
  9th level spell
  80 fire damage on a hit, 
  8d10 effect damage
  5th Level Flame Spells
  Golden Claw
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily
  Effect: You conjure a great flaming claw that you can ride around 
  the battle. You gain flight, but cannot fly above head height. 
  You also gain a +2 bonus to all defenses. When you would 
  be hit by a melee attack, you can choose to respond with the 
  claw’s attack as an interrupt action, possibly canceling the 
  attack if you eliminate the attacker (and/or losing the claw, as 
  you’ll see below!). The claw lasts until the end of the battle, or 
  until you’ve lost it.
  3rd Level Flame Spells
  Keep Burning Please
  Close-quarters spell
  Recharge 11+ after battle
  Interrupt action
  Target: A nearby enemy that just saved against ongoing fire 
  damage
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs PD.
  Hit: The target fails the saving throw instead, and increase the 
  ongoing fire damage by 2d6.
  Miss: Regain the use of this spell.
  5th level spell
  Damage increases by 4d6
  7th level spell
  Damage increases by 3d12
  9th level spell
  Damage increases by 5d12
  Adventurer Feat: Spell is now recharge 6+. 
  Champion Feat: If you keep the enemy burning, the save 
  against the ongoing damage is now a hard save (16+), if it 
  wasn’t already. 
  Epic Feat: When you keep the enemy burning, it takes the new 
  amount of ongoing fire damage immediately. 
  Flaming Teleport
  Close-quarters spell
  Move action to cast
  Recharge 6+ after battle
  Target: One nearby creature taking ongoing fire damage
  Effect: Teleport next to that creature. You can choose whether 
  to be engaged with that creature (or next to them if they’re an 
  ally) or extremely close to the creature but not engaged.
  5th level spell
  Flaming teleport now only 
  requires a quick action to 
  cast
  7th level spell
  Target can now be far away
  9th level spell
  Flaming teleport can now 
  also be used to teleport 
  away 
  from 
  engagement 
  with an enemy that is taking 
  ongoing fire damage
  Adventurer Feat: If you are a flame path devotee, deal the 
  ongoing fire damage the target is taking to the target if you 
  teleport into engagement with it. 
  Champion Feat: Spell is now once per battle instead of 
  recharge 6+. 
  Epic Feat:  If a creature is reduced to 0 hit points by ongoing 
  fire damage, you can flaming teleport to teleport to their 
  former location on your next turn, even if the spell has been 
  expended. (Yes, this would also let you teleport next to an 
  ally dropped by ongoing fire damage!) 
  The Flare Up talent and keep burning please fit the 
  same theme, but they can’t actually both be used 
  at the same time. Using the interrupt action to cast 
  keep burning please prevents the save from having 
  succeeded, the precondition for using Flare Up. It still 
  works well to have both options . . . 
  Incompatible Burns
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  25
  7th Level Flame Spell
  Pyres
  Ranged spell
  Daily
  Target: 1d3 + 1 nearby enemies
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 8d10 + Charisma modifier fire damage, and 25 ongoing fire 
  damage. Increase this ongoing damage by 1d10 each time a 
  non-mook enemy or the last mook in a mob drops to 0 hit 
  points!
  Miss: 25 ongoing fire damage.
  9th level spell
  2d8 x 10 fire damage, 40 
  ongoing fire damage, and 
  increase by 2d10 each time 
  an enemy drops to 0 hit 
  points
  Champion Feat:  Increase the number of targets to 1d4 + 2. 
  Epic Feat:  On any turn a target does not move, the save against 
  ongoing damage becomes a hard save. 
  9th Level Flame Spell
  Gorogan’s Breath
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily
  Special: This spell cannot be used in the overworld. Also see the 
  spell effect for its repeated impact on the battle.
  Target: 1d8 nearby non-flying enemies. Each enemy can only be 
  targeted once.
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 10d6 + Charisma fire damage. 
  Miss: Half damage. Allies (including you) engaged with the target 
  you missed take one-quarter damage. 
  Effect: You can repeat the attack 1/round as a quick action on 
  your next turn, and on each of your subsequent turns this 
  battle, until you fail to use the attack on your turn. Each use of 
  the spell after the first deals damage to you equal to 1d12 for 
  each time you have used this spell after the first. 
  Epic Feat:  Increase the damage to 10d10 + Charisma fire 
  damage. 
  The Golden Claw’s Attack
  Target: Enemy that hit you with an attack
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. AC
  Hit: 6d10 damage
  Natural 19-20: 15 ongoing fire damage to the target OR a 
  different nearby enemy, and the golden claw spell ends, 
  taking you to the ground before disappearing. 
  Miss: 5 damage.
  7th level spell
  10d10 claw damage, 7 miss 
  damage
  9th level spell
  3d4 x 10 claw damage, 9 
  miss damage
  Champion Feat:  If you have at least one relationship point 
  with the Great Gold Wyrm, you can use the golden claw’s 
  attack as a quick action 1d3 times each battle you cast the 
  spell. 1/round only! 
  Epic Feat:  If you are a flame path devotee, golden claw is now 
  a recharge 16+ spell. 
  Kindling
  Ranged Spell
  Recharge 16+
  Special: If the target is engaged with one of your summoned 
  demons double the ongoing damage if you hit. 
  Target: One nearby enemy
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs PD
  Hit: 6d10 + Charisma fire damage, and 15 ongoing fire damage; 
  while the target is taking this ongoing fire damage, your allies 
  and summoned creatures have a +2 attack bonus against the 
  target. 
  Miss: Half damage.
  7th level spell
  9d10 
  damage, 
  and 
  20 
  ongoing fire damage
  9th level spell
  3d10 x 10 damage, and 40 
  ongoing fire damage
  Champion Feat:  Can now be used against a far away target, 
  and add 10 to ongoing damage. 
  Epic Feat:  Attack bonus for allies and summoned creatures 
  increases to +4. 
  
  Book of Demons
  26
  Bonus Summoning Spell
  Slaughter initiates gain summon slaughter demon as a daily 
  spell. (The spell appears on page 28.)
  Slaughter path devotees instead have summon slaughter 
  demon as a recharge 16+ spell. 
  Slaughter path fanatics have summon slaughter demon as a 
  recharge 11+ spell. 
  Slaughter Path 
  Talents
  Blood & Slaughter
  You have a bonus daily use of the summon slaughter demon spell 
  at your normal highest level. 
  This bonus casting of the spell functions exactly like your 
  usual casting of the spell, but with the following complication: 
  when the demon summoned by the spell is hit by an attack with a 
  natural odd attack roll, you take damage equal to half the damage 
  that the summoned demon takes. No resist damage ability from 
  demonologist paths or any other source reduces this damage. 
  Demonic Violence
  Use this power a number of times each day equal to your 
  Constitution modifier + 1. 
  When you move to engage an enemy you were not engaged 
  with at the start of your turn, deal 1d6 damage to that enemy as 
  you engage them. 
  This power improves as you gain levels. 
  2nd level demonologist 
  2d4 damage
  3rd level demonologist  
  2d6 damage
  4th level demonologist  
  2d8 damage
  5th level demonologist  
  3d6 damage
  6th level demonologist  
  3d8 damage
  7th level demonologist  
  4d8 damage
  8th level demonologist  
  5d8 damage 
  9th level demonologist  
  5d10 damage
  10th level demonologist  
  5d12 damage
  Adventurer Feat: If you have a positive or conflicted 
  relationship with the Crusader, gain an additional 1d3 uses 
  of this power each day. (Yes, roll at the start of the day.). 
  Champion Feat:  Add double your Charisma modifier to the 
  damage dealt with Focused Violence (8th level: triple your 
  Charisma modifier).
  Epic Feat:  If you eliminate a non-mook enemy using this 
  power, you gain an extra standard action this turn. 
  SLAUGHTER PATH
  Slaughter path devotees are committed to the idea that if you’re 
  going to summon demons, it helps to be wearing heavy armor and 
  swinging a big sword. 
  Armored Destroyer
  As a slaughter path initiate or devotee, your AC in light armor 
  is 13.
  As a slaughter path initiate, your AC in heavy armor is 14, 
  with a –2 attack penalty. 
  If you are a slaughter path devotee, you lose the attack 
  penalty for wearing heavy armor and using shields. 
  Demonic Warrior 
  This feature only applies to slaughter path devotees. Initiates get 
  nothing out of this. 
  You lose the attack penalty for using heavy or martial melee 
  weapons: you’re happy swinging warhammers, flails, swords, and 
  other nasty and spiky serious weapons. 
  In addition, your basic melee attacks deal damage equal to 
  your level on a miss. 
  In addition, and perhaps most significantly, your basic melee 
  attacks use your Charisma as their attack and damage ability 
  score while you are not staggered. 
  When you are staggered, your basic melee attacks revert to 
  using your Strength, as normal. 
  (See the Ravager talent below for another melee ability 
  connected to not being staggered.)
  Adventurer Feat: One turn per battle when you are staggered, 
  use your Charisma as your attack and damage ability score 
  with basic melee attacks instead of your Strength. 
  Champion Feat:  Once per day, as a free action, you do not 
  count as staggered until the end of the battle, unless you are 
  at 0 hit points. 
  Resist melee damage
  Slaughter path initiates gain resist melee damage 10+, taking half 
  damage from melee attacks unless the attack’s natural attack roll 
  is 10+. 
  For slaughter path devotees, the power increases to resist 
  melee damage 12+. 
  For slaughter path fanatics, the power increases to resist 
  melee damage 14+. 
  Adventurer Feat: Your recovery dice are d8s instead of d6s. 
  Champion Feat:  If you are a slaughter path devotee, your base 
  hit points increase from 6 to 7. 
  Epic Feat:  Your recovery dice are d10s instead of d8s. 
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  27
  
  Book of Demons
  28
  Ravager
  While you are not staggered, you deal half damage with your 
  basic melee attacks that miss. 
  Adventurer Feat: If you are a slaughter path devotee, two 
  battles per day you can use the Ravager power to deal half 
  damage with basic melee attacks that miss even when you 
  are staggered.
  Champion Feat:  If you are a slaughter path devotee, you can 
  reroll a basic melee attack that misses a number of times 
  each day equal to your Charisma modifier. 
  Epic Feat:  Once per battle you can reroll the damage of one of 
  your melee attacks.
  Sacrificial Blade
  Once per battle when your attack drops a non-mook* to 0 hit 
  points, or you eliminate the last mook in a mob, roll a normal 
  save (11+). If the save succeeds, you can take a free standard 
  action this turn. (*The exception is that slaying your summoned 
  creature, or any creature summoned by an ally, does not trigger 
  sacrificial blade.)
  Adventurer Feat: The save is now an easy save (6+) instead of 
  a normal save. 
  Champion Feat:  You can use the ability twice each battle 
  instead of once, though only once per turn.
  Epic Feat:  You can also attempt to use Sacrificial Blade if one 
  of your summoned demons strikes the killing blow.
  Slaughter Bonus Spell
  Slaughter initiates gain summon slaughter demon as a bonus 
  daily spell. 
  Slaughter path devotees instead have summon slaughter 
  demon as a bonus recharge 16+ spell.
  Slaughter path fanatics instead have summon slaughter 
  demon as a recharge 11+ spell. 
  Summon Slaughter Demon
  Ranged Spell
  Usage varies based on slaughter path talents
  Effect: You summon a demon to fight for you until the end of the 
  battle as a superior (but degrading!) summoned creature. The 
  demon summoned is determined by the level you cast the spell 
  at, as follows: 
  1st level spell
  summon claw demon
  3rd level spell
  summon hungry maw
  5th level spell
  summon frenzy demon
  7th level spell
  summon laughing demon
  9th level spell
  summon marilith
  Demonic Reinforcements
  Once per day when one of your demonologist attacks drops a 
  non-mook enemy to 0 hit points, roll a save. The type of save 
  depends on the size and level of the creature. 
  If the creature is a normal creature, the save starts as an easy 
  save (6+). If the creature is a large or double-strength creature, 
  it’s a normal save (11+). If you’re higher level than the target, add 
  the difference in levels to the save as a bonus. If you are lower 
  level than the target, subtract the difference in levels as a penalty.
  The power doesn’t work against a huge or triple-strength 
  creature. 
  If the save succeeds, the enemy does not drop to 0 hit points. 
  Instead, set its hit points equal to half its staggered value and give 
  the creature the degradation ability that appears below. Until 
  the end of the battle, or until it is destroyed, the creature fights 
  for you as if it were confused (in other words, using its at-will 
  attacks). Unlike the demons you summon that take degradation 
  damage, this creature merely dies when it again reaches 0 hit 
  points, you don’t have to save to see if it goes out of control, it 
  was your enemy once already. 
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the Demonic 
  Reinforcements creature suffers 3 x its level damage (large or 
  double-strength: 6 x level, huge or triple-strength: 9 x level). 
  Adventurer Feat: Once per day, when your Demonic 
  Reinforcements save fails, you do not expend the ability. 
  Champion Feat:  You can now target a huge or triple-strength 
  creature with Demonic Reinforcements, but the save is a 
  hard save (16+). 
  Epic Feat:  You gain a +2 bonus to saves made to use this talent.
  Note that you’re not taking the damage instead of 
  the demon—your demon takes the damage normally, 
  then you take half that damage. On average, you’ll 
  take ¼ of the damage that enemies deal to the demon 
  you’ll summon using this bonus spell. You don’t take 
  anything from the degradation damage, and you stop 
  taking damage from the complication if the demon 
  drops to 0 hit points and goes out of your control.
  Blood & Slaughter Math
  The 
  creature 
  you 
  create 
  using 
  Demonic 
  Reinforcements isn’t the same creature you’ve been 
  fighting—it’s a disembodied demon taking over the 
  dead creature’s body. That qualifies as some type 
  of demonic necromancy unless you fight for the 
  Crusader, in which case it’s efficient use of controllable 
  resources.
  Players
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  29
  Summoned Claw Demon
  1st level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +6
  Hooking claws +6 vs. AC (1d3 attacks)—3 damage
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned claw 
  demon suffers 1d6 damage.
  AC 17
  PD 14 
   
  HP 24 (Initiate: 20)
  MD 11
  Summoned Hungry 
  Maw
  3rd level blocker [demon]
  Initiative: +6
  Big chomp +9 vs. AC—12 damage
  Natural even hit: Target and hungry maw are both stuck until 
  the end of the hungry maw’s next turn, or until they are not 
  engaged with each other. 
  Chomp and chew: If the hungry maw starts its turns stuck and 
  engaged with a stuck enemy, it loses its standard action this 
  turn but automatically deals 8 damage and 4 ongoing damage 
  to that enemy.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  hungry maw suffers 2d6 damage.
  AC 16
  PD 16 
   
  HP 48 (Initiate: 40)
  MD 12
  Demonologist Level
  Slaughter Initiate 
  Spells
  Slaughter Devotee 
  Spells
  Slaughter Fanatic 
  Spells
  Spell Level
  Level 1 Multiclass
  1
  1
  2
  1st level
  Level 1
  1
  2
  3
  1st level
  Level 2
  1
  3
  4
  1st level
  Level 3
  1
  3
  4
  3rd level
  Level 4
  1
  4
  5
  3rd level
  Level 5
  2
  4
  5
  5th level
  Level 6
  2
  4
  5
  5th level
  Level 7
  2
  5
  6
  7th level
  Level 8
  2
  5
  6
  7th level
  Level 9
  2
  5
  6
  9th level
  Level 10
  3
  6
  7
  9th level
  Slaughter Path Level Progression
  
  Book of Demons
  30
  Summoned Marilith
  Large 9th level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +17
  Three whirling swords +14 vs. AC (3 attacks)—18 damage, and 
  the marilith can pop free from the target after the attacks
  R: Beguiling gaze +14 vs. MD (one nearby or far away unengaged 
  enemy)—As a free action, the target immediately moves 
  toward the marilith, attempting to engage it or get as close 
  as possible 
  to it
  Limited use: 
  1/round, 
  as a quick 
  action.
  Terrible 
  swift 
  swords: 
  When 
  the 
  escalation 
  die is even, the summoned 
  marilith’s crit range with melee 
  attacks expands by a number 
  equal to the escalation die. If the 
  summoned marilith is out of control, its crit range expands by 
  a number equal to the escalation die whether the die is even 
  or odd. 
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  marilith suffers 10d6 damage.
  AC 24
  PD 17 
   
  HP 200 (Initiate: 165)
  MD 21
  1st Level Slaughter 
  Spells
  Blade Polished In Blood
  Close-quarters spell
  Once per battle
  Quick action to cast
  Special: You must have reduced a non-mook creature (or the last 
  mook of a mob) to zero hit points with a basic or at-will melee 
  attack this turn.
  Effect: You can spend a recovery.
  Adventurer Feat: If you are a slaughter path devotee, add your 
  Charisma modifier to the healing from the recovery (5th 
  level: double your Charisma modifier; 8th level: triple).
  Champion Feat: If you are a slaughter path devotee, you can 
  cast this spell twice per battle, though only once a turn. 
  Epic Feat: If you are still staggered after using the recovery, 
  the recovery is free.
  Summoned Frenzy 
  Demon
  5th level wrecker [demon]
  Initiative: +10
  Claw +8 vs. AC (2 attacks)—7 damage
  Raging frenzy: Whenever the frenzy demon misses with a melee 
  attack, it gains a +1 attack bonus and deals +1d4 damage until 
  the end of the battle (maximum bonus +4, +4d4).
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  frenzy demon suffers 4d6 damage.
  AC 20
  PD 16 
   
  HP 70 (Initiate: 56)
  MD 16
  Summoned Laughing 
  Demon
  7th level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Tooth & claw and stomp +12 vs. AC—22 damage
  Miss: 11 damage
  Won’t … stop… laughing: While one or more summoned laughing 
  demons are in a battle deal 8 psychic damage to each enemy 
  who fails a save.
  Degradation: At the end of each of its turns, the summoned 
  laughing demon suffers 6d6 damage.
  AC 22
  PD 17 
   
  HP 124 (Initiate: 100)
  MD 19
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  31
  3rd Level Slaughter 
  Spells
  Death Mark 
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily, OR Recharge 16+ after battle, for a slaughter path devotee
  Quick action to cast
  Effect: Your summoned creatures gain a +3 attack bonus until 
  the end of the battle against any creature you hit with an attack 
  this battle. (This applies even if you summon the creature after 
  the attack.) 
  Adventurer Feat: In addition, add your Charisma modifier to 
  the damage dealt by hits from your summoned creatures’ 
  attacks against enemies you hit yourself (5th level: double 
  your Charisma modifier; 8th level: triple your Charisma 
  modifier). 
  Champion Feat: In addition, any creature you hit with 
  an attack this battle is vulnerable to the attacks of your 
  summoned creatures. 
  Deceptive Wound
  Close-quarters spell
  Recharge 11+ after battle
  Quick action to cast
  Target: Creature you hit with a melee attack earlier this turn. 
  Effect: Deal 10 ongoing damage to the target, easy save (6+) 
  ends. The first time the target fails the save, the save becomes 
  a normal save (11+). If the target fails that save also, the save 
  becomes a hard save (16+). 
  5th level spell
  15 ongoing damage
  7th level spell
  25 ongoing damage
  9th level spell
  40 ongoing damage
  Follow the Blood
  Close-quarters spell
  Cast as an interrupt action
  Recharge 11+ after battle, or once per battle for slaughter 
  devotee
  Target: One nearby enemy that becomes staggered, but still has 
  hit points greater than 0. 
  Effect: Teleport into engagement with the target.
  5th level spell
  Spell can now also target an 
  enemy that has been reduced 
  to 0 hit points OR an ally that 
  has been staggered or reduced 
  to 0 hit points
  7th level spell
  If the spell targets a staggered 
  enemy, 
  that 
  enemy 
  is 
  vulnerable to your attacks 
  until the end of the battle 
  (your slaughter path talents 
  might also deal damage to it 
  automatically)
  9th level spell
  Now a recharge 6+ spell
  Epic Feat: You can use this spell when you become staggered 
  to teleport next to a nearby staggered creature.
  Hate
  Close-quarters spell
  Once per battle
  Quick action to cast
  Target: Yourself
  Effect: The first time you hit with a weapon attack this turn, add 
  5 to the damage.
  3rd level spell
  8
  5th level spell
  13
  7th level spell
  20
  9th level spell
  33
  Adventurer Feat: You can now cast hate twice per battle. 
  Champion Feat: The bonus damage now also applies if your 
  first attack misses this turn. 
  Epic Feat: Once per day, hate applies to every attack you make 
  this turn, not just the first.
  Reckless Slaughter
  Close spell
  Recharge 11+ after battle
  Quick action to cast
  Effect: Make a basic melee attack using the ability score of your 
  choice as the attack and damage stat and using d12s for the 
  damage die. On a miss, you inflict no damage on the target 
  and instead hit an ally engaged with the target for one-quarter 
  damage. If no allies are engaged, hit an ally next to you and if 
  no allies are next to you, hit yourself instead.
  3rd level spell
  Add 7 to the damage if the 
  attack hits
  5th level spell
  Add 13 to the damage if the 
  attack hits
  7th level spell
  Add 20 to the damage if the 
  attack hits
  9th level spell
  Add 25 to the damage if the 
  attack hits
  Adventurer Feat: If you are a slaughter path devotee, reckless 
  slaughter is now a recharge 6+ spell. 
  The Rending
  Close-quarters spell
  Recharge 16+ after battle
  Target: 1 nearby or far away enemy
  Attack: Charisma + Level vs. PD
  Hit: 3d12 + Charisma damage
  Miss: Half damage, and you OR an ally engaged with the target 
  also take half that damage. 
  3rd level spell
  5d12 damage
  5th level spell
  8d12 damage
  7th level spell
  2d8 x 10 damage
  9th level spell
  4d6 x 10 damage
  Adventurer Feat: If you miss all targets (see champion feat!) 
  with the rending, it’s a recharge 6+ spell after the battle.
  Champion Feat: Once per day, when the escalation die is 
  2+, the rending can target two enemies instead of one. 
  (Obviously if it misses twice, you or allies are taking a good 
  deal of damage.)
  
  Book of Demons
  32
  Mass Slaughter
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily
  Effect: Make a separate basic melee attack against each of 1d3+1 
  enemies engaged with you. For each hit, also deal half the 
  damage to a different nearby random creature you are not 
  engaged with. Each creature can only be damaged once with 
  the attacks/spell. 
  7th level spell
  You can exclude one nearby 
  ally from being a possible 
  random 
  target 
  of 
  the 
  secondary damage
  9th level spell
  You can now exclude two 
  nearby allies from being a 
  possible random target of the 
  secondary damage
  Champion Feat: If you miss all targets with this spell, regain 
  it after a quick rest.
  Epic Feat: Your attacks with this spell deal half damage on a 
  miss.
  7th Level Slaughter 
  Spell
  Death is Everywhere
  Close Spell
  Recharge 16+
  Effect: Teleport someplace nearby and make a basic or at-will attack 
  against a single target. If that attack hits, repeat the effect against 
  an enemy you have not already attacked with death is everywhere 
  this turn. So long as you keep hitting, you can continue teleporting 
  and attacking until you have made a number of attacks with the 
  spell equal to your Constitution modifier. 
  Champion Feat: If your first attack misses, regain this spell 
  after a quick rest.
  Epic Feat: If you roll an even miss with an attack made from 
  this spell, repeat the effect.
  9th Level Slaughter 
  Spell
  Blood for Blood!
  Close-quarters spell
  Daily
  Effect: Deal 1d20 damage to yourself. Then attack and 
  automatically critically hit one enemy with a basic melee 
  weapon attack as if you had rolled a natural 20.
  Epic Feat: Your critical hit deals triple damage.
  Implacable Destruction
  Close-quarters spell
  Recharge 16+ after battle, or Recharge 11+ for a slaughter path 
  devotee
  Special: So long as you are conscious, this spell ignores any effect 
  you are under that would prevent or hinder you from casting 
  the spell and making its associated attack (being confused or 
  stunned, attack penalties from being dazed or weakened, etc.).
  Effect: Make a basic or at-will attack with a +2 bonus.
  Adventurer Feat: Recharge becomes 11+, or 6+ for a devotee.
  Champion Feat: On a hit, one effect that was suspended by 
  the spell ends, provided the GM can see how that makes any 
  sense.
  Epic Feat: You do not expend this spell if the attack misses.
  5th Level Slaughter 
  Spells
  Altar Reversal
  Close-quarters spell
  Recharge 16+ after battle, or recharge 11+ for a slaughter path 
  devotee
  Quick action to cast
  Effect: Until the end of the turn, you gain a +4 attack bonus 
  against demons, and demons are vulnerable to your attacks. If 
  you use this opportunity to attack a 5th or lower level slaughter 
  demon you summoned that is still under your control, and drop 
  the demon’s hit points to 0 with the attack, you automatically 
  succeed with the save that determines whether you lose control 
  of the demon. Instead you roll a normal save (11+) to see if 
  you regain the use of your summoning spell! (GM: This is the 
  right time to enforce the rule that a summoned demon takes 
  its turn after its summoner’s turn. The demonologist should 
  be attempting to cut its demon down before the demon can 
  attack that round.)
  7th level spell
  Now affects any of your 7th 
  level summoned demons
  9th level spell
  Now affects your 9th level 
  summoned demons, and your 
  critical hits against demons 
  deal triple damage until the 
  end of the battle
  Champion Feat: Instead of you, one nearby ally gains the 
  attack bonus and vulnerability effect against demons.
  Epic Feat: Both you and one nearby ally gain the attack bonus 
  and vulnerability effect.
  
  C h a p t e r  1 :  D e m o n o l o g i s t
  33
  Control issues: As a multiclass demonologist, it’s a tiny bit 
  harder to stay in control of your summoned demons when they drop 
  to 0 hit points. For most demonologists, the control save is an easy 
  save, 6+. For you it’s a 7+ save. It’s really not that big a deal, more a 
  token of your distraction. 
  Forking paths: Multiclassing highlights the two distinct 
  styles of demonologists, the spellcasters who prefer to stay back 
  (corruption, flame) and the armored warriors who are comfortable 
  near the front line (slaughter). As you’ll see in the key modifier 
  table, we’ve separated the two styles, they have different ability score 
  conditions. 
  Skillful warriors: In fact, slaughter path devotees count as 
  skillful warriors who do not suffer the weapon damage penalty from 
  multiclassing so long as their multiclass combo includes another 
  skillful warrior. The full list: barbarian, bard, commander, slaughter 
  path demonologist devotee, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue. See page 
  105 of 13TW for the standard rule. 
  In addition, if it fits the story for the multiclass demonologist 
  in your campaign, feel free to let them choose the Armored Warfare 
  feats listed for the fighter multiclass on page 109 of 13TW. 
  The intelligent tiefling: For simplicity’s sake, we’re going 
  to treat the demonologist class feature named That’s Intelligent 
  (page 9) as if it was a talent, so that’s it’s not an exception to the key 
  feature modifier rules on page 106 of 13TW. There’s no reason to let 
  multiclass tiefling demonologists get around the key modifier rules 
  that other multiclass characters have to cope with.
  DEMONOLOGIST 
  MULTICLASS
  If you’re interested in multiclassing rules, you either already own 13 
  True Ways or you’re about to go pick up a copy! Use the multiclassing 
  rules that start on page 103 of 13TW in conjunction with the new 
  key modifier table and demonologist multiclassing notes below. 
  Design note: We haven’t played any multiclass demonologists. 
  Many demonologists mix paths, and that may already feel a bit like 
  playing a multiclass character. That could discourage players from 
  needing to multiclass or it may encourage further experimentation, 
  we can see it working both ways. 
  Since all three talents are required to be a fanatic of one the 
  demonologist paths, there are no fanatic multiclass demonologists. 
  Fanatics don’t yield a talent to be given to another class. 
  Level progression: You lag one level behind in the powers and 
  spells known columns of the three path-specific demonologist level 
  progression tables. The tables contain a multiclass entry that shows 
  what you’ll get as 1st level multiclass demonologist on each of the 
  paths. 
  Multiclass
  Corruption and Flame 
  Path Initiates or  
  Devotees
  Slaughter Path 
  Devotees
  Barbarian
  Str/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Bard
  Str OR Dex/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Chaos mage
  Int/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Cleric
  Wis/Cha
  Wis/Cha
  Commander
  Str/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Druid
  Wis/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Fighter
  Str/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Monk
  Dex/Cha
  Dex/Cha
  Necromancer
  Int/Cha
  Int/Cha
  Occultist
  Int/Cha
  Int/Cha
  Paladin
  Str/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Ranger
  Str OR Dex/Cha
  Str/Cha
  Rogue
  Dex/Cha
  Dex/Cha
  Sorcerer
  Con/Cha
  Con/Cha
  Wizard
  Int/Cha
  Int/Cha
  Demonologist Multiclass Key Modifier Table
  
  Book of Demons
  34
  Demons! Demons! Demons! 
  They’re the worst of creatures and the best of villains. This 
  chapter is a bit of a grab bag for the folks behind the GM screen. 
  Sections include: 
  • A look at some of the reasons demons make such great 
  villains. 
  • Ideas for making demons more distinctive in your campaign. 
  • Demonic arguments to appeal to followers of all 13 icons, 
  especially those who should know better!
  • The ecology of the hellhole. 
  • Monster stats for the new demons introduced in the 
  demonologist, and new random demon abilities. 
  SALUTING THE 
  WORST
  Before we talk about how to get the most out of demons in your 
  game, let’s salute the virtues of these most unvirtuous foes.
  Everybody Hates 
  Demons
  Demons want to destroy the world. That puts them at odds 
  with everyone who lives in the world—which is everyone. Every 
  other major monster type has an arguable degree of ambiguity. 
  Undead have angst, and the Lich King has come to the defense 
  of the Empire in the past. The Orc Lord, if not all orcs, has some 
  potential justification for his thirst for vengeance and conquest. 
  But everyone, even the Diabolist, beats up demons with 
  a clear conscience. If you need a monster type that every icon 
  relationship, character class, background or character concept is 
  always willing to kill, go for demons. Even demons are happy to 
  kill demons—there’s no loyalty in hell.
  Three Icons are 
  Demon-Obsessed
  If you imagine a Venn diagram of spheres of interest and influence 
  among the icons, then demons figure prominently on it, up there 
  with magic and the fate of the Empire as primary concerns. 
  Demons threaten everyone, but three Icons—the Crusader, the 
  Diabolist, and the Great Gold Wyrm—are especially concerned 
  with demons. As you’ll have read above, we think of the new 
  demonologist class as a product of this three-way demonic 
  entanglement. 
  Demons Hate You
  Demons are naturally malicious and cruel. They are inherently 
  evil, existing purely to sow chaos, suffering and ultimately 
  destruction. They’re the natural enemy of good-aligned 
  adventurers. Better yet, they can come back in a new form after 
  being killed. The demon baron the adventurers kill at level 3 can 
  come back to fight them again at level 6 in a new incarnation, or 
  at level 10 in its campaign-ending final form. Demons make great 
  ongoing villains. 
  Demons Are 
  Convenient
  If the adventurers go to where the monsters are, then convenience 
  isn’t a problem. A dungeon can be filled with demons just as easily 
  as with orcs, or gelatinous polyhedrons, or murderous gnomish 
  bandits, or zombie griffons. There are monsters out in the wide 
  world. Everyone knows this.
  It’s when you want the monsters to come to the adventurers 
  that things get tricky. Some monsters need a considerable amount 
  of narrative infrastructure to justify their presence, especially 
  in an urban environment. For example, say you want to run an 
  adventure set in the great city of Axis, where a jealous cousin of 
  the Emperor tries to conquer the Imperial Palace with an army 
  of assassins, only to be thwarted by a plucky band of mismatched 
  adventurers. Your options for that army of assassins are limited. 
  It’s unlikely to be an army of orcs—how would orcs get into the 
  city? An army of undead means a lot of scenes of digging around 
  in graveyards or raiding tombs. An army of, say, lizard assassins 
  could be fun, but you still need to work out how to get the lizard 
  men into the city. Half your adventure preparation becomes 
  setting up the logistics of the coup.
  However, if it’s an army of demons, then all the would-be 
  usurper needs is a demonologist or two and a summoning circle 
  in some basement. You can introduce an army of demons much 
  more easily than an army of orcs or other monsters. You still need 
  to foreshadow the plot—maybe the PCs have to investigate ritual 
  murders, the theft of arcane relics, or a mysterious book stolen 
  from the library at Horizon—but demons bypass lots of pesky 
  questions like “where were all these monsters hiding in the city?” 
  GAMEMASTERING 
  DEMONS
  CHAPTER 2
  
  C h a p t e r  2 :  G a m e m a s t e r i n g  D e m o n s
  35
  are quick to pick up on incongruities. If you add, say, a random 
  gnoll archer to a bunch of human bandits, the players will start 
  speculating about the bandits allying with the gnolls, or assume 
  that gnolls are going to be a big part of the adventure.
  But demons fit everywhere. They’re like tofu, absorbing flavor 
  from the ingredients around them. If you have a demonologist in 
  a swamp, then she’s going to call up mosquito 
  demons and mud demons along with classics 
  like vrocks. You can add a demon to a bunch 
  of bandits just by making one of the bandits a 
  ritual caster.
  All that flexibility comes at a cost—it’s 
  easy for demons to lose their own schtick and 
  become grab bags of evil powers. Here are some 
  ways to make sure that demons feel like demons, 
  no matter what form they take or where they’re 
  encountered.
  Chaotic AND 
  Evil
  Demons are inherently destructive. They can’t 
  help it—they’re nothing but entropy and malice 
  and hate. Even when it’s not in their ultimate 
  interest to destroy something, they can’t resist 
  the urge to smash things and inflict pain. 
  Demons always turn on their summoners; they 
  always turn on each other when there’s no-one 
  else to fight, and they always bring ruin to their 
  surroundings. 
  When describing any area inhabited by demons, emphasize 
  how it’s been wrecked and irredeemably tainted. Demons salt the 
  earth by their presence alone. They corrode reality like strong 
  acid.
  When describing demonic behavior, emphasize the 
  destructive hatred. Demons are always throwing themselves 
  against the bars of the magical cages; they make time to maim 
  and torture any living things they find, even when that’s not the 
  strategically correct option. 
  Marks of the Demon
  Demons come in a dizzying array of forms, depending on their 
  standing in their native hell-worlds and the substance of their 
  physical shell in the material world. Vulture demons, boar 
  demons, smoke demons, slime demons, fire demons—anything 
  goes. Give these protean horrors some consistency by always 
  having a few demonic ‘tells’ in your descriptions. For example:
  • All demons have glowing red eyes
  • Demons stink of sulfur and ash
  • Demons cause holy symbols to heat up when nearby
  • Fires burn more fiercely and with a weird greenish light in the 
  presence of demons
  • Summoned demons always crawl out of tears in reality, and 
  those tears never heal properly.
  • When slain, a demon crumples up and collapses in on itself, 
  like a hollow shell getting crushed by external pressure
  or “why are we the only ones in position to stop this threat?” If 
  you can’t figure out how the bad guys can plausibly accomplish 
  an evil scheme, fill in the gaps with demons. 
  Demons are the temp agency of evil—whenever you need to 
  add muscle or magic to a sinister plot, call up a demon.
  Demons Are 
  Everywhere
  Similarly, a Gamemaster can drop in some demons to fight 
  anywhere, in any environment. In the Dragon Empire, you’re 
  unlikely to run into an army of orcs when you’re down in the Wild 
  Wood, and you probably aren’t fighting vampires in the middle of 
  the Kneedeeps. Demons aren’t tied to any one region—a hellhole 
  can open anywhere. 
  Demons are also wonderfully stretchy in terms of power. 
  Most monster concepts have a sweet spot where they ‘feel’ like 
  the right level. Epic goblins or low-level liches are jarring, but 
  the Abyss spits up level 0 mook demons as well as triple-strength 
  level 15 demon lords. 
  MAKING 
  DISTINCTIVE 
  DEMONS
  Most monsters fit in a particular environment. In a swamp, you’re 
  going to fight reptiles, slimes, zombies that try to drown their 
  victims, fog elementals, mushrooms and other icky things. Ice 
  giants or armored dwarves just wouldn’t fit. In general, players 
  
  Book of Demons
  36
  SYMPATHY FOR 
  THE DIABOLIST; 
  AKA 13 LIES MY 
  DEMON TOLD ME
  As tradition—and 13 True Ways—tell us, devils are the conniving, 
  duplicitous ones who trick us into damning ourselves and demons 
  are the roaring, feral monsters who threaten and bluster. 
  That’s not entirely true. Some demons are quite capable 
  of trickery and honeyed words. The difference is usually that 
  devils can stick to their story, while demons are too chaotic and 
  destructive to maintain a lie for long. 
  Demons see the world as a prison, and want to break free 
  of it. Here are thirteen ways demons might present that truth 
  speaking directly to followers of specific icons. These stories 
  aren’t being told by the icons, they’re how a clever demon might 
  address a follower of each of the icons. 
  A demon might spout one of these tales, then another, or 
  mix and match them, or even grow extra mouths so it can tell 
  many lies at the same time. It’ll believe them all, too, while it’s 
  telling them. Demons are creatures of the moment, even when 
  that moment is an eternity long and filled with utter hatred for 
  all that exists. Of course you don’t necessarily need a story to be 
  true to use its story hooks!
  Archmage
  A prison? Yes, and you’re in it too. I wish you 
  could remember what it was like before the 
  gods betrayed us and locked us in here. We 
  could do wonders in those days. What you call 
  magic is the smallest trace of that glory, like a 
  brief breath of air that carries the smell of a summer’s day into a 
  dark prison cell. When we teach you magic, we teach you to press 
  your face to the bars until you can almost feel the sun on your skin. 
  The gods fear our power, so they keep us all locked up and divided. 
  Clerics and paladins—prison snitches for our jailors.
  When we take your soul, think of it as going from one cell 
  block to another. Don’t worry—you’ll be in our gang. We’ll protect 
  you. And we’re digging an escape tunnel.
  • The Diabolist’s cult is rife in Horizon, offering a quicker, 
  easier route to arcane power. One of the wizards of the city 
  hires the adventurers to investigate one of his rivals, who 
  suspects that the rival is consorting with diabolism. The 
  evidence is inconclusive—is someone trying to sow dissent 
  and suspicion in Horizon?
  • Agents of the Diabolist storm a fortress dedicated to 
  maintaining 
  the 
  Archmage’s 
  wards. 
  Their 
  meddling 
  destabilizes the ward network, making the fortress 
  dangerously unstable. The adventurers must slay the cultists 
  and their demonic guards without causing further damage to 
  the wards. One errant spell could open a new hellhole…
  Demon’s Dice
  All demons (well, other than mooks, and who cares about them) 
  have a chance of having a random demonic ability. You could 
  herald the presence of demons by making a big show of rolling 
  for demonic powers. Don’t tell the players what you’re rolling—
  let them work out that “GM cackling and rolling a bunch of d8s 
  in secret behind a screen” equals “we’re about to fight a bunch of 
  demons”. You could even put aside a few distinctive dice and keep 
  them for demons. 
  If these ideas appeal to you, you’re going to want to see the 
  new list of random demon abilities that appears on page 43. 
  Demonic Speech
  Demons may vary wildly in their powers and physical appearance, 
  but you could give them a distinctive mode of speech that’s 
  consistent across all their many forms. Depending on your 
  tolerance for bad accents and verbal dexterity…
  • All demons speak in A HORRIFIC DEEP GUTTERAL 
  GROWLING VOICE
  • Order of words the demon scrambles, inherent chaos 
  reflecting in speech distorted. Eyes from your skull remove I; 
  burning of village that is yours then. 
  • In some tales it’s said that demons speak in rhyme, but it 
  hurts my head to do it all the time. Still, a few choice couplets 
  can, experience has shown, distinguish monster from man 
  and set the infernal tone.
  • Demons have to blaspheme against the gods. A demon simply 
  cannot say more than a few words without insulting some 
  belief or faith. Cunning demons can try to hide this obligation 
  by picking really obscure religions (Wisdom check to spot 
  that the disguised demon just made a hand gesture that’s 
  forbidden by the minor halfling deity Amar the Watcher). 
  Stupid demons, on the other tentacle, are overjoyed by the 
  rise of the Priestess, as now they can insult whole pantheons 
  at once.
  • Demons always make reference to their demonic masters in 
  the hells. The infernal hierarchy is in constant flux as one 
  demon lord overthrows another only to be usurped in her 
  turn, but that turbulence makes it even more important for 
  a demon to precisely know its current place in the pack. A 
  demon might introduce itself as “Zurghal the Despoiler, 
  thirty-fourth demon of the twenty-ninth legion of The Maiden 
  of Scars, who is herself vassal to the Masher of Skulls, second 
  only to Yammoth the Weeping King,” and be incensed if anyone 
  fails to use its full title. 
  • Every demon is appointed to destroy a specific place, person 
  or concept. Low-ranking demons might be the bane of a 
  particular apple tree or something extremely obscure (“I am 
  the cosmic antithesis of the Glitterhaegen Sewer Cleaning 
  Committee”); more powerful demons have wider portfolios 
  (“I am the bane of the Elf Queen. I am her destruction, utter 
  and inevitable.”). Demons can destroy other things, but are 
  obsessed with their particular charge. 
  
  C h a p t e r  2 :  G a m e m a s t e r i n g  D e m o n s
  37
  
  Book of Demons
  38
  beauty, and flesh that cannot tolerate our touch. For us to unlock 
  this puzzle and win the prize it holds, you must overcome the 
  weaknesses and fears the gods inflicted on you. You must break 
  through the lies they call sanity and morality and wisdom, lies 
  they sowed so you would not dare reach us. 
  Reach out. Take my hand. Together, we will break the world. 
  • The player characters intercept a message from the Diabolist 
  to one of her cultists, warning that a hellhole is about to open 
  near or within a certain town. Do the adventurers bring a 
  warning to the town? Do they report their findings to the 
  Archmage—or the Crusader? Can they stop the hellhole from 
  opening? And perhaps most importantly, did the Diabolist 
  mean for them to intercept the message?
  Dwarf King
  We call the world a prison we’re trying to break 
  out of, but it’s more fundamental than that. 
  Mortals create. Demons destroy. These are our 
  essential natures. You mortals are doomed to 
  perish, no matter what you do, so you make things to stave off 
  having to accept the inevitable. You frantically build your little 
  walls against the night, stacking art on babies on nations on 
  money on books on contests, on any legacy that might show you 
  were once, briefly, there. You keep making.
  Demons, we’re immortal. We can’t perish, only change form. 
  We must destroy, as surely as you must create. It’s what we are.
  So, don’t think of what I do as evil. I’m just clearing some 
  space for the next million generations of mortals to build their 
  follies against oblivion. 
  • The dwarves have lived with the Diabolist on their doorstep 
  for centuries. Hell Marsh is right on the edge of dwarven 
  territory, much closer to Forge than any other city. And if 
  there’s one thing dwarves are known for, it’s making use of 
  tools. Demons can be just another tool, with the right magic. 
  A clue, perhaps, to the origins of derro?
  • A secret dwarf smelting technique requires flames that burn 
  hotter than any fuel can muster. In Ages past, the dwarves 
  captured dragons, but now a heretical cabal of smiths plot to 
  use hellfire as a power source. Could an alliance between the 
  Diabolist and Dwarf King provide enough magical weapons 
  to break the Orc Lord’s armies? 
  Elf Queen
  As above, so below. You have lived long enough 
  to see these patterns repeat. You’ve seen a 
  thousand thousand sunrises, and know that 
  dusk will come again. You’ve seen winter yield to 
  spring and back again as the years wheel by. You know there will 
  be ages after ages, history repeating itself in new forms. 
  The three shards of elf-kind—dark, wood and high—unite 
  in the Elf Queen. So too, then, there are three shards of being. 
  There are creatures of the underworld, which you call demons. 
  Creatures of the middle world, such as yourselves. And creatures 
  of the overworld, all united in a divinity you cannot perceive 
  because you are part of it. You are like the wood elves, flighty and 
  Crusader
  War is coming. A war with a foe you can’t 
  imagine yet, an enemy that is uncreation, 
  unmaking, the antithesis of everything. In that 
  battle, there will only be two sides, for all that 
  is will fight against all that is not (do the math: that means we’re 
  outnumbered to the tune of infinity). The world you exist in is 
  not a prison for demons—it’s a boot camp. Over all the ages, 
  we’ve trained you, toughened you, prepared you. It’s all right that 
  you hate us and think we’re trying to kill you—that’s what drill 
  sergeants are for. If you hate my guts, I’m just doing my job right. 
  You’ll need that hellfire in your belly when the real enemy arrives.
  Deep in your heart, you know this to be true. Every time you 
  fight us, every time you banish us, every hellhole you claim, every 
  swordthrust, what you’re really saying is “thank you! Thank you! 
  Thank you! Thank you for making me strong! Thank you for 
  making me brave! Thank you for loving me!”
  • One of the Crusader’s lieutenants comes up with a daring 
  plan. Resurrect a previous Diabolist, causing a civil war in 
  Hell Marsh. An ancient priestess of the Dark Gods has the 
  strength to cast a single resurrection spell—all the player 
  characters need to do is bring the old woman into the depths 
  of the Cairnwood and find a suitable tomb to unearth.
  • An expedition into the Abyss? Madness—but think of the 
  potential reward. Bring one of the Crusader’s iron spikes into 
  the pit and use it to hold back the demons. Sew the wound 
  in the world shut, and the Great Gold Wyrm could return…
  Diabolist
  Imagine the most exquisite puzzle. Imagine a 
  lock as complicated as the world, because it is 
  the world. We’re trapped inside it, but you’re 
  part of it. If we could get out, we’d... well, there 
  aren’t words for what we’d do. We can’t open the 
  lock from the inside, and you can’t open it from the outside. We 
  can only do it if we work together.
  They don’t want us to work together. That is why they drove 
  the lesser demons mad, and turned them into monsters—to 
  scare you. That is why they made you think that we are foul and 
  abhorrent and vile—the gods gave you eyes that cannot see our 
  
  C h a p t e r  2 :  G a m e m a s t e r i n g  D e m o n s
  39
  What’s that you say? You’re a heroic adventurer? Well, you’ll 
  need an army—and I happen to have a lot of friends with very, 
  very big teeth. 
  • The Crusader is—in theory—a sworn servant of the Emperor, 
  and the Crusader knows secret ways to control demons. 
  Could demons be used to augment the Empire’s forces as 
  they battle the Orc Lord and the undead?
  • The city of Axis has been destroyed and rebuilt several 
  times. The first city, for example, was razed by giants. 
  Another incarnation of the city was destroyed by a volcanic 
  eruption—although the Oracle of that Age suggested it was a 
  divine punishment for demon-worship. In past Ages, demons 
  were everywhere in the Empire, summoned by ambitious 
  wizards and used for all manner of sinister purposes. Now, 
  archaeologists and treasure hunters have begun to excavate 
  the ruins of that demonic city. What will they find in the 
  grave of Emperors?
  Great Gold 
  Wyrm
  A paladin of the Golden Order? Truly? My 
  word... can I just say, before we battle, what 
  a tremendous honor is it to meet you? Really, 
  we’re all very impressed Down There with you paladins. I mean, 
  we have it easy. Destruction and ravening and burning things 
  down, that comes naturally. Us demons, we’re just playing to our 
  base instincts. We don’t need discipline or self-denial or courage 
  or anything—we just do what we feel like. We just have fun.
  But you! A whole lifetime of self-sacrifice and iron discipline! 
  Keeping yourself pure and noble and true to those holy teachings 
  all the time! And it’s not like the pay’s any good. I mean, people 
  may respect paladins, but they don’t like them, for the most part. 
  You scare them. You show them how far they are from goodness, 
  how much they’d have to give up to be holy like you. You make 
  people uncomfortable. 
  I honestly don’t know how you keep going. It must be so 
  very hard, especially as you’re not getting anywhere. Thwart one 
  demonic invasion, and there’ll be another one next week. You give 
  up your whole life just to keep the status quo, and no-one’s even 
  going to remember your sacrifice in a few years. I mean, what’s 
  your end-game? What’s your victory condition? “Everyone comes 
  together in joy and peace and evil is gone forever?” 
  Tell me, how likely is that? Who do you think is closer to 
  winning the war, your side or mine?
  The Great Gold Wyrm knew. He knew he was losing. Oh yes, 
  he lied to you. “I’m just going to block this hellhole with my body, 
  that’ll work.” Nonsense. He gave up. Committed suicide. Took the 
  easy way out. All those dreams and portents, they’re just echoes. 
  Whispers from a guilty ghost who wanted to stop struggling, but 
  didn’t want to be held responsible for his side’s ultimate defeat. 
  He’s gone, but you’re still here. Still fighting the good fight. 
  Still tilting at those windmills. As I said, everyone Down Below 
  admires you. We wouldn’t have the courage to do what you do.
  merry. We demons are like the dark elves—we do things that seem 
  unwholesome and terrible, but they are necessary, and we are 
  commanded to do them by the All-Queen. 
  We are your cousins. Together, we both serve the true Queen. 
  • The dark elves have their own schools of demonology. 
  They cultivate trees of woe, which draw up demonic spirits 
  through their roots. These demons manifest as faces on the 
  tree-trunks, and slowly, slowly they grow bodies of thorn and 
  insects and leaf-mold for themselves. These demons may 
  take many years to grow, but they are more loyal and easier 
  to control. What happens when the High Druid learns of this 
  magical perversion of her trees?
  • The Diabolist and the Elf Queen have much in common. 
  Both are aloof and mysterious, both virtually immortal. Both 
  wield arcane power that rivals that of the Archmage. Both 
  have a dark side they must control—the Queen has her drow, 
  the Diabolist her demons. Could the Diabolist emulate the 
  Queen by summoning creatures of the overworld, becoming 
  the Thaumaturgist and balancing light and darkness?
  Emperor
  Order! Law! Control! Yes, that’s all very 
  good, very impressive indeed. Enforce that 
  iron will of yours on an Empire of warring 
  factions. Keep the peace through diplomacy 
  and honorable deeds—backed up by those 
  legions of fiery dragons, of course.
  The thing is—and forgive me for pointing this out—your 
  “law” and “justice” stem from the sword, don’t they? The sword 
  and the dragon’s breath? The Emperor is the emperor because one 
  of his ancestors cast down the Wizard King. The whole Imperial 
  dynasty’s founded on might making right. Nothing wrong with that 
  at all—I’m a demon, I’m all about equating power with truth and 
  rightness. I just object to cloaking the self-evident truth that the 
  Emperor’s rule is founded on the power to do brutal slaughter in 
  words like “justice” and “law”. 
  Not that there’s much justice in the Empire, these days. You 
  know that the Emperor’s weak, don’t you? His advisers and viziers 
  are running the show for their own ends. The Archmage is running 
  wild down in Horizon, doing all sorts of terrible experiments 
  against the natural order, while over in the Wild Wood they’re 
  oppressing the peaceful followers of the High Druid. Not much 
  justice there? And honor? Haven’t you noticed there’s a BLUE 
  DRAGON of all things running one of the seven cities? How much 
  of a bribe do you think she paid?
  Now, you seem like a good adventurer. You must be—you’re 
  off risking your life to fight demons. But, friend, the truth is that 
  you’re defending a rotten dynasty. The Emperor’s as bad as the 
  Wizard King ever was, he’s just better at hiding it. What we need 
  is another hero to step up and fight for truth and justice and 
  freedom. A real hero, a legendary champion who’ll cast down the 
  false Emperor and drive out corruption and evil. Someone with 
  the courage and conviction to break the world and remake it 
  again. Make it better this time.
  
  Book of Demons
  40
  Lich King
  We were enemies once. In Ages past, long 
  ago, the Wizard King brought order out of 
  chaos and drove the demons back screaming 
  beyond the walls of the world. You think the 
  Archmage’s wards are powerful? You should have seen the wards 
  back then! (I couldn’t—I’m a demon, and my eyes would have 
  melted if I’d dared peak at the Wizard King’s works).
  Things have changed since then. Now, the Wizard King 
  is the Lich King, the king of the dead. And the dead are great! 
  Super-great! No-one’s as loyal as a zombie, that’s what I always 
  say. The Necropolis is the best-run city in the Empire—no crime, 
  no unhappiness, no sickness, no injustice. The problem is all the 
  living people, right? Demons and undead, we can both take the 
  long view, and from that perspective, you can see the truth—
  mortals are horrible. They’re self-deluding, violent, nasty little 
  things without any real sense of higher purpose. It’d be much 
  better for the Empire if everyone in it was undead and ruled by 
  the Lich King. 
  Us demons, we’re on-board with that plan. Kill ‘em all and let 
  the Lich King sort it out. Once the Lich King’s back in his rightful 
  place in charge of the Empire, you can rebuild those wards and 
  lock us demons out again, so it’s win/win for the dead. We just 
  want to have some fun slaughtering people for a good cause, just 
  like adventurers. 
  So let us in. Let the armies of Hell march under the banner of 
  the true Emperor for once.
  • Those previous Diabolists in their tombs in the Cairnwood? 
  Ever hear of better candidates for retroactive lichdom?
  Of course, we don’t need to. We’re the easy side. And we only 
  need to win once to break free. 
  • A demon approaches a player character of the Golden Order, 
  and claims that the influence of the Wyrm has convinced it 
  to atone for its demonic ways. Can the player character be a 
  moral guardian for the demon—or is this a trick?
  • Ages ago, the Diabolist worked perhaps the greatest and most 
  terrible act of demon summoning in history. She opened the 
  Abyss, and would have destroyed the world if it were not for 
  the Great Gold Wyrm’s sacrifice. Only two beings know how 
  she did—the Diabolist herself, and the Great Gold Wyrm, 
  who saw her ritual as she completed it. That knowledge may 
  still be locked in the rotting brain of the icon’s corpse. Anyone 
  feel like a combined necromantic ritual/drilling expedition/
  dungeon crawl into the Abyss? 
  High Druid
  It’s easy to get caught in the cycles. Summer 
  follows spring, autumn follows summer, then 
  winter and back again. Sun rises, sun sets. 
  Planting and harvest, life and death and 
  rebirth. You can get lulled to sleep by the 
  endless repetition of the natural world. Hypnotized, even.
  The High Druid says demons are unnatural, that we’re not a 
  part of the world. The truth is that it’s the world that’s unnatural. 
  When you feel truly alive—when you’re sitting on a hillside, 
  watching the same dumb sheep getting fat for the thousandth time, 
  or when you’re standing on a mountaintop with a storm raging 
  around you, the wind and rain lashing your face, the thunder 
  echoing in your blood? Nature at its purest is about change, 
  adaptation, destruction and creation in wild new forms, not the 
  prison routine of the “natural” cycles. 
  Who said autumn has to follow summer? Why can’t it be 
  spring a hundred times in a row until you finally find the right one? 
  The cycle’s a lie. The High Druid’s a liar. Break it. Break her. 
  • In past Ages, before the rise of the Crusader, it was the High 
  Druid who vied with the Diabolist. Nature is an expression of 
  the physical world, the world that the demons seek to destroy. 
  There are trees growing in the deep wood that are living 
  wards, their root systems intertwining across hundreds of 
  miles to bind reality together. The Wizard King’s wards were 
  made in arcane imitation of these living wards. If the current 
  High Druid were able to recreate these trees and sow them 
  across the world, she could end the threat from the demons.
  • The Middle Sea is home to many demons, who were caught in 
  the spell that tamed the ocean. These demons are now trapped 
  on little islands scattered across the waters. If the High Druid 
  succeeds in her aim of freeing the sea called Stormmaker, 
  those demons will also be freed—unless, say, a band of heroic 
  demon slayers set sail to cleanse the ocean first.
  
  C h a p t e r  2 :  G a m e m a s t e r i n g  D e m o n s
  41
  • Demons see the world as an ever-changing, infinitely complex 
  and incredibly resilient prison, a giant shell of imperishable 
  crystal, a lock without a key. Does that sound like the Cathedral 
  to anyone else? Is the Priestess building a demon trap? Or is 
  she trying to contain the power of all the Light?
  Prince of 
  Shadows
  You think it’s a coincidence that your Prince’s 
  stronghold is in Shadowport, just down the 
  river from the Hellmarsh? Do you think it’s 
  vanity that made the Prince hide his true name under a showy title? 
  Did you assume that the Prince wants only mundane anarchy, that 
  he defies only the laws of the Empire and its cities and magistrates?
  No, the Prince is one of us. There’s a demon under that hood, 
  and he breaks not only the laws of the Empire, but the laws of reality 
  and sanity too. Do you envy his mad cavalcade of indulgence and 
  trickery as he roams the world? You can have that too, if you let us 
  help you?
  And as for his true mission—thieves are very good at picking 
  locks and breaking out of prisons. Everything the Prince of Shadows 
  does brings us one step closer to escaping the jail of the world. He’s our 
  man on the inside of reality, our second-world burglar.
  • The Prince’s alliance with the Diabolist benefits both of them, 
  but neither trusts the other. He gets magical support and 
  demonic muscle when he needs it; she gets access to a network 
  of spies and couriers, allowing her to maintain contact with all 
  her cultists and agents across the world. If the Diabolist were to 
  open a hellhole in Shadowport, she’d have a metaphorical knife 
  at the Prince’s throat. All it needs is sufficient bloodshed. . . .
  • A demon named Bloodflood escaped the Diabolist’s control and 
  fled down the coast to Shadowport. Now, he’s one of the most 
  feared pirates on the Midland Sea. There’s a reward for slaying 
  Bloodflood, but how much more treasure could you obtain 
  if you bound Bloodflood and forced him to reveal where he’s 
  buried all his loot?
  The Three
  Hey, you with the Blue? You got suckered. 
  You’re trapped the same way we are. 
  Demons are locked inside reality, and 
  you’re locked inside the Empire. You might 
  think you’ve got the upper hand, but the truth is you’re caught 
  just like we are. The oaths and geases will bind the Blue tighter 
  and tighter until she’s the Emperor’s lap-dragon. The only thing 
  to do is break free. You’ve got all that sorcerous power and magic 
  might—maybe whip up a chain-breaking spell of escape. Let us 
  help you!
  Hey, you with the Black? You live in a swamp and do 
  forbidden, unholy things—us too! We can help one another. Swim 
  on over to Hellmarsh sometime, and let’s make some evil schemes 
  to overthrow the Empire.
  Hey, you with the Red? You like fire? We like fire, too, a 
  whole lot. 
  Let’s burn. 
  Orc Lord
  There’s demon blood in the Orc Lord. That’s 
  how the elves made him, of course. They 
  wove mortal and demon essence together 
  and birthed the first orc. The Orc Lord is an 
  honorary prince of hell, our most beloved half-mortal Cousin, of 
  equal rank with the Diabolist in the lowerarchy. That’s why demons 
  are so willing to fight for the Orc Lord, or to be summoned by his 
  shamans and war-wizards. We’re family.
  Now, the same spells that made the Orc Lord bind him and 
  imprison him. The elves were tricksy and clever—they put geases 
  into those spells, making it physically impossible for the Orc Lord 
  to know his own true nature. He can’t accept the truth that he’s a 
  demon lord bound in mortal form. He can’t break free of the prison 
  of his own flesh. 
  You’ve got to bust him out. If you free the Orc Lord, he’ll have 
  the strength he needs to conquer the Empire. An unbound Orc Lord 
  would be unstoppable and invincible, but he’ll never know his own 
  power unless you break the ancient shackles the elves put on him.
  • The Orc Lord and the Diabolist must come to an arrangement, 
  or come to blows. His armies march relentlessly south, and 
  Hellmarsh is on his left flank as he advances. The Diabolist, as 
  always, plays both sides, inviting both the Empire and the Orcs 
  to send diplomats to her court. Who offers her more?
  • If orcs are demons, and the presence of orcs creates half-orcs, 
  then does the presence of demons create half-demons? Or 
  does this magical effect require experimentation to unlock its 
  potential?
  Priestess
  Just so we’re absolutely clear—over there 
  we’ve got the Crusader. The Fist of the Dark 
  Gods. The greatest fighter and general in this 
  Age of the world, with the possible exception 
  of the Orc Lord. And he’s sworn to destroy us demons. More than 
  that, he’s worked out a way to cap our hellholes with his fortresses 
  and add our power to his. Every time he defeats the forces of Hell, 
  he gets stronger, and so do his Dark Gods.
  And over here, we’ve got the Priestess, who’s terribly nice. She 
  has a very pretty cathedral, and a very pretty smile, and she makes 
  you feel all fuzzy and warm. 
  Tell me, friend, what is she going to do when the Crusader 
  conquers the last hellhole and turns his gaze towards Santa Cora? 
  What happens when an uncountable legion of battle-hardened 
  bastard cut-throats, enslaved demons, mutant horrors and cultists 
  of the Dark Gods march on the Cathedral? What’s the Priestess’s 
  response going to be, a group prayer session? Even if the Light is 
  the equal of the Dark, the Crusader’s ability to seize control of 
  demons tips the balance towards the bad guys. It’s not going to be 
  the Priestess and the Gods of Light versus the Crusader and the 
  Dark Gods, it’s going to be the Priestess and her gods against the 
  Crusader, his gods, and all the demons he’s enslaved. 
  You could help. You could save the Priestess, maybe even 
  save the world. All you need to do is work out how to break the 
  Crusader’s binding spells…
  
  Book of Demons
  42
  is a once-in-eternity triumph, as they can establish themselves 
  on the far side of the gate before the bigger, nastier demons come 
  through.
  Demons don’t have a fixed shape. A nalfeshnee doesn’t ‘really’ 
  look like a hairy winged boar; a vrock isn’t actually a vulture-
  monster. Those are shapes imposed on them by the spells used to 
  summon them, or by the rules of reality. Hellholes obey different 
  rules, so demons may have other forms there. A dretch looks like 
  a cringing blob of slime when summoned into existence in the 
  outside world, but when it comes through a newly opened hellhole, 
  it can take on a new and more powerful shape borrowed from its 
  surroundings. Open a hellhole in a forest, and you’ll get demons 
  stealing the shapes of trees and nettles and wolves and bunnies. 
  Open one in a court, and you’ll get demon lawyers wearing wigs 
  and masked demon executioners with head-chopping axes. 
  Demons treat the world like a two-year old treats a dress-up box 
  full of explosives. 
  Anyone in the hellhole in this initial phase is in trouble. When 
  demons come through the gate, they gain physical form, including 
  physical stomachs and the hunger to fill them. If you’re not eaten, 
  it’s probably because you were standing in the wrong place and got 
  fused with a demon as it clawed its way into the material realm.
  Stabilization
  After that initial mad rush, the hellhole and its denizens come to 
  some sort of equilibrium. The gate stops growing once it reaches 
  its fullest sustainable size. The demons fight amongst themselves 
  until the strongest one comes out on top, becoming the ruler of the 
  hellhole. The laws of physics and magic in this pocket dimension 
  settle down, becoming at least vaguely predictable. 
  This is the time when the hellhole is most vulnerable. If you’re 
  a heroic adventurer, now’s the time to plunge into the pit and fight 
  your way to the exposed and unprotected gate at the heart of the 
  hellhole. Close that gate, and the hellhole collapses. If you’re an evil 
  demonologist (perhaps the same one who opened the hellhole), 
  then you can tap that unprotected gate and turn it into a wellspring 
  of magical power. 
  Fortification
  Demons don’t agree on much. They argue about the optimal 
  number of limbs, they disagree on how to cook halflings, they 
  dicker on the value of souls, and they murder each other over 
  the most inane or trifling insults. They do, however, agree that 
  hellholes should be defended. As soon as they can, they build 
  defenses and traps to protect their new outpost in the mortal 
  world. Sometimes, the biggest demon becomes king of the 
  hellhole and builds (carves/conjures/secretes/grows/turns into) 
  a fortress on top of the gate to protect it. More frequently, the 
  demons form gangs or factions and war over control of the gate. 
  Raiding
  Now that the demons have a secure foothold in the mortal world, 
  their instinctive, unquenchable hatred of existence drives them to 
  hurt everything around them. Hosts of demons swarm out of the 
  • The Blue is one of the most accomplished demonologists 
  in the Empire, although her expertise is second to the 
  Diabolist herself. If the Diabolist agrees to set up a school of 
  demonology in Drakkenhall, it would set the city on a path to 
  becoming a dark mirror of Horizon, a second city of wonders 
  on the far side of the Midland Sea. What can the Blue offer 
  the Diabolist as a token of friendship? 
  THE ECOLOGY OF 
  THE HELLHOLE
  Here’s the ecology of hellhole, from first eruption to final 
  threat. As you’ll see in the next chapter, there are many possible 
  exceptions to this general story! 
  Beginnings
  Here’s how you make a hellhole.
  First, you find a place where reality’s already weak. Some 
  such places occur naturally. There are cosmic fissures, elemental 
  junctures, soft places, magical borderlands. Other places are 
  inflicted like wounds. A magical catastrophe, a mass slaughter or 
  the worm-trail of a living dungeon could all weaken reality enough 
  for the purposes of a hellhole.
  Second, you need to conduct an arcane ritual. A very big arcane 
  ritual, involving lots of sacrifices and magical power. It’s the same 
  sort of spell you use to summon a demon, but instead of calling up a 
  named demon, you’re opening the way for all of them. Alternatively, 
  if there’s enough magical energy sloshing around nearby, it may 
  pool in the weak spot in reality and erode the fabric of existence 
  until it frays through into a hellhole. (Maybe that’s where most of 
  the Hellmarsh hellholes come from—backwash from the Diabolist’s 
  experiments). 
  Three, stand well back, because if your ritual works, you don’t 
  want to be standing there when the hellhole opens.
  At the dead center of every hellhole (well . . . . most hellholes) is 
  a gate to the hells or to the Abyss. There aren’t any binding circles or 
  containment pentagrams around that gate, so the chaotic energies 
  of the demon realm leech through into our reality, warping space 
  and time. As long as that gate stays open, the hellhole exists in all 
  its impossibility; the bigger the gate grows, the bigger the hellhole. 
  ‘Bigger’ is relative, by the way. Hellholes mangle space like 
  demons mangle the flesh of the innocents, stretching it and piercing 
  it and tying it knots and and eating it and bleeding it. A hellhole 
  might be only a mile or two across, but contain whole continents of 
  carnage. They do the same to time—a minute in a hellhole might be 
  a minute on the outside, or a second, or a day, or ten thousand years. 
  (The bigger the distortion, the more unstable the hellhole, so it’s rare 
  to get really egregious insults to space and time.)
  The First Hours
  Demons crawl out of the gate as soon as it’s opened. Small demons 
  wriggle through the instant the gate is opened. For a small demon, 
  a dretch or imp or some other hellscum, getting through a hellhole 
  
  C h a p t e r  2 :  G a m e m a s t e r i n g  D e m o n s
  43
  Random Demon 
  Abilities
  RH speaking . . . . As the designer of the original Random Demon 
  Abilities table, I’m fond of the idea but not the execution. The 
  problem with the earlier table (as found on page 209 of the 13th 
  Age core rulebook) is that several of the abilities it generates are 
  either not relevant to most fights or not particularly fun. Use that 
  previous list whenever you feel like it, or try this new version if 
  you’re comfortable with demon abilities that may have more of 
  an impact.
  Random determination: If you want to keep things random, 
  roll a d10 for each non-mook normal-sized demon. If you roll 
  less than or equal to its level, the demon has a random ability, roll 
  a d6 or d8 on the table below. Large or huge (or double-strength 
  and triple-strength) demons automatically have one random 
  ability. 
  No overload: Alternatively, if a battle is full of demons, 
  choose one or two demons you care about most to get a random 
  (or not) special ability. You know how involved you want battles 
  to be, so choose the number of extra abilities you’ll deal with 
  instead of letting the dice decide. 
  New Random Demon Abilities (d6 or d8)
  1: Deathwish—The demon takes a –2 penalty to all defenses and 
  gains a +3 attack bonus.
  2: Entropic warp—When an enemy deals miss damage to the 
  demon, that enemy also takes half that amount of damage. 
  3: Bad ending—While staggered, the demon gains a +2 bonus 
  with its attacks.
  4: Big hate—Each battle, the demon gains a +4 attack bonus until 
  the end of the battle against the first enemy that hits it with 
  an attack. 
  5: Loophole—When the demon starts its turn with 10 hit points 
  or fewer, it can teleport out of the battle as a move action. If it 
  does it will return to face the PCs soon. Add the full-strength 
  demon to an upcoming battle as a nasty complication to an 
  upcoming battle, having it teleport in during the first or second 
  round of combat. (Champion tier: 25 hp or fewer; epic tier: 50 
  hp or fewer).
  6: Teleport 1d3 times each battle—As a move action, the demon 
  can teleport anywhere it can see nearby.
  7: Demonic speed—The demon can take an extra action each turn 
  while the escalation die is 4+.
  8: Theft of fate—At the start of each round, the demon rolls 
  a hard save. If the save succeeds, it steals the escalation die 
  that round, adding the escalation die to its own attacks but 
  preventing the PCs from adding the die to their attacks. 
  New Demons
  The hellhole write-ups in chapter 3 also contain many new demon 
  stat blocks, but most of the demons in chapter 3 are creatures of 
  specific situations and hellhole terrain. The demons below are 
  somewhat more generic creatures who have proven susceptible to 
  demonologists’ summoning spells. 
  hole to lay waste to the lands around; vile pestilences and chaotic 
  storms of magic boil out of the hole to bring ruin and suffering. 
  Fortunately for the rest of existence, demons cannot survive for 
  long outside the hellhole’s magical zone of chaos. If they go too far, 
  the pressure of stable reality crushes them into non-existence or 
  forces them to retreat. Demons make terrible and noisy neighbors, 
  but it’s possible to live close to a hellhole in relative safety (until a 
  breed of tougher or faster demon shows up, a type that can make it 
  from the hellhole’s edge to your front door before it has to retreat). 
  It’s much easier to cede the few miles of territory around a 
  hellhole to the demons and let it go to waste rather than mount 
  a siege of a fortified hellhole. The various long-lasting hellholes 
  scattered around the eastern and southern regions of the Dragon 
  Empire are all far enough away from anywhere important that the 
  official Imperial policy is to leave them alone, to cordon them off 
  and contain them instead of attacking them (a policy the Crusader, 
  obviously, ignores).
  Contraction
  The Archmage protects the Empire with a network of magical 
  protective wards, and one of the chief purposes of these wards 
  is to stop hellholes expanding. These wards reinforce the natural 
  pressure of reality, keeping the demons penned up inside their 
  self-made prisons. Over centuries, if the wards are maintained 
  and kept fully charged, they can even squeeze the hellhole gates 
  shut, destroying the hellholes completely. Without these wards, 
  the Archmage claims that the hellholes would continue to widen 
  and widen, until all the world falls into hell. 
  While the Archmage’s wards are an astounding boon for 
  the Empire, they are immensely costly and increasingly hard to 
  defend. Some even suspect that the Archmage is wrong—there 
  are places outside the Empire that are not under the aegis of his 
  wards, and those lands have not (as far as anyone knows) fallen 
  under the control of demons. This suggests that the wounds in 
  reality heal naturally, and that a hellhole will close of its own 
  accord after a few centuries instead of growing until it consumes 
  the world. 
  A few heretical theorists from Horizon even argue that the 
  wards are ultimately making matters worse; they argue that all 
  the ‘closed’ hellholes will pop open in unison if those wards ever 
  fail, and that the Empire would be better served tolerating a few 
  more hellholes instead of building up a lake of woe behind a 
  magical dam.
  It should be noted that the Hell Marsh of the Diabolist 
  is outside the currently active wards. The Hell Marsh region 
  is technically part of the Empire, but has been left to fall into 
  anarchy and ruin for a good long while, perhaps even Ages. The 
  hellholes there grow unchecked—so time may tell which theory 
  is correct. 
  DEMON STATS
  This section opens with a second look at random demon abilities 
  and ends with monster stats for the demons introduced by the 
  demonologist’s summoning spells. 
  
  Book of Demons
  44
  Claw Demon
  Technically it’s a claw-claw-claw-claw demon, but you don’t get 
  time to say that. 
  3rd level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +8
  Hooking claws +8 vs. AC (1d4 attacks)—5 damage 
  Nastier Specials
  Finding the range: Third and fourth hooking claws attacks each 
  turn, if any, also deal 3 ongoing damage.
  AC 20
  PD 17 
   
  HP 40
  MD 14
  Hopping Imp
  When an imp is too fat to fly, it gets tougher or dies. (Well, it 
  probably dies anyway, but noisily.) 
  4th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +8
  Festering claws +8 vs. AC—10 damage, and 5 ongoing damage
  R: Blight jet +8 vs. PD—10 damage, and the target is dazed (save ends)
  First natural 16+ each turn: The imp can choose one: the 
  target is weakened instead of dazed; OR the imp can make 
  a blight jet attack against a different target as a free action.
  Curse aura: Whenever a creature attacks the imp and rolls a 
  natural 1–5, that creature takes 1d12 psychic damage.
  AC 21
  PD 15 
   
  HP 50
  MD 17
  Hungry Maw
  A life support system for teeth. 
  4th level blocker [demon]
  Initiative: +7
  Big chomp +10 vs. AC—18 damage 
  Natural even hit: Target and hungry maw are both stuck until 
  the end of the hungry maw’s next turn, or until they are not 
  engaged with each other. 
  Chomp and chew: If the hungry maw starts its turns stuck and 
  engaged with a stuck enemy, it loses its standard action this 
  turn but automatically deals 10 damage and 5 ongoing damage 
  to that enemy.
  AC 18
  PD 18 
   
  HP 52
  MD 14
  Demonologists may be new to the Dragon Empire, but there’s no 
  strong reason to believe that the demons they summon are also 
  newcomers. Burners, demon-toads, claw demons and their ilk all 
  feel like minor demons that could have been tearing at the fabric of 
  reality for ages. If you’d like them to be new to the world, you could 
  arrange that, but the monster stats that follow aren’t proposing any 
  new stories or unusual hooks. Corruption, flame, and slaughter may 
  be new tricks for demonologists, but not for demons! 
  Burner
  A demonically animate fireball. Remind it that it’s awful weak for 
  a fireball.
  1st level archer [demon]
  Initiative: +7
  Flickers of flame +7 vs. AC—3 fire damage
  R: Flickers of flame +7 vs. AC—5 fire damage
  Miss: Deal 3 fire damage to a random nearby creature (yes, could 
  be enemy or ally!). 
  Quick flicking fire: Adds the escalation die to its disengage checks.
  Flight: Bobs along low to the ground, if it gets higher than 6’ it 
  drops, as if tethered to the earth. 
  AC 18
  PD 16 
   
  HP 24
  MD 14
  Demon Toad
  “Cover your mouth when you burp,” say parents near the Hell 
  Marsh, “or the demon toads will hear you and eat us.” Yeah, it’s 
  pretty dark over there.
  2nd level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +4
  Pathetic bite +7 vs. AC—3 damage 
  C: Foul belch +7 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies)—3 poison 
  damage, and target is dazed until the end of its next turn. 
  Natural 1-5: Reroll the attack against a nearby ally of the 
  demon toad. 
  Limited use: 1d3 times per battle.
  Dissssgusting: Attackers that roll a natural odd melee attack roll 
  against the demon toad take 1d6 poison damage.
  AC 16
  PD 15 
   
  HP 45
  MD 12
  
  C h a p t e r  2 :  G a m e m a s t e r i n g  D e m o n s
  45
  Greater Claw Demon
  Worse of the same. 
  6th level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Hooking claws +11 vs. AC (1d4 attacks)—10 damage 
  Nastier Specials 
  Finding the range: Third and fourth hooking claws attacks each 
  turn, if any, also deal 5 ongoing damage.
  AC 23
  PD 20 
   
  HP 80
  MD 17
  Hungrier Maw
  A recruitment system for a gullet.
  7th level blocker [demon]
  Initiative: +10
  Big chomp +13 vs. AC—34 damage 
  Natural even hit: Target and hungry maw are both stuck until 
  the end of the hungry maw’s next turn, or until they are not 
  engaged with each other. 
  Chomp and chew: If the hungry maw starts its turns stuck 
  and engaged with a stuck enemy, it loses its standard action 
  this turn but automatically deals 20 damage and 10 ongoing 
  damage to that enemy.
  AC 21
  PD 21 
   
  HP 104
  MD 117
  Big Burner
  A serious demonically animate fireball. 
  5th level archer [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Flickers of flame +11 vs. AC—10 fire damage
  R: Flickers of flame +11 vs. AC—18 fire damage
  Miss: Deal 10 fire damage to a random nearby creature (yes, 
  could be enemy or ally!). 
  Quick flicking fire: Adds the escalation die to its disengage checks.
  Flight: Bobs along low to the ground, if it gets higher than 6’ it 
  drops, as if tethered to the earth. 
  AC 22
  PD 20 
   
  HP 66
  MD 18
  Giant Demon Toad
  You can see the eyes of the last person it ate in its bubules. And 
  if you’re asking what bubules are, seriously, you want to see this? 
  5th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +7
  Pathetic bite +10 vs. AC—9 damage 
  C: Foul belch +10 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies)—8 poison 
  damage, and target is dazed until the end of its next turn. 
  Natural 1-5: Reroll the attack against a nearby ally of the giant 
  demon toad. 
  Limited use: 1d3 times per battle.
  Dissssgusting: Attackers that roll a natural odd melee attack roll 
  against the demon toad take 2d8 poison damage.
  AC 19
  PD 18 
   
  HP 84
  MD 15
  The Chaos enemies section of 13th Age Glorantha 
  contains a d100 list of minor Chaotic features and a d8 
  list of major Chaotic features. Most of these features 
  would work as surprising abilities for Dragon Empire 
  demons. 
  Gloranthan Options
  
  Book of Demons
  46
  SIX HELLHOLES
  This chapter provides playable or inspiring details details on 
  specific hellholes that don’t always match the approach taken by 
  our notes on generic hellholes. Here’s what hellholes are: chaotic. 
  Here’s what they’re not: predictable. 
  We’ll talk about each hellhole’s denizens, its weird 
  environmental conditions, its dangers, its opportunities and give 
  some reasons beyond suicidal madness for a band of adventurers 
  to enter such a place. What we won’t talk about is a hellhole’s 
  exact location or complete history (or if we do, nothing we say 
  should be taken as immutable). Mix and match these hellholes 
  as thoroughly as you wish. Be both chaotic and unpredictable to 
  your players—keep them guessing.
  The six hellholes detailed below show the full range of 
  demonic threats, from woodland nuisance to cosmic threat. 
  Page 46: Ratwood (levels 1-2). A small but growing 
  leftover of a hellhole that was believed to have been destroyed . . . 
  Page 49: High Heath of Unending Woe (levels 2-3). A 
  nasty place to get stuck. Getting out will take time and many 
  encounters, most of which are written up as playable scenes and 
  battles.
  Page 61: Claw Peak (levels 3-4). A strange hellhole 
  with somewhat divided denizens and an uneasy leader. Battles 
  are discussed rather than statted-out, there’s room for several 
  different approaches to this problem area. 
  Page 64: Floating Market (Any levels): This isn’t a 
  hellhole you’re meant to enter and fight. Yes, there is a hellhole 
  here, but it’s hidden well, and the town built around the hellhole 
  is a place where humans and demons mingle in ways that would 
  be unthinkable anywhere else. 
  Page 70: Red Crag Castle (levels 5-6): Sometimes demons 
  are their own worst enemies. The demon factions struggling 
  for control of a castle they’ve turned into a hellhole aren’t likely 
  to cooperate effectively, so the PCs may be able to face-down 
  overwhelming odds, or at least accomplish a mission or two and 
  get out alive. 
  Page 79: Hellgout (levels 8-10): Epic tier! The Abyss 
  erupts into the overworld. The center cannot hold.
  THE RATWOOD
  Location: Anywhere in the Empire
  Level Range: 1-2 (Adventurer-tier)
  Old men in the village tell stories passed down from their grandmothers 
  about how the Ratwood was once the Wood of Hungry Thorns, a 
  terrible hellhole ruled by a demon king. Long long ago (in the days of 
  the Wizard King, they say, but every story of long ago starts that way, 
  and it’s likely this tale dates to the 12th Age and not the 1st), heroes 
  came up from Axis and braved the perils of the Hungry Thorns, and 
  slew the demon king, and drove the demons back to hell. And yea, 
  then they went to the village tavern, and spent hard-won demons’ 
  gold on a round of beers for the whole village and there was much 
  rejoicing—so ever since, it’s tradition that wandering adventurers 
  who visit the village buy a round of drinks for the old men who tell 
  this story. Mine’s a dwarven ale, thanks very much.
  SIX HELLHOLES
  CHAPTER 3
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  47
  So far, the demons haven’t accomplished much. They can ruin 
  harvests, spread disease, terrify the occasional passer-by, and lure a 
  lost child or two into the woods. What they need is a spellcaster—a 
  sorcerer or a wizard or a demonologist who can widen the crack and 
  reopen the hellhole . . . .
  What the story doesn’t mention and the villagers don’t know is 
  that the job was left half-done. The hellhole was imperfectly sealed, 
  leaving a small crack no bigger than a hairsbreadth. 
  But even the width of a single hair is enough for some demons. 
  Hell is seeping back into the world. Only the weakest demons can 
  fit through the crack, so they’ve made bodies for themselves from 
  the vermin of the woods, from rats and beetles and crows, from leaf 
  mould and nettles and thorn bushes. 
  
  Book of Demons
  48
  Demon Rat
  Take a rat. Pull it inside out. Give it strange paws like furry human 
  hands, and a face full of demon malice. Repeat five hundred times 
  and swarm.
  0th level mook [demon]
  Initiative: +4
  Gnaw +5 vs. AC—3 damage 
  R: Tiny shortbow +4 vs. AC—3 damage
  Scuttle and hide: Attacks against demon rats suffer a –2 attack 
  penalty if the attacker is not engaged with the rat mob. 
  AC 16
  PD 14 
   
  HP 5 (mook)
  MD 10
  Mook: Kill one demon rat mook for every 5 damage you deal to 
  the mob.
  Ratwood Terror
  There’s nothing there, just a darkness under the ivy-laden trees. 
  Just a miasma in the air. Just an overwhelming sense of terror. 
  This place is not for you. 
  3rd level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +6
  Claws +8 vs. AC—10 damage
  Special: This attack can only target a foe taking ongoing 
  psychic damage from terror of the grove.
  C: Terror of the grove +8 vs MD (all nearby enemies)—5 
  psychic damage, plus 5 ongoing psychic damage (save ends)
  Special: This attack cannot target foes already taking psychic 
  damage.
  Shade of the grove: The Ratwood terror is ghostly (resist damage 
  16+) and invisible (50% miss chance) to all foes except those 
  who took psychic damage from it since their last turn. (In 
  other words, foes who have been hit by terror of the grove 
  since their last turn can see and attack the terror normally, but 
  others cannot!)
  Nastier Specials
  Fear: Enemies that have 15 hp or fewer engaged with the 
  Ratwood terror suffer from fear (–4 attack penalty and lose the 
  escalation die). 
  AC 17
  PD 13 
   
  HP 38
  MD 16
  Hooks
  • The demons of the Ratwood send a crow messenger to the 
  fortress of the Diabolist, offering to serve her for a hundred years 
  if she sends them a sorcerer to open the hellhole. The Crusader’s 
  spies discover this plot, and send the adventurers to intercept the 
  Diabolist’s agent on the road.
  • Some other business brings the adventurers to the village. Seeing 
  an opportunity, the demons kidnap a child from the village and 
  send the adventurers a message—open the dormant hellhole or 
  the child dies.
  • The unquiet ghost of one of the previous adventurers appears to 
  a player character in a dream, and confesses that they left the job 
  half-done. Guilt gnawed at her soul all her life, and followed her 
  into death. She cannot rest until the hellhole is fully sealed.
  Perils
  • Wicked Thorns: Cruel thorns that cut and stab when you try 
  to pass through. +10 vs AC; take 2d10 damage, or take 2d4 
  and get so stuck that the rest of the party has to spend up to 
  an hour cutting you free. 
  • Fouled Supplies: Malicious demon rats sneak into your 
  backpack to eat, defile and leave insulting critiques of your 
  rations. Make a Constitution skill check (DC20) to avoid the 
  pangs of hunger costing you a recovery.
  • Marsh Gas: Wisps, then clouds of glowing gas seep up from 
  the ground, making the whole forest seem dreamlike and 
  eerie (and foul-smelling). Make a Wisdom check (DC20) to 
  avoid getting lost and separated from the rest of the party.
  DENIZENS
  Demon rats are everywhere in the Ratwood—underfoot in the 
  underbrush, dropping from branches overhead to gnaw on an 
  unguarded eyeball, creeping into your bedroll at night to slit your 
  throat. Ratwood terrors are rarer, found only in the deepest and 
  darkest dells of the forest. And there’s only one Thorn King, a 
  demon that’s possessed a great hawthorn tree that’s grown over 
  the mostly-sealed central gate. 
  Random Ratwood Demon Abilities (d4)
  As usual, mooks generally don’t have a random demon ability, 
  though you could make an exception. If you want the dice to 
  decide, normal sized demons have a random demon ability if you 
  roll equal or less than their level on a d10. Large demons like the 
  Thorn King most always have a random demon ability.
  1: Camouflage—the demon starts the encounter invisible 
  2: Barkskin—the demon gains Resist Damage 16+
  3: Terrain Stunt—the demon can perform a terrain stunt once 
  per battle, as per the ranger talent (13th Age, p. 120)
  4: Turn to Rats—when first staggered, the demon falls apart 
  into a swarm of 1d4+1 demon rats. When all the rats are 
  slain, it reappears immediately.
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  49
  The high heath hellhole is an insult to cartographers. All 
  hellholes play games with distance, but Unending Woe does so to 
  an absurd degree. Once a traveler passes the invisible edge of the 
  hellhole, the lands stretch around them almost infinity, and they 
  are doomed to wander for days, weeks, or even longer. If they 
  try to retrace their steps, they find themselves walking endlessly 
  without any forward progress. Trying to leave the hellhole by 
  walking out is like Zeno’s Paradox—a traveler can go infinitely 
  close to the edge without ever reaching it. 
  The only way out is through the middle. Those trapped 
  in the hellhole eventually turn inwards, marching towards the 
  center. By the time they reach the inner region of the hellhole, 
  where the barren heath gives way to more traditional lakes-of-
  sulfur and forbidding-spiky-fortresses, most trapped victims give 
  themselves willingly to the demons, having been driven mad by 
  their endless wanderings.
  The Empire, of course, is aware of the danger posed by 
  Unending Woe. There have been numerous attempts to mark 
  the boundaries of the hellhole, but those boundaries flow like 
  invisible poison. One day, that hill is safe; next day, if you set 
  foot on that hill, you might as well be on the moon. A platoon of 
  Imperial Legion engineers sent to place marker stones lost half 
  its number by mischance when the boundary advanced suddenly. 
  The doomed soldiers were still visible to their comrades, standing 
  only a few feet away, but a virtually infinite gulf separated them. 
  Those on the inside could have marched for years and come no 
  closer to escaping; those on the outside could have taken a few 
  steps forward to reach their friends, but then they would have 
  been caught too.
  The Archmage has promised to develop a reliable divination 
  spell that can precise mark the boundaries of Unending Woe, but 
  his to-do list is long.
  Hooks
  • The Archmage believes he’s developed a magical gemstone 
  that, when looked through, reveals the boundaries of Unending 
  Woe. He sent the gemstone with a courier to the Imperial 
  Legion fort closest to the hole. Unfortunately, the courier was 
  ambushed by bandits, and they’ve fled up onto the heath. Find 
  them before they accidentally cross into the hellhole.
  • A shepherd returns to the nearest town with an astounding 
  tale. While hunting for a lost lamb, she found a narrow defile 
  that runs deep into the hellhole, but isn’t affected by the 
  hellhole’s warping of distance. Better yet, she’s sure that she 
  saw a wyvern’s cave at the end of the defile. Maybe it’s stuffed 
  with treasure. She’ll show the adventurers where it is in 
  exchange for a share of the booty.
  • In accordance with her oath to the Emperor, the Blue sent a 
  detachment of monstrous troops from Drakkenhall to fight on 
  the frontier against the orcs. However, her troops vanished on 
  the road while crossing the high heath. Did they blunder into 
  the hellhole? Were they ambushed by enemies of the Three 
  who want to stop the Blue from gaining more influence in the 
  Empire? Is this part of some stratagem to smuggle monsters 
  into the Empire along the Emperor’s own roads? It’s up to the 
  adventurers to find out what became of the Blue Legion. 
  Thorn King
  Half-demon, half-tree, all nasty.
  Large 3rd level wrecker [Demon]
  Initiative: +6
  Swiping branches +8 vs. AC (2 attacks)—9 damage
  Natural 16+: The target is afflicted by crown of thorns (normal 
  save ends, 11+)
  R: Hail of thorns +8 vs PD (1d4+1 nearby or far away 
  enemies)—4d6 damage
  Crown of thorns: A character afflicted by a crown of thorns takes 
  damage whenever he or she attacks the thorn king. The damage 
  starts at 10 and increases by 5 for every subsequent attack (15 
  for the second attack, 20 for the third and so forth). 
  Immobile: The Thorn King cannot move. 
  Nastier Specials
  Burning tree: When the Thorn King becomes staggered for the 
  first time, it catches fire. Add +1d6 fire damage to his swiping 
  branches, and the king may now make a number of swiping 
  branches attacks equal to the escalation die (minimum 2 
  attacks). He also takes 2d6 fire damage each round until 
  destroyed.
  AC 20
  PD 16 
   
  HP 100
  MD 15
  HIGH HEATH OF 
  UNENDING WOE
  Location: Anywhere in the Empire 
  Level Range: 2-3
  The high heath is a region of moorland that extends from 
  wherever you to put in your campaign all the way to another 
  location in your campaign. The heath makes for poor farmland, 
  despite the efforts of previous Archmages (titanic fallen 
  stones, the remnants of ancient elemental workings, dot the 
  barren landscape). A road crosses the moor between those two 
  previously-mentioned locations, wending past the low hills and 
  rocky outcrops that rise from the heather. Other than a few sheep 
  and goats, there are few signs of life on the high heath, although 
  there are stories of bandits and worse things—giants, wyverns 
  and manticores are most commonly mentioned in tales by the 
  fire. These tales say talk of how brave heros slew the monsters, or 
  canny travelers escaped them, or fools fell prey to them.
  The stories also warn of the hellhole called Unending Woe, 
  but on this topic the stories are vague. There is a place on the 
  high heath that looks like all the rest, another landscape of low 
  brown bushes and stony hills, but if you set foot there, you shall 
  never return.
  
  Book of Demons
  50
  land to die. There are long mounds everywhere where giants of 
  old sank into the soil. The Old Hill Giants are frail and half-blind, 
  but the hellhole lends them a little demonic strength so that it 
  can claim their souls when they perish. 
  As 4th level monsters go they’re weak. That’s appropriate for 
  a minor combat the PCs may not even get full credit for and as a 
  sign of how bad things can get here in the heath.
  Old Hill Giant
  The giant’s so old, he’s only got one fight left in him. And if he has 
  his way, so do you.
  Large 4th level troop [giant]
  Initiative: +6
  Really Gnarly Club +9 vs. AC—30 damage
  Miss that’s a natural 6: Half damage (sometimes a miss is close 
  enough)
  R: Inaccurate Boulder Throw +8 vs PD—20 damage
  Inaccurate: After rolling the attack, pick two enemies and 
  decide randomly which one is the actual target 
  Not the Giant He Used To Be: At the start of each of the giant’s 
  turns, pick a random player character. Through senility, 
  blindness or some other complaint, the giant forgets that 
  enemy exists. The giant will not attack that foe, and counts as 
  being unaware of that foe for the purposes of sneak attacks.
  AC 19
  PD 18 
   
  HP 110
  MD 15
  ENCOUNTERS
  As the adventurers wander through the hellhole, roll 1d12 
  for their next encounter. Add +1 to the roll for each previous 
  encounter, and if you reroll the same encounter twice, move onto 
  the next highest new encounter on the table (so, if you roll a 9 
  and you’ve already played through encounters 9 and 10, skip onto 
  encounter 11).
  Roll 1d12 
  Encounter
  1–3: 
  Barren Land
  4: 
  Fellow Travelers
  5: 
  Burning Fog
  6: 
  Flying Teeth 
  7: 
  Haunted Village
  8: 
  Iconic Memories 
  9: 
  Bandit Camp
  10: 
  Spacewarp
  11: 
  Haunt Hounds (& Demonic Hunters)
  12: 
  Fallen Wardstone
  13: 
  The Miser’s Cabin
  14: 
  Firestorm
  15: 
  Demon Fort
  16+: 
  Center of the Hellhole
  Perils
  Unending Woe is one big peril. Once you cross the hellhole’s 
  boundary, you can’t walk back out as the distance stretches like 
  rubber. Teleporting might work, or it might smear you across the 
  landscape. It’s almost impossible to tell where the edge of the 
  hellhole starts; careful examination of the movements of birds 
  and insects or exceptionally keen magical divinations might give 
  it away (DC30 either way).
  The only reliable way to escape the hellhole is to go to the 
  center and find a way out through there.
  Hunger & Thirst
  13th Age doesn’t normally bother with tracking rations, waterskins, 
  shelter and other supplies. It’s assumed that the player characters 
  are hardened travelers who know how to take care of themselves 
  in the wild. The high heath, though, is notoriously barren and 
  exposed, and the adventurers may be trapped here for a long time. 
  If the adventurers wander for a long period, have the character 
  with the best wilderness-survival type background make a skill 
  check (initially DC15, rising by +5 for each check.) two or three 
  times during their wanderings. If that adventurer fails the check, 
  everyone loses a recovery. Those without a recovery to spend pay 
  the usual consequences (13th Age core rulebook, page 169).
  Sinkholes
  These open unexpectedly beneath adventurers. Single target, 
  +15 vs. PD, 3d6 damage if you fall in.
  Lightning Storms
  These crash unexpectedly on top of adventurers. Multiple 
  targets, +15 vs. PD, 1d12 damage if you’re sent flying by winds, 
  deafened by thunder, or menaced by lightning.
  Random Demon Abilities of Unending 
  Woe (d4)
  Feel free to use either the original random demon ability table or 
  the new table on page 43, or use this table for a touch of the 
  Heath’s woe. 
  1: Cold Wind—The demon starts the combat insubstantial, as a 
  shadow on the wind. In this form, it moves at double speed 
  and has Resist weapons 18+. The demon materializes for the 
  rest of the battle when it attacks or when the escalation die 
  reaches 2. 
  2: Malice—If the demon crits, it also reduces the target’s 
  number of remaining recoveries by 1.
  3: Aura of Despair—Characters with a number of remaining 
  recoveries equal to or less than the demon’s level feel despair 
  when engaged with the demon. Despairing characters suffer 
  a –4 penalty to attacks against the demon and don’t get to use 
  the escalation die. 
  4: Teleport 1d3 times per battle
  Old Hill Giants
  They’ve been expecting the adventurers.
  The heath is a sacred ground for the hill giants—old hill 
  giants, too old to defend their caves, get driven into this empty 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  51
  characters a few minutes’ warning before the lowlands become 
  a sea of fire and any fog-encrusted adventurers get incinerated. 
  To survive, the adventurers need to either find a way to shield 
  themselves from the sun, or else find shelter and wash off the fog 
  before the sunlight reaches them. If the PCs ignore the threat, kill 
  at least one of them. 
  6: Flying Teeth 
  The adventures spot a flock of what appears to be strange white 
  birds approaching from the center of Unending Woe. The flying 
  creatures are very small, and seem more like insects in their 
  movements than birds. As they draw closer, the nature of the 
  things becomes clear.
  They’re teeth. Dozens of disembodied sets of sharp teeth, 
  like giant-vampire fangs, chattering through the air. They 
  circle above the adventurers, then dive down to attack. Roll for 
  initiative.
  The teeth fly in to attack in three waves, one wave per round. 
  Roll initiative separately for each round, and if a wave has ten 
  or more flying maws in it, break it up into at least two separate 
  mobs, or three mobs if the wave has twenty or more mooks. The 
  fact that the mooks are split up like this will probably be a factor, 
  because targeting a maw that is the last of its mob won’t be as 
  effective as targeting newcomers . . . . 
  1–3: Barren Land
  The foreboding landscape seems to swallow hope within its dark 
  emptiness. Choose the adventurer with the lowest MD, deciding 
  randomly in the case of ties. That adventurer picks up a dark 
  passenger, a demonic spirit that masquerades as the adventurer’s 
  own shadow. At times, especially at night, it whispers in the 
  adventurer’s ear, pretending to be the voice of the character’s 
  own doubts and fears, and tells its host that all is lost and they 
  will all perish in this hellhole. At other times, it detaches from the 
  adventurer’s shadow and commits petty acts of sabotage (cutting 
  ropes, spoiling food, writing rude words in spellbooks, shaving 
  beards) to sap the morale of the company.
  Once discovered, the shadow flees. As it retreats, the 
  adventurers make out its true shape—it’s the shadow of a demon, 
  sent to spy on the latest intruders. At some later point, pick a 
  demon the player characters encounter and mention that they 
  recognize the shape of its shadow.
  4: Fellow Travelers
  The adventurers encounter a pair of travelling traders, a dwarven 
  potsmith named Abkhaz and a halfling cobbler named Shana 
  Lys. The two accidentally wandered into the hellhole and are now 
  lost and confused. Abkhaz has his hammer, but claims he hasn’t 
  used it in anger in years, and Shana has only a dagger. She 
  does, however, have a set of dice with her; she’s a gambler, 
  and will challenge any willing player characters to a game 
  of chance.
  If questioned about why they were out on the moors, 
  they are oddly defensive and evasive—“We got lost! We 
  were on the road and got lost!). In fact, they were out on 
  the moors burying a body. On the road, they met another 
  traveler, a local farmer named Hethwin. Shana cheated 
  in their dice game, he attacked her, and Abkhaz struck 
  Hethwin with the hammer, killing him. Shana and Abkhaz 
  blame each other for the crime.
  To add to their misfortune, they buried Hethwin 
  within the boundaries of the hellhole, and a freshly-
  murdered corpse is catnip to demons. He’s been 
  resurrected as a demonic wendigo spirit (13th Age Bestiary, 
  p. 212) and is now spiraling through the hellhole, looking 
  for his murderers. 
  5: Burning Fog
  By night, a horrible green fog rises from the ground. The 
  fog smells like an accident in an alchemist’s laboratory, 
  and is caustic to the eyes and throat. It clings in an 
  unwholesome way, collecting like greenish foam on the 
  surface of objects that move through it. If the adventurers 
  hurry through the fog, they end up caked in the gunk. It’s 
  unpleasant, but not dangerous.
  Until dawn, that is. Direct exposure to sunlight 
  causes the fog to explode into violent green flames that 
  burn hot enough to melt metal. The fog clinging to the 
  tops of the tors and hills ignites first, giving the player 
  
  Book of Demons
  52
  Skinless Demon
  The thing that grows vein by vein out from the biting teeth that are 
  still chewing on your shoulder looks like a skinned baboon with 
  glowing green eyes and a spiky skull.
  2nd level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +5
  Bite +7 vs. AC—7 damage
  Jump in fangs first +7 vs. AC—10 damage
  Special: Usable only when the skinless demon starts its turn 
  unengaged
  AC 18
  PD 16 
   
  HP 32
  MD 12
  Skinless demon transformation: The table below lists the 
  maximum number of skinless demons that should be added 
  to the battle, one-at-a-time when a flying maw hits with its 
  transforming bite attack. The fight is weighted to be a bit harder 
  for large groups, who always seem to find a way to thwart diabolic 
  plans. 
  You can go over the skinless demon limit if the PCs haven’t 
  suffered enough, but exceeding the limit by more than one risks 
  a TPK. 
  If the maws roll badly, the fight may be easy. If the maws roll 
  well and you hit the maximum number of skinless demons, the 
  fight will feel more like a double-strength battle. You’ll know how 
  much credit to give the PCs! 
  Flying Maw
  These are proto-demons—minor chaotic spirits, who’ve gambled 
  all their magic on growing teeth. This is their one shot at grabbing 
  onto the material world and becoming actual demons. 
  2nd level mook [demon]
  Initiative: +5
  Transforming bite +6 vs. AC—4 damage
  Natural even hit: The flying maw becomes a skinless demon. 
  The skinless demon acts on the same initiative as the flying 
  maw it used to be. 
  Transformations exceeded: If the fight has already reached its 
  quota of skinless demons, deal +2 damage instead.
  Flying: You know how disembodied flying monster teeth fly, 
  right? Like angry bricks.
  AC 17
  PD 16 
   
  HP 8 (mook)
  MD 12
  Mook: Kill one flying maw mook for every 8 damage you deal to 
  the mob.
  #/Level of PCs
  Flying Maw Wave 1
  Flying Maw Wave 2
  Flying Maw Wave 3
  Max Skinless Demons
  3 x 2nd level
  2
  2
  2
  3
  4 x 2nd level
  2
  2
  2
  3
  5 x 2nd level
  2
  2
  2
  3
  6 x 2nd level
  2
  3
  2
  4
  3 x 2nd level
  3
  3
  3
  3
  4 x 3rd level
  3
  3
  3
  4
  5 x 3rd level
  3
  3
  3
  5
  6x 3rd level
  3
  3*
  3
  6
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  53
  Crusader: The adventurers find a fallen 
  warrior bearing the badge of the Crusader. 
  She’s horribly warped and mutated, but it’s 
  clear that these changes weren’t the cause 
  of her death—her throat’s been ripped out. 
  She’s one of the Crusader’s Redeemed, 
  warriors who were corrupted by demonic 
  forces, but now fight to cleanse themselves 
  through honorable death. She was likely a scout for the 
  Crusaders’ forces—perhaps they will soon march on Unending 
  Woe. If you complete her mission, and bring intelligence back to 
  the Crusader about the state of the hellhole’s defenses, you will 
  be justly rewarded.
  Diabolist: In the night, the adventure briefly 
  senses an unfamiliar presence in the camp. 
  There’s a sudden warmth, and a lingering 
  smell afterwards, the scent of roses and 
  musk mixed with sulfur. A single, delicate 
  footprint is found in the mud nearby, and 
  next to it is something the adventurers need 
  desperately—supplies, a map, a magical 
  item, the smoking skull of a demon that’s been hunting them…
  Dwarf King: The adventurers stumble on 
  the remains of an old dwarf road. These 
  paths were said to be made perfectly 
  straight, aligned with the perfect geometry 
  of the old dwarven empire. There might 
  be some magic left in this road that will 
  overcome the space-warping effects of the 
  hellhole, if the players can do something dwarfy enough to make 
  the stones remember.
  Elf Queen: On a hillside, the adventurers 
  find a grove of trees sacred to the Elf 
  Queen. This place is a sanctuary from the 
  demons while the moon is in the sky. If 
  the adventurers rest here, they each gain a 
  bonus recovery until their next full heal-up.
  Emperor: Secretly, the Emperor entrusted 
  you with a mission: you must secure a way 
  out of this hellhole, and leave a trail for 
  other unfortunate travelers to follow. It’s 
  not enough for you to merely escape. You 
  must make sure that others can follow after 
  you and get out the same way, and if that means bargaining with 
  demons or forcing them to give safe passage to Imperial citizens, 
  so be it. The Empire cannot yet close this hellhole, but it can 
  make it less of a deathtrap.
  Great Gold Wyrm: By night, you are 
  inspired by visions and dreams of the 
  Wyrm’s sacrifice. When you awake, you 
  know that there are six portals at the heart 
  of this hellhole. Five lead out, and one 
  leads down. If that last portal is closed, the 
  hellhole will be destroyed. Do you have the 
  courage to follow the dragon and brave the fires of hell?
  7: Haunted Village
  There was once a village here called Lorgan’s Croft, just a few 
  huts huddled together in a sheltered spot by a brook. Lorgan’s 
  Croft had the misfortune to get caught in the hellhole. For weeks, 
  the survivors debated what to do. Fleeing to the nearest town was 
  impossible—what was supposed to be a journey of a few hours 
  was now an infinite distance. Their only choices were to try to 
  escape through the center of the hellhole, literally walking into 
  the jaws of Hell, or else hunkering down and trying to defend 
  their little hamlet against the demons that now walked the moors. 
  They decided to stay. They fortified their town, beat their 
  ploughshares into swords, made the little chapel to the Gods of 
  Light into a stronghold, and swore to fight side by side until the 
  Empire came to save them. 
  The Empire never came. The demons could have overrun 
  the villagers easily, but it was more fun to watch them tear 
  themselves apart. As the months went by with no sign of rescue, 
  and as their supplies ran out, the villagers turned on each other, 
  destroying themselves more thoroughly than any demon could 
  manage. Some fled to join the bandits serving Caer Trenon 
  (Encounter 9); others set off for the hellhole’s heart. Those who 
  remained killed one another or went mad. 
  Searching the village reveals there’s one survivor, a young 
  girl named Alyn. Her family were among those who stayed, and 
  they were attacked by neighbors who suspected they had food 
  hidden in their hut. Afraid to travel deeper into the hellhole, Alyn 
  now hides in the ruins of the village, scavenging for what little 
  food remains. 
  The complication: A wandering vrock (13th Age core book, 
  p. 211), drawn by the delightful aura of misery and murder 
  in Lorgan’s Croft, has also taken up residence in the village. 
  Rescuing Alyn requires slaying the 6th level demon. If saved, Alyn 
  can relate the sad tale of the village and hint that there is an exit 
  through the center of the hellhole. 
  8: Iconic Memories 
  Pick a random icon from those represented among your player 
  characters, or roll relationship dice and grab those 5s and 6s. If 
  you have a lot of successful dice rolls, spread encounters out over 
  the adventure. Some of these encounters are flashbacks; others 
  might be framed as realizations on the part of the character. (If 
  you’re not confident about introducing unexpected plot twists 
  like this, move this encounter to the start of the adventure, and 
  replace it on the table with a wandering demon attack.)
  Archmage: A messenger-sprite sent by 
  the Archmage reveals that the diviners at 
  Horizon have detected unusual activity 
  around the center of the hellhole. There seem 
  to be a number of portals there, as opposed 
  to the usual single gate to the Abyss. It might 
  be a side effect of the hellhole’s dimension-warping weirdness. 
  
  Book of Demons
  54
  leave the hellhole, she delivers a few victims as playthings for the 
  demons. For Caer, it’s win-win—the hellhole makes a virtually 
  impregnable hideout, as no-one’s willing to pursue her thieves 
  into Unending Woe, and she gets to curry favor with the demons, 
  making her more powerful. Most of her followers are ordinary 
  humans, though, and they’re terrified of both the demons and 
  their increasingly insane leader. All the loot in the world is worth 
  nothing if you’re stuck outside in a hellhole.
  The camp’s located in a shallow cave network under one of 
  the larger tors. It’s hard to find unless you’re a tracker (DC25) or 
  know the secret signs used by allies of the Prince of Shadows. The 
  bandits’ reaction to the adventurers depends on how the party 
  initially approach the cave. If they come in with swords drawn 
  and combat spells blazing, go straight to a fight. If they approach 
  as battle-hardened warriors lost in the hellhole, the bandits may 
  offer them shelter and try to recruit them (hoping that maybe 
  they’ll be able to stop Caer Trenon.) If the bandits think the 
  adventurers are just more desperate lost souls, it’s ambush and 
  looting time.
  The demons’ bargain was with Caer Trenon herself, not with 
  the bandits. If the demons find out she’s dead, they won’t let the 
  bandits escape through the portal.
  Risk assessments: This fight is tough because Caer Trenon 
  is tough and her antipathy field can make it unusually difficult 
  for PCs to gang up on her. 
  High Druid: This land is far from the 
  reach of the current High Druid, but not 
  from her predecessors. A previous High 
  Druid lies buried beneath one of the tors. 
  If the demons find his bones, they’ll be 
  able to use them as magical weapons 
  against nature—your mission is to find these bones and burn 
  them to ash, then scatter that ash on the wind. Of course, you’d 
  never consider keeping any of the bones… even though they 
  might be enough to buy you a way out of this hellhole.
  Lich King: That old beggar on the road—
  you don’t know if he had one foot in the 
  grave, or if he’s already died and joined 
  the King’s followers. (You’ve seen such 
  things before, undead who can still pass 
  for living people. There are more of 
  them than people suspect abroad in the 
  Empire). With cold fingers, he pressed a scrap of paper into 
  your hand. Is it a map of some part of this hellhole? If so, where 
  does it lead?
  Orc Lord: You saw a few young half-
  orcs in the villages outside the hellhole. 
  The Orc Lord’s advance forces must not 
  be too far away. If this hellhole were to 
  vanish, or if a bargain struck with the 
  demons, then the orcs could attack the 
  Imperial forces on the far side of the high 
  heath by surprise. Are you here to bring such a thing about, or 
  thwart it?
  Priestess: Even in this gloomy and 
  hopeless land, the light finds purchase. The 
  Priestess’ messenger told you before you 
  came here that there was a hidden strength 
  in this place, a hope concealed beneath 
  sorrow and weariness. When you find it, 
  the light will help you bring that strength to 
  bear against the demons.
  Prince of Shadows: There was, remarked 
  the stranger in the tavern, a man who 
  once lived in the region now consumed 
  by Unending Woe. He was once a rich 
  merchant from Glitterhaegen, but grew 
  to loathe the city and made a home in the 
  country. He carried a fortune out of the city with him, and neither 
  he nor his fortune has never been seen since. Perhaps his treasure 
  still exists? Worth a look? 
  The Three: The Black once hired a demonic 
  assassin named Caer Trenon. She swindled 
  the dragon, abandoned her mission and 
  fled to this hellhole. Kill her and you shall 
  be rewarded. 
  9: Bandit Camp
  A small group of bandits make their lair in Unending Woe. Their 
  leader, Caer Trenon, is a tiefling, and she’s struck a bargain with 
  the demons at the central fort. In exchange for letting her bandits 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  55
  Bandit Archer
  The best of a sorry lot. Well, the most durable, at least.
  2nd level archer [human]
  Initiative: +6
  Shortsword +7 vs AC—7 damage
  R: Bow +8 vs. AC—8 damage
  Scamper: +4 bonus on disengage checks
  AC 18
  PD 15 
   
  HP 34
  MD 13
  Lost Bandit
  The connection between murder, mayhem, robbery and greed and 
  going to Hell isn’t normally quite so clear-cut.
  3rd level mook [human]
  Initiative: +5
  Sword, mace, spear or scavenged demon-bone club +8 vs 
  AC—7 damage
  R: Bow +7 vs. AC—6 damage
  Desperate soul: Deals a critical hit with a natural attack roll of 
  19 or 20, but is eliminated from the battle if its attack roll is a 
  natural 1 or 2. 
  AC 18
  PD 17 
   
  HP 12 (mook)
  MD 11
  Mook: Kill one lost bandit mook for every 12 damage you deal 
  to the mob.
  Caer Trenon
  Soon, she’s going to stop thinking of the bandits as her followers 
  and start categorizing them as her cattle. Red and gory are the 
  appetites of demons, even half-demons.
  Double-strength 3rd level wrecker [demon]
  Initiative: +6
  Wicked polearm +8 vs. AC (1 engaged or nearby enemy)—15 
  damage 
  Natural 16+: 5 ongoing damage (save ends)
  Horned headbutt +8 vs PD—5 damage
  Natural 16+: The target is dazed (save ends) and pops free of 
  Caer Trenon
  Limited use: Only usable when engaged by two or more 
  enemies. 
  Special: Horned headbutt is a quick action. 
  R: Longbow +8 vs AC (two attacks)—10 damage
  Antipathy field: While this creature is not engaged, each enemy 
  attempting to move into engagement with her must succeed 
  with a hard save (16+), using their level as a bonus to the roll. 
  An enemy that fails stops their move near Caer Trenon, but 
  not engaged with her, and takes 1d12 negative energy damage. 
  Reach tricks: Caer’s weirdly extendable demon arms, her size, and 
  the length of her polearm give her considerable reach in battle. 
  Nastier Specials
  Mother of misfortune: If a creature attacking Caer Trenon with 
  a melee attack rolls a natural 1-5, Caer Trenon may make a 
  horned headbutt attack against that creature as a free action. 
  AC 19
  PD 17 
   
  HP 99
  MD 15
  #/Level of PCs
  Caer Trenon
  Bandit Archer
  Lost Bandit
  3 x 2nd level
  1
  0
  3
  4 x 2nd level
  1
  1
  3
  5 x 2nd level
  1
  1
  6
  6 x 2nd level
  1
  2
  6
  3 x 2nd level
  1
  1
  4
  4 x 3rd level
  1
  2
  6
  5 x 3rd level
  1
  4
  5
  6 x 3rd level
  1
  6
  8
  
  Book of Demons
  56
  an icon relationship advantage is worth a +5 bonus. Yes, the PC 
  could burn an icon relationship advantage and still fail. Success 
  with the roll means that the PCs evade the hounds, which bay 
  off into the distance. As mentioned above, since the PCs avoided 
  the haunt hounds, this encounter can happen again. The hounds 
  have the PCs’ scent and may be back. 
  Fight the hounds: In fact there aren’t dozens of hounds on 
  the PC’s trail. Each demonic hound is possessed by as many as 
  a dozen ghosts and bays like a chorus. If they catch up to the 
  PCs, the haunt hounds attack until slain with no concern for their 
  survival. They’re tools of the demonic hunters who now step onto 
  the trail of Encounter #11. 
  The haunt hounds’ attacks may do some damage, but it’s not 
  a fight that’s meant to threaten the PCs much. Not directly, in any 
  case. It doesn’t even count as a battle for purposes of determining 
  when the PCs get a full rest. 
  Instead, the ghost within the haunt hounds may possess 
  people they bite. These hauntings are set-up for when the 
  demonic hunters catch up with their prey. 
  If you want to make the fight a bit more interesting, consider 
  rolling initiative separately for each haunt hound in the fight. 
  After the battle, start mentioning that the PCs hear strange 
  hunting horns out in the distance. If any of the heroes have been 
  haunted by ghosts of the Heath, the ghosts cry out loud whenever 
  they hear the horns, calling that the ones the hunters seek are 
  “Here! They’re here! We found them! Come this way!” The ghosts’ 
  cries have no appreciable effect, but it’s going to be irritating at 
  best and worrisome in truth. 
  Encounter #11 now shifts from the Haunt Hounds portion of 
  the entertainment to the Demonic Hunters! 
  *Increase the hounds’ defenses and attack bonuses by 1. 
  10: Spacewarp
  The hellhole convulses, sending a ripple of space-warping 
  weirdness through the heath. It looks like an expanding ring of 
  distorted air as it rushes towards the adventurers. Assuming they 
  don’t have any clever defenses (like a ritual to shield them from 
  the warp, or teleporting to the far side of the ring), roll 1d6 for 
  each adventurer to see what happens to them.
  1: Twisted and Mangled: Constitution check, DC25; fail and 
  suffer 2d8 damage.
  2: Smashed: As twisted and mangled, but the adventurer is also 
  hurled into the air and comes down heavily, smashing one 
  item of equipment. What’s broken?
  3: Entombed: As twisted and mangled, but when normality 
  reasserts itself, the adventurer is partially entombed in the 
  ground as space isn’t put back together quite right, and one 
  of the adventurer’s limbs ends up overlapping with stone or 
  earth. The adventurer takes 2d8 automatically and is stuck. 
  Digging the trapped victim out safely takes several hours 
  work; pulling the victim free by brute force inflicts another 
  2d8 damage.
  4: Dimensionally Flipped: The adventurer doesn’t come back 
  quite right. In fact, he or she comes back left—the adventurer 
  has been flipped around, and now speaks backwards, favors 
  their other hand and so on. Until the next full heal-up, the 
  adventurer cannot easily understand the speech or writing of 
  unflipped individuals.
  5: Ethically Inverted: Until the next full heal-up, the adventurer 
  is replaced by their ethical inverse. Their attachments and 
  friendships stay the same, but to anyone outside the player 
  character group, they flip on the good/evil axis. A good 
  character is evil, but still has the same friends and attachments, 
  just complicated by being . . . nasty and unpleasant and shifty. 
  A basically evil character is now basically good. Given that 
  the PC are stuck in a nasty hellhole, this is meant as more of 
  a roleplaying opportunity than a serious campaign problem! 
  6: Distant Glimpse: The weird distortions of space and time 
  in the hellhole gives the adventurer a glimpse of a possible 
  future. Roll 2d6 to see which encounter they glimpse. 
  11: Haunt Hounds
  The strange baying of demonic hounds echoes off the tors and 
  cliffs! It sounds like dozens of demon dogs are in the area, but it’s 
  possible that the PCs might be able to evade a fight. 
  For dramatic purposes, you might want to tell the PCs that 
  not much can be gained in this battle, it’s a fight they may want 
  to avoid. If they’d rather meet the problem head-on, or try and 
  fail to avoid the battle, go to the Fight the Hounds section below. 
  If the PCs do manage to avoid fighting the hounds this time, 
  this Haunt Hounds encounter is not removed from the encounter 
  list like all the other encounters. Play out the encounter again the 
  next time it is rolled. 
  Avoiding the hounds: A single PC of the players’ choice 
  makes a DC20 stealth or wilderness survival check. Increase the 
  DC by 5 for each time the PCs have avoided the haunt hounds 
  previously. An extremely cunning plan is worth a +2 bonus. Using 
  #/Level of PCs
  Haunt Hounds
  3 x 2nd level
  2
  4 x 2nd level
  2*
  5 x 2nd level
  3
  6 x 2nd level
  4
  3 x 2nd level
  3
  4 x 3rd level
  4
  5 x 3rd level
  5
  6 x 3rd level
  6
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  57
  Demonic Hunter
  They ride steeds made of stitched-together bits of human and 
  animal corpses, and carry swords made of thorn and bones. You 
  really don’t want to look too closely at their musical instruments, 
  by the way. 
  4th level wrecker [demon]
  Initiative: +10
  Slashing sword +9 vs. AC—13 damage
  Natural 16+: The demon may pop free of the target and 
  continue moving, if it wishes.
  R: Hunting bow +8 vs. AC (1 nearby or far away enemy)—12 
  damage
  Haunt slayer: Add the number of ghosts of the heath haunting a 
  target of the demonic hunters’ attacks as both an attack bonus 
  and a damage bonus. 
  Sound the horn: As a quick action, one demonic huntsman can 
  sound its horn each round. A random PC who is being haunted 
  by one or more ghosts of the heath must roll a normal save 
  (11+). If the save fails, that PC is hampered until the end of its 
  next turn. 
  AC 20
  PD 16 
   
  HP 52
  MD 16
  Haunt Hound
  Their howling is literally the tormented crying of lost souls. Slit 
  a haunt hound’s belly open, and you’ll find a dozen half-digested 
  ghosts coiling amidst ectoplasmic intestines. 
  2nd level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +10
  Bite +8 vs. AC—6 damage
  Natural even hit: Make a demonic haunting attack against the 
  target or another nearby enemy as a free action
  C: Demonic haunting +6 vs. MD—Target is haunted by 1d3 
  ghosts of the Heath. 
  Ghosts of the Heath: The spirits of the slain work for the demons 
  now. Each ghost a PC is haunted by reduces the effect of any 
  recoveries they use by hit points. At the end of each encounter, 
  including this one, each haunted PC can attempt a separate 
  hard save against each of the ghosts haunting them. If a save 
  succeeds, that ghost fades away. If a save fails, the ghost stays 
  with them. That’s not good, and it could get very bad for any 
  PC that is still haunted when the demonic hunters show up. 
  AC 17
  PD 12 
   
  HP 34
  MD 16
  11 (Part Two): 
  Demonic Hunters
  The hunters won’t show up until after the PCs have fought the 
  haunt hounds. The hunters’ weird horns will start in the distance, 
  growing ever-closer, so for a change, PCs who want to cast 
  spells or use other abilities to prepare for battle will have ample 
  opportunity. That’s good, because this is a double-strength fight. 
  #/Level of PCs
  Demonic 
  Hunters
  Haunt Hounds
  3 x 2nd level
  2
  2
  4 x 2nd level
  3
  2
  5 x 2nd level
  4
  2
  6 x 2nd level
  5
  3
  3 x 2nd level
  3
  2
  4 x 3rd level
  4
  3
  5 x 3rd level
  6
  2
  6 x 3rd level
  7
  3
  The haunt hounds aren’t that interesting if used as 
  normal monsters. If you want to use them in other 
  adventures, it’s best to use them as set-up for a stronger 
  foe the PCs will encounter later.
  For roleplaying fun in this adventure, create 
  names and personalities for each of the ghosts, or 
  ask the players to help. Depending on the ghosts’ 
  personalities, one or two of them might be susceptible 
  to being dealt with by icon relationship advantages. 
  GAMEMASTER
  
  Book of Demons
  58
  of the hellhole, and can help the adventurers find them—on the 
  condition they take him with them. He’s too slow and squishy to 
  make it there alone.
  So, if the adventures escort the giant golden damned/
  possibly-undead treasure slug that used to be Jermas back to 
  Glitterhaegen, he’ll reward them! He can’t give them money—
  it’s part of his body now—but his transformation has given him 
  a new (and literal) appetite for profit. He grows when he eats 
  gold, and the best way for him to make gold is to return to the 
  city of commerce and start trading again. Of course, even a 
  cosmopolitan place like Glitterhaegen won’t accept a slug demon, 
  so he’ll need the PCs to be his agents.
  If they refuse, or if they threaten Jermas, he attacks. He’ll 
  surrender when reduced to 15 hit points, and offer directions to 
  the exit portal in exchange for his life.
  Jermas’ directions are worth a +4 bonus to rolls on the 
  Encounter Table. 
  12: Fallen 
  Wardstone
  A giant crystal pillar, fallen and cracked into three huge 
  pieces. The Archmage attempted to seal the hellhole by 
  dropping this pillar from a skyship. Plainly, it didn’t work 
  quite as planned. However, expending a suitable icon 
  benefit roll (Archmage, Priestess, Diabolist, Crusader, 
  Great Gold Wyrm are the obvious ones here) or doing 
  a ritual could temporarily reactivate the wardstone, 
  giving the adventurers a safe place to rest for the night.
  13: The Miser’s 
  Cabin
  This small house stands alone on a hillside, far from 
  any other remnants of human habitation. It looks like 
  it was well-stocked if poorly maintained before the 
  hellhole struck. There’s a well, a few animal pens and 
  outbuildings, a small scraggly orchard. The abode, 
  clearly, of a wealthy hermit. Now, the cabin is decaying 
  and falling in on itself, but might offer some shelter 
  against the otherworldly gloom of the hellhole. 
  The cabin was the home of Jermas, who was once 
  a banker and trader in the great commercial city of 
  Glitterhaegen. As his fortune grew, so did his paranoia, 
  until he fled the city and made his home far away from 
  people on the High Heath. Every night, his only pleasure 
  was counting his pile of coins.
  When the hellhole of Unending Woe struck, the 
  shock killed the ailing Jermas. He thinks his soul should 
  have passed on to whatever reward or judgment such 
  things must face, or skipped judgment and gone straight 
  to Hell. Instead, it got caught in his hoarded pile of gold.
  The thing now living in the cabin resembles a 
  gigantic slug, nine feet long at least, with its slimy 
  hide encrusted with gold coins from Glitterhaegen. 
  The decayed remains of Jermas’ body might be dimly 
  discerned within the monster’s semi-translucent body, but wisely 
  he keeps that aspect hidden and most of the stuff visible inside 
  the slug is . . . . well . . . treasure. Which may not be that wise 
  around adventurers!
  Jermas’ mind is as intact as that of an already-eccentric 
  hermit miser who’s turned into a golden slug in a hellhole could 
  hope to be. When the player characters arrive, he hides under the 
  floorboards until he’s sure that they’re not demons—or worse, 
  burglars! He then slithers out and greets them as warmly as a 
  metal-studded demon slug can. He serves them quite-decent 
  coffee and cakes while he pitches them on a business proposal. 
  Jermas believes that the weird confluence of magical 
  energies trapped his soul in slug form, and that he’s cheating 
  fate. (In fact, his transformation is a whim of the demons—he’s 
  incapable of counting his treasure without hands, and his sticky 
  slime-trail keeps catching and dropping coins, making him lose 
  count. Hilarious.) He wants to escape the hellhole and return 
  to Glitterhaegen. He knows there are exit portals at the center 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  59
  the storm and carrying with it the scent of loam and pine 
  (High Druid). Maybe the adventurer knows how to create a 
  warding spell against such hazards (Archmage, Diabolist) or 
  the best way to shelter from them (Crusader, Orc Lord).
  • Ritual Magic! A suitable ritual could create a shielded area 
  against the oncoming blast.
  Characters caught in the open by the firestorm take 8d6 
  fire damage. Characters with at least some preparation take 4d6; 
  those who’ve doubled up (for example, they’ve taken shelter in 
  the bandit cave and cast a warding spell to protect themselves) 
  take 2d6 fire damage.
  15: Demon Fort
  There is an end to Unending Woe. If you suffer long enough in 
  the twisted land of the hellhole, you will inevitably arrive at this 
  fortress, situated in a wide plain of scorched gravel and dust. 
  It is a spiraling tower made of tens of thousands of petrified 
  humanoids, as though the demons’ only building materials were 
  the remains of those preserved in a bog. Petrified corpses make 
  for poor building blocks—the fort’s walls are as full of gaps as a 
  lace curtain, and through those gaps, visitors can see the fiery 
  shapes of the demons who dwell within. Think of it as an open-
  plan demon fortress! Hundreds (or perhaps even thousands) of 
  flying teeth (page 52) flap around the tower like pearly bats.
  The dungeons of the fort are on the lowest level. There, the 
  hands of the petrified corpses reach out to grab and restrain 
  prisoners. 
  Above the dungeon is the garrison, where the demons of 
  Unending Woe dwell. They are lazy, fat demons for the most 
  part—what need have they to hunt, when there is only one 
  direction in Unending Woe and it leads straight to them! They’re 
  cut from different organs than the demonic hunters of Encounter 
  11. The only things that rouse these demons are the prospect of a 
  prisoner of the hellhole escaping, a threat to the infernal portal, 
  or the prospect of an entertaining fight.
  The third level of the fortress is the lair of the demon 
  captain, the current ruler of the hellhole. Unending woe is a 
  mature hellhole—the demons have fought their wars, and killed 
  many, many would-be leaders. Now, as they’re all lazy, they are 
  more willing to tolerate one of their number having delusions 
  of grandeur and ordering them around. Being in charge is too 
  much work, anyway: you’ve got to keep watch for intruders and 
  guard the prisoners and—yawn—all sorts of other things. The 
  current demon captain rejoices in the name of Thousand-Eyed 
  Azoole; he is a melancholy poet-king, easily moved to weeping. 
  (His tears are acidic, by the by; if Thousand-Eyed Azoole cries for 
  you, you’ll be sorry).
  The topmost level of the fortress is an observatory, where 
  demonic sentries mostly fail to keep a lookout. 
  Jermas The Golden 
  Slug
  In business, you’ve got to seize opportunities with both hands. If 
  you don’t have hands, then you’ve got to secrete a sticky ooze. 
  Large 3rd level spoiler [aberration]
  Initiative: +5
  Slimy wallop +8 vs. AC—18 damage
  Natural 14+: +1d6 damage, and the target is showered with 
  1d6x10 gold pieces. 
  R: Slimy spit +7 vs. PD (one nearby target, or one far-away 
  target at –2 atk)—15 damage, and the target is stuck (hard 
  save 16+ ends)
  Natural 14+: +1d6 damage, and the target is showered with 
  1d6x10 gold pieces. 
  C: Miser’s curse +7 vs MD (1d3 nearby enemies)—10 psychic 
  damage, and the target is confused (save ends). Confused foes 
  only attack those showered with gold pieces by a slimy attack.
  Limited Use: Usable 2/battle
   
  Nastier Specials
  Slime trail: Any creature engaged with Jermas at the start of its 
  turn takes 3 acid damage.
  Purchasing power: Jermas may reduce his hit points by 10 to add 
  2d6 damage to any slimy attack. The targets of such an attack 
  are also showered with 2d6x10 gold pieces.
  AC 18
  PD 17 
   
  HP 110
  MD 17
  14: Firestorm
  The hellish portal at the heart of Unending Woe vomits forth 
  a storm of burning sulfur, poisonous death clouds, tortured 
  lightning, atomic radiation, agonized souls, evil sorcery and less 
  pleasant things. The adventurers see this cloud on the horizon 
  long before it hits them. It’s impossible to miss impending doom 
  as it creeps across the sky.
  The adventurers need to find shelter immediately. Possible 
  options:
  • Keep moving! Roll on the encounter table again and hope 
  they get somewhere safe to hide while the storm passes over 
  them.
  • Look for shelter! There aren’t many places to hide on this 
  barren heath. Finding suitable shelter is a DC20 skill check. 
  Alternatively, if the characters recently found somewhere 
  safe, they could fall back there (“Quick! To the miser’s 
  cottage!”)
  • Iconic assistance! If anyone’s got an outstanding 6 on a 
  relationship roll, now’s the time for some iconic intervention. 
  Maybe a sudden wind blows up from the south, driving away 
  
  Book of Demons
  60
  Thousand-Eyed Azoole
  Double-strength 6th level leader [demon]
  Initiative: +12
  Cruel Claw +12 vs. AC (two attacks)—16 damage
  R: Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Yard Stare (one nearby or far 
  away enemy)—20 fire damage
  Natural even miss: Thousand-Eyed Azoole may make another 
  thousand-eyed thousand-yard stare at a different target
  Lachrymose: Thousand-Eyed Azoole starts with a Lachrymose 
  score of 0. Increase his Lachrymose score by +1 whenever any 
  of the following occur:
  • Thousand-Eyed Azoole scores a crit
  • Thousand-Eyed Azoole is staggered
  • A player hurts Thousand-Eyed Azoole’s feeling with 
  harsh words or insults
  At the start of his turn, if his lachrymose score exceeds the 
  escalation die, Thousand-Eyed Azoole bursts into tears and 
  makes a rain of tears attack as a quick action. If his lachrymose 
  score reaches 6, he enters a despairing frenzy instead.
  [special trigger] C: Rain of Tears +10 vs. PD (all nearby 
  enemies)—15 acid damage, and 5 ongoing acid damage. 
  Thousand-Eyed Azoole is weakened until the start of his next 
  turn. 
  Despairing Frenzy: Thousand-Eyed Azoole may add the value of 
  the escalation die to his attacks, and gains a third cruel claw 
  attack. He becomes vulnerable to all attacks.
  AC 23
  PD 20 
   
  HP 200
  MD 15
  16: Center of the 
  Hellhole
  The space-warping of Unending Woe creates a strange effect 
  close to the center.
  At the precise center of the hellhole is the gate to the Abyss. 
  It manifests as a fiery crack in the ground, spewing forth hot gases 
  and the occasional gout of flames. Every few minutes, there’s 
  a flash of light and a weird scream as one of the many spirits 
  and lesser elementals that move invisibly through the mortal 
  world accidentally falls into the hellhole and is incinerated. 
  Occasionally, a demon crawls out of the hellhole, or a flock of 
  flying teeth spontaneously form there as demonic spirits break 
  out of the Abyss and go looking for physical form. All of that is 
  normal, as hellholes go. 
  The strangeness are the six other portals that orbit around 
  the infernal one. They’re clearly connected—they have the same 
  shape and they all wax and wane at the same time—but instead 
  of going to the Abyss, they go to other locations in the Dragon 
  Empire. A disciple of the Archmage or Elf Queen might guess that 
  Have Fun Storming the 
  Castle
  No. Really. Don’t. 
  The demon fort should be presented as a threat that’s clearly 
  beyond the capabilities of a second- or third-level party to defeat 
  in a straight-up fight. Pragmatic adventurers can just head for 
  the portals orbiting the center of the hellhole and escape (see 
  Encounter 16, which is no longer necessary to roll for from 
  here in Encounter 15; you can run there from here!). Sneaky 
  adventurers might try turning the demons against one another 
  with trickery, or sabotaging the infernal gate and collapsing the 
  entire hellhole. Honorable characters may prefer engaging the 
  demons in diplomacy, or calling out the current demon captain 
  in single combat. 
  If the players do poke the hornet’s nest, remind them they 
  can flee through the portals, but they’ll end up in a random 
  location and may be pursued by demons.
  Persuading Azoole
  Azoole’s melancholy moods make him vulnerable to music. A 
  sorrowful dirge can send him into a fit of despair, or a merry 
  tune could make him forget his woes and make him temporarily 
  disposed to diplomacy (or mercy). He’s still a demon—if the 
  players play on his heart-strings too much, he might cut his 
  heart out and use it as a bludgeon, or be overthrown by a less 
  emotionally labile monster. 
  
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  61
  Six Contradictory 
  Truths of Claw Peak
  Normally, we’d say that only one of these can be true in any 
  different campaign, but, well, demons.
  1: Claw Peak gets its name because it’s actually a giant mountain-
  sized claw. In Ages past, there was a predator that preyed on 
  Koru Behemoths. Some hero or apocalypse (if you want to make 
  a distinction at that level of firepower) slew the super-gargantuan 
  monster. All that remains above ground level is this one lonely 
  claw. 
  2: There’s an old dwarven mine deep beneath Claw Peak that was 
  sealed when the hellhole opened. The family who owned the 
  mine are long since gone, so the first dwarf to claim the mine in 
  the name of the Dwarf King gets the prize. There’s going to be a 
  land rush once the hellhole finally closes—but if the dwarves start 
  fighting amongst themselves, that bloodshed might reopen the 
  hellhole right on top of them.
  3: Those weird landslides and invisible birds are connected. There’s 
  an invisible giant roaming the slopes of Claw Peak, looking for 
  something buried beneath the scree. 
  4: The Crusader’s planning on conquering Claw Peak and adding it 
  to his domain, but can’t spare troops from more important fronts. 
  The first adventuring party to slay the Lord Claw and deliver the 
  mountain into the hands of the Crusader’s dark gods will be 
  rewarded handsomely.
  5: The Black Dragon spent an age breeding and mutating a clan of 
  lizardfolk to gift them the power of foresight, and the last survivor 
  of that inbred, despairing tribe warned the Black that he would 
  one day be impaled on the mountain’s peak. To avert this fate, the 
  Black intends to level the mountain.
  6: Lord Claw’s wasn’t a dretch—he was a baron of Hell, who got 
  caught up in some infernal intrigue and fled to the mortal world. 
  If he goes back, he’ll be assassinated by cambions before he can 
  even smell the sulfur. Perhaps he has unexpected resources or 
  allies that will complicate the tale. Alternatively, a GM who wants 
  to use a diabolus ex machina could have enemies of Lord Claw 
  arrive in time to destroy the demon when the PCs have been 
  defeated but not quite destroyed. Favors owed to demon lords? A 
  good thing for a campaign. 
  these portals are the result of Unending Woe—all that squeezed 
  space has to go somewhere, after all.
  Getting to the Portals: There’s a large stony plan 
  surrounding both hellhole and demon fort. The adventurers can 
  get to the nearest portal safely by running like crazy. However, if 
  they want to get to the central (infernal) portal, or if they want 
  to pick their exit, then they must either sneak or sprint to their 
  chosen destination to avoid attack from the fortress. Call for 
  three DC25 skill checks, one each from three randomly chosen 
  player characters. If one check fails, then the adventurers have to 
  contend with a half-strength battle with flying teeth and random 
  demons of your choice; two failures, make it a full-strength battle 
  including a demonic hunter; all three failures, and the adventurers 
  have to fight Azoole and whoever he feels like bringing along. 
  Leaving Through The Portals: Roll a d6 to determine the 
  destination of a given portal. Each portal goes to a different 
  destination, so reroll matches. Demons can pursue through these 
  portals, but only briefly—they can only exist outside the hellhole 
  for a short time.
  1: The edge of the hellhole. Probably out of reach of being 
  drawn back in. Probably.
  2: The heart of one of the nearby settlements.
  3: Somewhere in the Wild Wood.
  4: That looks like the Red Wastes. 
  5: Hell Marsh.
  6: Maybe another hellhole? Or… some other plane of existence?
  CLAW PEAK
  Location: Anywhere in the Empire
  Level Range: 3-4 (Adventurer-tier)
  Calling a hellhole “typical” is absurd—“Hey, this pit of chaotic 
  evil monsters who consider the laws of reality a personal affront 
  is, y’know, just like the rest”—but for what it’s worth, Claw Peak 
  is as close to typical as hellholes get. 
  It’s a barren mountain, covered in jagged loose scree. 
  Landslides run uphill and sideways here as well as down, so 
  the surface of the mountain is in constant bloody flux. Demon-
  tainted eagles, given the power of invisibility by the chaotic 
  magic, soar unseen overhead looking for prey with actual meat. 
  When it rains on Claw Peak, the raindrops become as sharp and 
  forceful as spears, reducing anyone caught out in a storm to a 
  hole-riddled mess. 
  The demon ruler of Claw Peak calls himself Lord Claw. Back 
  in the hells below, he was secretly the lowliest of dretches, but 
  gained stature when he crawled into the mortal world and took 
  on his new form. However, the hellhole here is slowly closing, and 
  Lord Claw stands to lose everything he’s gained when he returns 
  to the fires. As the hellhole shrank, Claw’s rivals retreated back 
  to hell, leaving him in control of the mountain. Desperate and 
  stranded, he’s taken to bullying the few remaining demons to 
  force them to stay in his ragged, withering kingdom. 
  Bar-en-Huil is long buried, so no-one knows if it’s a city 
  or a town or some other structure. It’s a ruin, many Ages 
  old, that covers the lower western slopes of Claw Peak. 
  The bizarre landslides caused by the hellhole sometimes 
  lift away the rubble that entombs the ruined city, making 
  it possible to explore the ruins of Bar-en-Huil for brief 
  periods until the rocks fall on it again. Undead—perhaps 
  awoken by the proximity of the hellhole—drift through 
  the streets, mourning their lost city. If you decide to run 
  a lost city adventure, you might even portray undead 
  who want vengeance on the demons more than on 
  citizens of the Empire. Just don’t forget to hit everyone 
  with upslides if things are looking too rosy. 
  Ruins of Bar-en-Huil
  
  Book of Demons
  62
  dead demon makes a stunning wall ornament pour encourager 
  les autres. Those lost in the worm-tunnels running off from the 
  main cave can hear the bones creak and whisper to one another.
  To maintain his control over the other demons, Lord Claw 
  forbids them from gathering. He’s divided his followers into 
  several packs, and one pack may not speak, fight or consort with 
  another pack without his express permission. This may be a 
  boon for adventurers delving the dungeon, as they can fight one 
  pack of demons without worrying about reinforcements showing 
  up—indeed, one pack of demons may cheer from the sidelines 
  and give supportive advice while the adventures fight their way 
  through another rival pack.
  The definite traitor: One imp, named Barygos, may attempt 
  to take advantage of such distractions to propose an alliance 
  aimed at taking out the chief. See Barygos’ stats below. 
  The strongpoint: Claw’s own lair is the deepest part of the 
  cave. Here, on the edge of the gate, he tries increasingly desperate 
  and messy rituals to hold the gate open and preserve his domain, 
  hoping to dominate reality the same way he dominates his other 
  demons.
  Denizens
  The demons encountered as Lord Claw’s followers are mostly 
  low level demons. The new demon types appearing on pages 
  43-45 work perfectly if you’d like to add something the PCs 
  may have not fought before. We’re not going to duplicate those 
  stats here, in Claw’s Peak you can build your own battles. 
  When Claw Peak demons have random demon abilities, 
  use the new table on page 43 or the following table that’s 
  customized to Claw Peak. 
  Random Claw Peak Demon Powers (d4 
  for lesser demons, d6 for nastier ones)
  1: Rockslider—whenever the demon moves to engage a new foe, 
  the demon deals an extra 2d4 damage if it hits with its first 
  attack 
  2: Giant claws—increase the demon’s basic melee damage by +3
  3: Teleport 1d3 times each battle
  4: Angry—while the demon is staggered, it may add the 
  escalation die’s value to its attack rolls
  5: Demonic speed—the demon can take an extra action while 
  the escalation die is 4+
  6: Eagle summoner—once per battle, every creature engaged 
  with the demon takes 2d4 ongoing damage (normal save 
  ends) from invisible demon eagle allies. Then demon the 
  pops free and gains flight for the rest of its turn. 
  Perils
  Upslides: Landslides are dangerous enough, but upslides have 
  another downside—on a 16+, the victim is flung high into the 
  air. With luck, that’s only another 2d6 damage. Otherwise, you 
  land somewhere more unpleasant like an invisible eagle nest or a 
  demon midden, or get hurled off the mountain entirely.
  Belligerent Words: Terribly angry, belligerent or rude 
  phrases stomp through the mental landscape of the mountain, 
  looking for mouths to give voice to them. A character hit by this 
  “peril” has an outburst once per encounter where they are unable 
  to contain their frustration with some aspect of their situation. In 
  a combat, you can usually get away with complaining about one 
  of your enemies. In a non-combat encounter, though, it’s more 
  likely to be the habits or behaviours of your fellow adventurers 
  that get your goat. Occasionally, you’ll shout in the forgotten 
  tongue once spoken in Bar-en-Huil. After such an outburst, make 
  a save (11+, or 16+ if the GM is having fun tormenting you) to 
  escape the curse. 
  Locations
  Claw’s Cave
  Lord Claw rules his shrunken domain from a cave network lined 
  with the bones of lesser demons who rebelled against his reign. 
  They’re not quite dead—a slain demon is usually banished and 
  returned to the Abyss, but a horribly mangled, crippled, mostly-
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  63
  Barygos the Worm
  “Hi, I’m Barygos. I’m a nimp. Sorry, AN imp. Anyway, want to team 
  up, overthrow Claw and rule this hellhole as dashing adventurer 
  and freakish scalded-baby-with-wings-and-fangs sidekick?”
  4th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +9
  Festering Claws +9 vs. AC—8 damage, and 5 ongoing damage
  R: Blight Jet +8 vs. PD—10 damage and the target is dazed (save 
  ends)
  Natural 16+: If the target is nearby, Barygos takes cover behind 
  the target; attacks on Barygos by the target’s allies suffer a –4 
  attack penalty as long as the target remains dazed.
  Curse Aura: Whenever a creature attacks Barygos and rolls a 
  natural 1-5, that creature takes 1d10 psychic damage. 
  Curse Mastery: As a quick action, Barygos can redirect any nearby 
  curse to any nearby target. This includes psychic damage from 
  his curse aura, free-floating curses like the belligerent words 
  (p. 62), the effects of a tiefling’s curse of chaos, a hag’s death 
  curse, a demonologist’s curse spells, and anything else that the 
  GM thinks sounds like a curse. Adventurer-tier only, or maybe 
  a champion-tier effect if Barygos tries really hard and succeeds 
  with a hard save. 
  Clumsy Flight: One of Barygos’ wings was cut off by Lord Claw. 
  He can still fly, but only for short distances and it’s very tiring. 
  He’ll whine about this at length if you let him. 
  AC 21
  PD 14 
   
  HP 55
  MD 19
  Treasures of Claw 
  Peak
  Death-Staff of Bar-en-Huil: Once per day, when casting a ritual, 
  gain a +5 bonus to your skill check. Your description of the 
  ritual must explain how calling on the ghosts of the former 
  inhabitants of Bar-en-Huil helps you accomplish the task. 
  Unless you’re someone very unique, the ghosts are never 
  happy to serve you. Quirk: Find it hard to breathe when scared 
  or stressed.
  Lord Claw
  Better to rule in a hole than serve in Hell. 
  Large 4th level leader [demon]
  Initiative: +9
  Giant Claw +9 vs. AC—25 damage
  Natural even hit: Lord Claw can grab the target as long as he 
  isn’t already grabbing a creature. The grabbed foe cannot 
  move except to teleport, pop free, or attempt to disengage, 
  and disengage attempts take a –5 penalty unless the creature 
  hit Lord Claw with an attack this turn. 
  Natural odd hit: Lord Claw flings the target away, popping the 
  target free and dealing another 2d6 damage. 
  [special trigger] Squeeze +13 vs. PD—30 damage. Lord Claw can 
  only make a squeeze attack against a grabbed foe.
  C: Hellspit +8 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies)—15 fire damage
  Natural 16+: Have 5 ongoing fire damage, too (save ends)
  Shout at Underlings: At the start of each of Lord Claw’s turns, roll 
  a d6 and consult the table below.
  1: Incoherent rage-filled ramblings: No effect
  2: Stop dying, idiot!: One nearby demon ally may immediately 
  save against an ongoing effect
  3: Get them!: One nearby demon ally may immediately take 
  a free move action.
  4: Hit them!: One nearby demon ally may immediately make 
  a free basic attack.
  5: Reinforcements: Add 1d4 dretch mooks (13th Age, p. 210) 
  to the battle. They have the same initiative score as Lord 
  Claw, acting immediately after him. 
  6: Listen, all of you!: Roll again on the table using a d4, but 
  the effect extends to all nearby demons. 
  Nastier Specials
  Not Going Back: Lord Claw continue to fight when reduced to 0 
  or fewer hit points. He must make a save at the start of every 
  turn to keep fighting. If he fails, he dies. If he succeeds, he may 
  act normally, and may add the value of the escalation die to his 
  attacks. 
  AC 20
  PD 18 
   
  HP 108
  MD 14
  Since part of the fun you’ve had as GM reading this 
  section is the knowledge that Lord Claw is ‘actually’ a 
  dretch, how can you make that part of the fun for the 
  PCs? For a change we’re not providing any answers. 
  Maybe you’ll come up with something and tell us what 
  you did!
  Bringing Out the Dretch
  
  Book of Demons
  64
  Unusual Businesses of 
  the Floating Market
  1: Flesh-Flensing Chirugeons, for demons that dislike their 
  form, and want to reincarnate as something more fetching)
  2: Sacred Crocodile Scrimshaw Artists, for blasphemies you 
  can hang on your wall.
  3: Whimsicologists, who—for a hefty fee—predict the 
  Diabolist’s moods and suggest the best time to approach her
  4: Swamp Guides Who Won’t Murder You And Leave You To 
  Die. Seriously, that’s what it says on their sign. 
  5: Enemy-on-a-Stick Snack Stand—because who doesn’t want 
  to eat a small squirming meat homunculus that looks just like 
  your worst enemy? Chicken or beef flavour.
  6: Casino of Black and White. The black tokens let you call on 
  the Diabolist to enforce ‘justice’. No-one’s quite sure what the 
  white ones do, so what’s the harm in gambling them?
  7: Tyrant in a Well. Converse with the shades of some of the 
  most infamous, monstrous and rightfully damned tyrants in 
  history by shouting down a well that extends all the way to 
  Hell. Patrons are warned not to stick their heads down too 
  far, as possession by a legendary tyrant often offends.
  8: Demon Post. Demons cannot leave their hellholes, so the 
  only reliable way to ship goods between one hellhole and 
  another is to go through the post. It’s just like guarding 
  a caravan, if the caravan was full of screaming souls and 
  unwholesome things.
  9: Dragonpie Shop. Does not contain actual dragon—it’s 
  mostly eel. Mostly. Each dragonpie is baked with a small 
  effigy of the Great Gold Wyrm hidden somewhere inside it. 
  It’s considered unlucky to be served the slice containing the 
  worm, and a statistically significant number of demon lords 
  have choked to death on golden effigies. Everyone else thinks 
  this is hilarious.
  10: Soul Value Assayers, who’ll work out the market price of 
  your soul and suggest the best time to sell it.
  11: House of Unwelcome Truths: The demons here can answer 
  almost any question by consulting their endless piles of 
  scrolls and notes. The catch is that to enter, you must entrust 
  to them your most cherished or shameful secret. 
  12: No-Questions-Asked Leatherworking & Tannery
  13: Eyeball Emporium. Services include demon grafts, visions 
  of what an eyeball observed in the last few minutes of life, 
  magic talismans, and these delicious sugar-frosted snacks 
  made from used eyeballs.
  DISTRICTS 
  The districts of the Floating Market are called wards, which is 
  either a bad pun or a covert reference to the magical protections 
  set in place to keep the demons from killing each other. The 
  layout of the town changes regularly, so it’s pointless saying that, 
  say, the Fisher’s Ward is next to the Bazaar Infernal, except as a 
  momentary likelihood.
  When the hellhole first formed, an especially powerful 
  demon, a crocodile-headed vrock of prodigious appetites, 
  FLOATING 
  MARKET
  Location: Eastern Hellmarsh
  Level Range: Any
  The Floating Market is sometimes the largest town in the Hell 
  Marsh. It’s a huge raft of weed-bound mud, woven reeds, small 
  boats, salvaged junk and demonic flowstone, breaking apart and 
  reforming in a constant chaos. 
  Although it’s a hellhole—there’s a gate to hell somewhere 
  in the town’s marshy underbelly—most of the population are 
  humanoids. The Floating Market is a trade town, like Nomad 
  (13th Age, p. 274). The Diabolist keeps the peace here by means 
  of a system of special favors. When you enter the Floating 
  Market, you get to draw a knucklebone token from a basket. 
  Most of the knucklebones are bone-white, but a small number 
  are painted black. If you’ve got a black token, then if someone 
  cheat or threatens you, you can bring a case before the Diabolist 
  and her magistrates. Guilt is certain; punishments are harsh and 
  imaginative.
  As no-one knows who’s currently got a black token and who 
  doesn’t, committing any crime in the town is risky. There’s a 
  fierce trade in tokens—a demon might take the law into its own 
  claws and intercede in a street mugging in the hopes that the 
  victim of the mugging is carrying a token, and could be induced 
  to trade that token in exchange for the demon’s rough justice. 
  Over time, unused black tokens find their way to the demon 
  lords, merchant princes and demonologists who rule the Floating 
  Market; eventually, one of them will cash in a mountain of black 
  tokens to bring down some rival. 
  As the geography of the market keeps changing, the locals 
  have adopted the directions ‘uphell’ and ‘downhell’, meaning 
  away from or towards the town’s hellhole. As only demons and 
  long-term residents can instinctively sense the proximity of the 
  portal, the main use of this convention is to bewilder and test 
  visitors to the Market.
  The Floating Market works best in campaigns where 
  you’ve got a player-character demonologist or two, or 
  at least want to emphasize demons. It’s the equivalent 
  of Horizon for infernal magic, although it also treads 
  on the toes of Shadowport (as a den of scum and 
  villainy) and Drakkenhall (as a city of monsters). Use 
  it if you want to keep the Citadel of the Diabolist (p. 
  100) in reserve for later tiers.
  In a campaign where demons aren’t the focus, 
  or where hellhole encounters are all about demon-
  slaying, you may not need the Floating Market. If 
  so, feel free to sink it and send its denizens into the 
  territories you are concerned with.
  GAMEMASTER
  
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  Book of Demons
  66
  a golden face-mask depicting a shining sun. Generosity moves 
  through the crowds like a smiling giant, handing out black and 
  white tokens to passersby. Sometimes, he gives out little scraps of 
  paper with advice or instructions on them. It is unwise to ignore 
  a note from Generosity.
  More than the rest of the town, the market is ever-changing. 
  There are far more temporary traders and pop-up booths than 
  there are permanent establishments. Of the latter, the two that 
  have endured the longest are the Café Diabolique, operated by 
  the Bugwort clan of halflings, famed for their discretion, and 
  Arcanum of Unknown Delights, run as it has been for centuries 
  by a hag who calls herself Yiska of the Tooth. 
  Ward of Thrashing 
  Limbs
  Only demons and the deaf live in this ward. Here, uncounted 
  thousands of limbs sprout from the muddy ground of the floating 
  island. The limbs are of all shapes and sizes, from all sorts of 
  donors. Human arms, demon claws, dragon’s tails, giant- and 
  dwarf-sized legs, salvage from golems and tentacles from weird 
  monsters, all flailing wildly. The ones on the underside of the raft 
  move in unison enough to swim, pushing the raft—and hence, all 
  of the Floating Market—through the swamp. 
  In the middle of the island is the Drummer’s Tower, where 
  bands of drummers beat on drums of human skin to keep the 
  limbs moving in time. The town’s master of drums is an orc called 
  Magger. He fled the Orc Lord’s armies, and bears the brand of a 
  coward upon his back.
  Few people dwell in this part of the town, but overcrowding 
  has forced some to try living here. The usual solution is either to 
  hack away limbs to clear space (they regrow like weeds, so you 
  need to keep chopping or you’ll have hands coming up through 
  your floorboards) or just tie a platform between four tall limbs 
  and get used to your house waving this way and that. Parts of 
  the ward are used for storage and warehousing. In fact, an 
  enterprising sorceress called Fireeyes has established herself as 
  the ruler of the town docks—through strategic shocking grasps, 
  she can cause some of the larger topside limbs to bend at her 
  whim, allowing her to use them as cranes for unloading cargo. 
  Old Ganet
  Back before there was a hellhole here, this was a marsh village. 
  Now, it’s the oldest district in the impossible town that’s grown 
  up around it. Ganet’s inhabited by demons and tieflings; the 
  district’s on the cusp of slipping into hell, and reality is noticeably 
  mushy in this part of town. If you can cope with screaming faces 
  materializing on the walls, or gravity being optional, or sudden 
  bursts of colorless fire like rainstorms, then you can try living in 
  Old Ganet. 
  The skyline of the district is dominated by the Keep of 
  Chains, a fortress of black stone. It could only stand in this 
  ward—if the building were anywhere else in town, it would sink 
  instantly. From his perch, Lord Bonecracker commands the 
  town’s defenses; he’s a vrock demon, possibly a reincarnation of 
  the former demon queen. Old Ganet also contains the Diabolist’s 
  declared herself the Demon Queen of the Floating Market. She 
  was promptly ritually dismembered and dissected by emissaries 
  of the Diabolist. She’s still alive, but her various organs are stored 
  in life-support jars. These jars are symbols of authority in the 
  Floating Market—if you’ve got one, it’s a sign that the Diabolist 
  (and therefore, everyone else) considers you the boss of that 
  particular ward. 
  Fisher’s Ward
  Run by humans and other non-demons, Fisher’s Ward resembles 
  any of the other marsh villages in the region. Small wooden 
  houses with jetties or verandas hang over the water, connected to 
  one another by rope-bridge walkways. Hundreds of fishing lines 
  and nets drag in the water, and little canoes dart in and out of the 
  waterways like flies around a corpse. Oppression and exploitation 
  are rife in the Fisher’s Yard—naïve young people drawn to the 
  Market in the hopes of making their fortune or selling their souls 
  for some extravagant dream get caught in the nets here and end 
  up as indentured servants or worse. 
  Down the alleys of the Fisher’s Ward are the demon-blood 
  dens, where addicts smoke herbs that grow only in hellholes 
  and experience vivid visions of the hells below. No thrill is as 
  desirable as the moment when you wake up from a demons-
  blood bender and realize that you’re not in hell. Conversely, no 
  vice is as likely to land you in hell as smoking demons-blood. All 
  the demons-blood dens are ultimately under the control of Pyar 
  the Ferryman, a fat tiefling who travels through Fisher’s Ward on 
  a palanquin borne by enchanted orangutans. 
  The cheapest inns in the city are in the Fisher’s Ward, like The 
  Red Flower or the Crusader’s Rest. The biggest inn, The Market 
  Tavern, mysteriously fell into the swamp a few weeks ago and 
  was left behind as the Floating Market continued on its course. 
  Eyewitnesses insist there were still a few survivors, clinging to 
  the wreckage, but no doubt the crocodiles got ‘em by now. 
  The boss of the ward is Old Nann, who runs a soup kitchen 
  in the lower ward. Whether she’s got an arrangement with Pyar, 
  or if Nann’s powerful enough in her own right to run the ward is a 
  secret known only to her. Once a year, on a certain feast-day, Old 
  Nann pops the canopic jar open and adds a few scraps of vrock 
  liver to the fish stew, giving those who eat at her table the power 
  to fly for a few hours. 
  The Bazaar Infernal
  The Bazaar is why most people come to the Floating Market. It’s 
  a warren of narrow alleyways, tents, booths and peddlers selling 
  their goods on the walkways or from little boats that punt from 
  canal to canal. Most of the goods for sale here came up from 
  hell, so it’s the place to buy demon-forged armor, weird arcane 
  supplies, bottled demons and other weird curios, as well as traffic 
  with demons and make unholy deals. More souls are sold and 
  more dark bargains struck in the coffeeshops of the bazaar than 
  anywhere else in the Empire. 
  The bazaar is under the special protection of the Diabolist. 
  Her agent here, and master of the ward, is Generosity. He—it?—
  wears a flowing purple robe that hides his body completely, and 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
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  There’s a temple to one of the Gods of Light in the Moonpool, 
  and the high priestess of that temple is Hayla Silvershon. It’s one 
  of the Diabolist’s little jokes to let a temple dedicated to healing 
  and tranquility survive in a city of corruption and vice. The ward 
  boss, a silent marilith called the Eightfold Glaive, is under strict 
  orders not to interfere with the operations of the temple, making 
  it a sanctuary for outsiders in the Floating Market. When the 
  moon is full, the moonpool’s waters turn silver with holy power, 
  and no demon can abide their touch. 
  THE FLOATING 
  MARKET & THE 
  ICONS
  We’re leaving a couple of the icons out of this list. The Lich King 
  and the High Druid don’t seem to have strong interests near the 
  Floating Market. Your PCs might change that. But many of the 
  other icons already care, or could be made to care. 
  The Diabolist first—She probably uses the 
  Floating Market for many of her dealings 
  with the outside world. Or if she doesn’t, she 
  pretends to, in order to get her real business 
  done elsewhere. 
  Maybe the Archmage turns a blind eye to 
  the Floating Market—it’s outside his wards 
  and outside his purview. Or perhaps there 
  are arcane materials his agents can obtain 
  in the Floating Market that can’t be found 
  anywhere else. Maybe agents of the Archmage 
  occasionally remind the Diabolist that she 
  needs to keep the Floating Market under control, or else. Maybe 
  the Crusader would love to discover proof of this collaboration. 
  The Crusader, unsurprisingly, wants to destroy 
  the Floating Market. But it’s too deep inside 
  the Diabolist’s domain and too, well, floaty 
  for his standard methods. If the Crusader has 
  sent an army towards the Floating Market at 
  some point in the past, that army probably 
  got so mired and misled that no one wants to 
  acknowledge its existence. Maybe there’s plunder to be found 
  where the army fell apart? 
  The Floating Market is a den of thieves right 
  on the Dwarf King’s south-western border, and 
  he hates thieves. If the Market ever leaves the 
  swamp and floats down Torin’s Glory, the forts 
  along the northern shore have standing orders 
  to bombard it with catapults. 
  The Elf Queen has many spies in the Market. 
  The same could be said of the Floating Market’s 
  spies in the Court of Stars . . . .
  court, where she or her emissaries pass sentence on those brought 
  before her by means of the black tokens. 
  Boats full of would-be apprentices and cultists depart 
  from Old Ganet once a month, heading deeper into the swamp. 
  Allegedly, these boats are bound for the Diabolist’s secret citadel. 
  Thousand-Towers Isle
  The thousand towers are tottering and fragile, and sway alarmingly 
  when the wind blows through the swamps. Of course there aren’t 
  really a thousand towers, but it’s hard to get an accurate count as 
  new towers spring up to replace those that fall over. The towers 
  are inhabited by spellcasters—demonologists, infernal sorcerers, 
  renegade clerics, heretic wizards, burning necromancers, even 
  hellish druids—who are drawn to the Floating Market in search 
  of secrets and arcane power. Familiars and imps flit around 
  the tower-tops. The lower parts of the ward are a cesspool of 
  alchemical run-off and botched summoning attempts. Every so 
  often, flocks of vrocks descend and carry off great wedges lopped 
  out of the upper towers; no-one’s sure if the inhabitants of those 
  towers are being taken to the Diabolist for further education, or if 
  they’ve transgressed some secret law and so doomed themselves. 
  The master of this ward is determined by an annual arcane 
  contest! Last year’s winner turned up dead in an alleyway, stabbed 
  by an anti-magic dagger, so her place was taken by the runner-up, 
  the tiefling demonologist Nine Moons Falling. She’s convinced 
  that someone’s after the vrock brain-in-a-jar she holds, and is 
  looking for some patsy to take the relic and the ward off her 
  hands so she can get back to her studies in ending the world. 
  The Redway
  The Redway is the demon district. No rustic marsh architecture of 
  mud-and-reed houses here—Redway’s style can be summarized 
  as ‘butchery and blood’, with buildings carved out of demon flesh 
  or just straight-up piles of skulls. Visitors aren’t welcome—if you 
  want to deal with demons, go to the bazaar and don’t trouble 
  them at home. Violence in the Redway rarely spills out into the 
  rest of town, but all the black tokens in the world won’t protect 
  you if you wander far into this ward—which you’ll probably 
  have to do if you’re looking for a specific demon, especially a 
  craftsman or mercenary warlord.
  The toughest demon in the Redway is Ahr’gh’hul, who broke 
  free of the Crusader’s chains and now plots ways to sabotage 
  and defeat the Crusader. Yeah, that’s a One Unique Thing for a 
  monster boss! Anyone who feeds his dreams of vengeance can 
  gain an audience with the brutal boss. Stats not included, so if the 
  PCs decide to make a fight of it, take this demon all the way up 
  and reintroduce the “PCs can always flee” rules. 
  Moonpool
  The moonpool is the town’s pleasure district, a narrow ring of 
  low buildings around a pool of unnaturally clear water. Sacred 
  crocodiles—it’s seriously bad luck to kill them—swim majestically 
  between the little boats and under the late-night bars around the 
  Moonpool. 
  
  Book of Demons
  68
  Random Floating 
  Market Demon Powers 
  (d4 for lesser demons, 
  d6 for bigger ones)
  1: Water Walking—the demon can walk on water as though it 
  was solid ground
  2: Resist Fire 18+
  3: Thief—the demon becomes invisible whenever the escalation 
  die is even. 
  4: Resist energy 12+
  5: Black Token—this demon has a black token which it threatens 
  to use when it first becomes staggered. Continue to attack 
  this demon, and you’ll incur the wrath of the Diabolist.
  6: Call allies—once per battle as a standard action, the demon 
  can call for aid. Another demon joins the fight (usually two 
  levels lower than the one who summoned it)
  Flesh-Carver
  Demonic butchers and surgeons. Six arms, so they can cut you 
  open, remove a few unnecessary organs, and sew you back up 
  again all at the same time. Big, toothy mouths with long tongues 
  behind their veils, to make sure no flesh or spilled blood goes to 
  waste…
  5th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +9
  Unnecessary scalpel +10 vs. AC—10 damage
  Natural even hit: The demon may immediately make a free 
  unnecessary surgery attack.
  Natural odd hit: 5 ongoing damage (save ends)
  [special trigger] Unnecessary surgery +10 vs. PD—6 damage
  Natural even hit: Roll on the hideous grafts table, and the demon 
  may immediately make a free unnecessary sutures attack.
  Natural odd hit: 5 ongoing damage (save ends)
  [special trigger] Unnecessary sutures +10 vs. MD—6 damage
  Natural even hit: The target is vulnerable until the end of its 
  next turn.
  Natural odd hit: 5 ongoing damage (save ends)
  Hideous grafts: The demon’s impromptu surgery has an odd 
  effect…
  1: The patient may immediately heal using a free recovery, 
  but demonic flesh grows to cover any healed wounds.
  2: The patient’s evil hand makes an immediate basic attack 
  on a nearby ally.
  3: The patient suffers terrible stomach cramps, and is 
  weakened until the end of its next turn.
  4: The flesh-eating worm eggs hatch prematurely. 5 ongoing 
  damage (save ends).
  5: The patient takes another 2d6 damage. If still alive, roll 
  on the Random Demon Abilities table of the GM’s choice.
  The Emperor dislikes the Floating Market, 
  and has in the past made attempts to 
  destroy it. Now, he has more pressing 
  issues, with the Orc Lord advancing from 
  the north. Some of the Emperor’s advisers 
  suggest allying with the folk of Hell Marsh 
  and the barbarian tribes and sorcerers of 
  Moonwreck. Both regions were once part of the Empire; what 
  if the people living in those lands were made Imperial citizens 
  in exchange for their support in battling the Orc Lord? In such 
  a scenario, could the Floating Market be raised to the status of 
  an imperial city? Would that be final proof of the Emperor’s 
  depravity? Or a sign that he’s willing to risk everything to save 
  the Empire?
  The Great Gold Wyrm threw himself into 
  hell to stop demons from destroying the 
  world. If he ever saw the Floating Market, 
  he might question if his sacrifice was worth 
  it. There’s a saying in the north: “like a 
  paladin at the Floating Market,” and it refers 
  to the rarest of problems. 
  The Priestess dreams of the Moon 
  Temple; specifically, she has prophetic 
  dreams of it burning, and intends to 
  avert this fate.
  The Prince of Shadows actually runs this 
  town. Smugglers bring hellish goods and 
  other treasures down Torin’s Glory and 
  Calamity, then across the Bitterwood to 
  Shadow Port. Or that’s what the smugglers 
  who want your help are sure of. 
  The Three see Drakkenhall mirrored in 
  the Floating Market, and have considered 
  stealing it. The hellhole travels with the 
  Market, after all, and so there’s no reason 
  why the Market couldn’t be anchored off 
  Drakkenhall while retaining profitable commercial ties with Hell. 
  DENIZENS
  The Floating Market is a stable and safe hellhole. Yes, there are 
  sacred crocodiles blessed by dead gods cruising through the 
  marsh, there’s the occasional belch of sulfurous gas, and there’s 
  every chance you’ll be eaten in your sleep by demon bedbugs if 
  nothing else, but this town won’t kill you by accident. 
  On the other hand, the monsters appearing below would be 
  willing to kill you on purpose if you go looking for a fight. 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
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  Demon of the Dice
  Care to try your luck? These demonic gamblers lurk in the casinos 
  and backstreets of the Floating Market. Invariably, they’re 
  followed by a swarm of dicethralls, desperate shades hoping for 
  one last chance to win back their stake.
  6th level caster [demon]
  Initiative: +12
  Green claw +11 vs. AC—20 damage
  Natural miss: Double or nothing? The demon’s target may 
  choose to let the demon make an immediate free green claw 
  attack. If the target agrees, and the demon misses again, the 
  demon may not attack that target again for the rest of the 
  battle unless all targets have won the double or nothing bet 
  with the demon, in which case the wager resets and everyone 
  is a legal target until they once again win the bet. 
  [special trigger] Painbolt +11 vs MD—15 psychic damage
  Miss: 5 ongoing psychic damage.
  Wager: At the start of a combat, the demon of the dice may wager 
  on any one enemy. When that enemy scores a crit or reduces 
  a foe to 0 hit points, the demon of the dice may immediately 
  make a free painbolt attack on any target other than the subject 
  of the wager. 
  Nastier Specials
  Unlucky number: At the start of each round, the Gamemaster 
  rolls a d20 and notes the result. Whenever a creature (ally or 
  enemy) rolls that number, the demon of the dice must make a 
  free painbolt attack on that target.
  AC 22
  PD 16 
   
  HP 100
  MD 20
  Dicethrall
  It’s hard to tell if these grey shades are ghosts, or demons, or living 
  wretches. Maybe all three are present, their distinctions lost in the 
  common madness of their addiction. The dice don’t play favorites.
  6th level mook [demon]
  Initiative: +10
  Desperate slap +11 vs. AC—12 damage
  Luckthieves: If an enemy that the dicethrall is engaged with rolls a 
  natural 20, that creature becomes vulnerable to the dicethralls 
  for the rest of the combat. 
  AC 21
  PD 21 
   
  HP 23
  MD 16
  Mook: Kill one dicethrall mook for every 23 damage you deal to 
  the mob.
  6: The patient takes another 3d6 damage. If still alive, 
  permanently gain a magic item in the form of a demonic 
  claw, eye or other body part surgically transplanted to the 
  victim.
  R: Evaluate the patient +10 vs MD (one nearby or far away 
  enemy)—10 damage, and for the rest of the encounter, the 
  demon may choose to subtract one from its natural attack rolls 
  when attacking the target.
  Nastier Specials
  C: Hurl noxious flasks +9 vs PD (1d4 nearby enemies in a 
  group)—14 acid damage, and 5 ongoing acid damage
  Limited use: 1/battle
  AC 22
  PD 15 
   
  HP 80
  MD 19
  Flesh-carver demons hang around with a variety of 
  low-lives, including greater claw demons (page 45), 
  despoiler mages who help trick creatures into signing 
  consent forms, and undead like zombies that didn’t 
  quite survive the surgical process.
  Demon of the dice could hang out with most any 
  demons, but our best money is on cambion assassins 
  (13th Age Bestiary, page 30). That could be the PCs’ 
  second or third sign that someone wants them dead, 
  and is setting odds.
  Demons’ Allies
  
  Book of Demons
  70
  BARON STEEL’S 
  BRIGADE
  Baron Steel considers himself to be the ruler of the hellhole. He 
  has crowned himself with a steel circlet adorned with the eyes of 
  every Vocnort he could catch as a token of his authority. He’s a 
  disciplined, militaristic demon of the balor line. He’s not a full-
  strength balor, but give him another few decades and he’ll shuck 
  his heavy armor and flame on. Baron Steel commands a cadre of 
  like-minded demonic shock troops. His forces control the Great 
  Keep and Library Tower of Red Crag.
  The Brigade has an uneasy alliance with the Chiding Ladies, 
  predicated on safe passage to the Library Tower. Steel hates the 
  Rockgrubs and has embarked on a long campaign to wipe them 
  out. If he could, he would ally with or wipe out the Revelers, too, 
  but they are a less pressing threat than the Grubs and frustratingly 
  chaotic to deal with. 
  Demonologists beware: Of all the factions, Baron Steel’s 
  Brigade will be the worst disposed towards a player character 
  who turns out to be a demonologist, or for that matter, any 
  demon summoner. Steel feels that the balance of power is tilting 
  in his favor and assumes newly summoned demons might slant 
  things the wrong way. Ironically, given that Steel is potentially a 
  balor, he’d be more likely to accept a slaughter path devotee as an 
  RED CRAG 
  CASTLE
  Location: Anywhere in or near the Empire
  Level Range: Champion tier (5-6)
  You can see Red Crag Castle for miles around. The crag rises 
  like a scar from the flat lands around, commanding a view over 
  all the approaches. The castle itself is a greyish growth running 
  the length of the crag’s spine. From a distance, it appears to 
  have been built without any coherent plan, an unlikely mess of 
  walls, towers, keeps and buttresses. 
  The castle had an evil reputation even before it became 
  a hellhole. The Vocnort family ruled here, and they were 
  possessed of unusual tastes and questionable loyalties. They 
  were allies, the stories say, of the Diabolist, suggesting that this 
  hellhole is the result of some arcane accident or divine justice. 
  However it happened, the castle was overrun with demons 
  when the hellhole opened, and virtually all the Vocnorts were 
  slain. 
  Red Crag Castle is now a nightmarish dungeon infested 
  with hundreds of demons. The corridors are killing grounds 
  now; the towers are both tombs and slaughterhouses. Four 
  powerful demons war for control of the Crag, and it appears 
  to be a stalemate between their forces. The surviving Vocnorts 
  may be the deciding factor in the demons’ war, as only members 
  of that accursed family know all the secrets and blood-magic 
  wards of the castle . . . . 
  FACTIONS
  The heart of this hellhole is a split into four: four factions of 
  demons vie for control and two groups of mostly-humans seek 
  vengeance or compensation. 
  For the demons of Red Crag, use the following random demon 
  powers. The two results that refer to faction powers are explained 
  in each of the faction write-ups below. If you’ve introduced a 
  demon that has no faction, use the table on page 43 instead.
  Random Red Crag Demon Abilities (d4 
  for lesser demons, d6 for greater demons)
  1: Deathwish—The demon takes a –2 penalty to all defenses and 
  gains a +3 attack bonus.
  2: Entropic warp—When an enemy deals miss damage to the 
  demon, that enemy also takes half that amount of damage. 
  3: Faction ability 1—Determined by the demon’s faction in Red 
  Crag Castle.
  4: Big hate—Each battle, the demon gains a +4 attack bonus until 
  the end of the battle against the first enemy that hits it with an 
  attack. 
  5: Faction ability 2—Determined by the demon’s faction in Red 
  Crag Castle.
  6: Demonic speed—The demon can take an extra action each turn 
  while the escalation die is 4+.
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  71
  Lesser Hooked Demon
  Alive and screaming.
  6th level mook [demon]
  Initiative: +9
  Hooks and barbs +11 vs. AC—14 damage
  Natural 16+: The lesser hooked demon can make another 
  hooks and barbs attack as a free action (and yes, this can 
  keep going up to a maximum number of attacks equal to the 
  escalation die +1).
  AC 20
  PD 18 
   
  HP 22 (mook)
  MD 24
  Mook: Kill one lesser hooked demon for every 22 damage you 
  deal to the mob.
  Steel Brigade Chopper
  Fires burn bright in confined spaces: this demon still thinks it’s 
  going to command its own demonic brigade some day and carve 
  out new hellholes.
  7th level mook [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Big chopper +13 vs. AC—13 damage
  Natural even hit: 5 ongoing fire damage.
  Natural odd hit or miss: A nearby non-mook Steel Brigade 
  demon heals 5 hit points.
  AC 23
  PD 20 
   
  HP 24 (mook)
  MD 18
  Mook: Kill one Steel Brigade chopper for every 24 damage you 
  deal to the mob.
  ally, since they seem likely to share the same aesthetic. 
  Most likely to melee: If you’re invading Red Crag Castle 
  and you don’t end up fighting Baron Steel’s Brigade, you’re either 
  very lucky, very stealthy, or a good friend of militant demons. To 
  that end, we’re providing more monster stats for members of the 
  Brigade than the other factions in the hellhole, including a couple 
  lower level versions of higher-powered demons. To supplement 
  the members of the Brigade statted up below, consider using 
  cambion katars (13th Age Bestiary, page 31).
  Baron Steel’s Brigade 
  Faction Abilities
  Use these when the Red Crag Castle Random Demon Abilities 
  table yields a faction ability.
  Faction Ability 1—Militant: Gain a +2AC bonus when fighting 
  next to at least two other demons of this faction.
  Faction Ability 2—Squad Leader: When this demon rolls a 
  natural even miss, one nearby allied mook may immediately 
  make a free basic attack.
  Skianzou (Knife 
  Demon)
  The followers of Baron Steel jangle as they swagger. Every one of 
  them has at least half-a-dozen blades rammed through its body 
  like some ghastly pincushion of doom.
  6nd level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Sword +13 vs. AC—14 damage
  Natural even hit: The skianzou may immediately make a body 
  of knives attack as a free action.
  Natural odd hit: The target is vulnerable to the attacks of 
  demons until the end of its next turn.
  [[special trigger only]] Body of knives +13 vs. AC—10 ongoing 
  damage. 
  R: Hurled blade +13 vs. AC—25 damage
  Natural odd: The skianzou takes 5 damage.
  Nastier Specials
  Swordcatcher: If an attacker using a melee weapon rolls a natural 
  1-5 when attacking a skianzou, the skianzou may choose 
  to allow that attack to count as a hit instead. The skianzou 
  takes half damage from this attack, and absorbs the attacker’s 
  weapon into its body. The weapon can only be retrieved when 
  the skianzou is destroyed.
  AC 22
  PD 20 
   
  HP 90
  MD 16
  
  Book of Demons
  72
  die from increasing this round. 
  Nastier Specials
  Roar of triumph: Whenever Baron Steel scores a critical hit, he 
  gains another use of his Roar attack.
  Crack’d armor: When Baron Steel first becomes staggered, 
  reduce his AC by 2 and give him the fiery aura ability.
  Fiery aura: Any foes engaged with Baron Steel take 15 fire 
  damage at the start of his turn. 
  AC 25
  PD 23 
   
  HP 280
  MD 16
  THE ROCKGRUBS
  The Rockgrub Clan dwell under the castle, in the tunnel-riddled 
  crag itself. They are all born from the stone, carved into existence 
  by a hideous demon they call Grandmother. The Rockgrubs loathe 
  all the other demons equally, although they’ve supplied both the 
  Chiding Ladies and the Revelers with treasures salvaged from 
  the lower parts of the castle in exchange for temporary alliances 
  against Steel’s Brigade. Grandmother’s long-term plan is to gnaw 
  away at the castle’s foundations one Rockgrub at a time until the 
  whole place collapses, leaving her queen of the rubble. Currently, 
  the Rockgrubs control the Dungeons and the Crackways.
  Strength in numbers: Most of the Rockgrubs you’ll fight are 
  mooks. If you’d like to introduce some more dangerous demons 
  from the faction, try a frenzy demon that burrows (13th Age core 
  rulebook, page 211), or take the xorn that appear on page 290 of 
  13th Age Bestiary 2 and reskin them as demons.
  The Rockgrub Faction 
  Abilities
  Use these when the Red Crag Castle Random Demon Abilities 
  table yields a faction ability.
  Faction Ability 1—Underminer: When this demon is first 
  staggered, part of the floor collapses beneath it. Any creatures 
  engaged with the demon become stuck (save ends.
  Faction Ability 2—Escalating rage: When staggered, this demon 
  adds the escalation die to its attacks.
  Minor Serpent Demon
  Progressing sword by sword and death by death towards a full 
  marilith.
  7th level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +13
  Four whirling swords +12 vs. AC (4 attacks)—7 damage
  Miss: 2 damage
  C: Beguiling gaze +12 vs. MD (one nearby or far away 
  unengaged enemy)—As a free action, the target immediately 
  moves toward the minor serpent demon, attempting to engage 
  it or get as close as possible to it
  Limited use: 1/round, as a quick action.
  Terrible swords: When the escalation die is even, the minor 
  serpent demon’s crit range with melee attacks expands by a 
  number equal to the escalation die.
  AC 23
  PD 16 
   
  HP 98
  MD 20
  Baron Steel
  It is prophesied that one day Baron Steel will fall to the Crusader, 
  and be enslaved by him. In chains of steel, he will become the 
  Crusader’s greatest captain, until he betrays his master in the 
  final battle of the Age—but who listens to prophecy?
  Large 8th level leader [demon]
  Initiative: +16
  Massive two-handed sword +13 vs. AC (two attacks)—30 
  damage
  Twist the Blade: If both attacks target the same enemy, and 
  both attacks hit, the second hit is automatically a crit.
  C: Roar +12 vs. MD (1d4+1 enemies)—50 psychic damage.
  Natural 14+: Baron Steel gains a fear aura against that target 
  (hard save ends, 16+). Foes with 48 or fewer hit points who 
  fear Baron Steel become dazed (–4 attack) and do not benefit 
  from the escalation die when engaged with the Baron.
  Limited Use: Once per battle
  R: Fiery whip +13 vs. PD (one nearby enemy, or one far away 
  enemy at –2 atk)—50 fire damage, and the target is dragged 
  over to become engaged with Baron Steel. 
  (Group ability) For every two demons in the battle allied with 
  Baron Steel (round up, ignore mooks), one of them can use 
  infernal discipline as a free action once during the battle.
  Infernal discipline (group): Choose a foe engaged with the 
  demon. That foe may immediately make a free basic attack on 
  the demon. If the demon is still alive, it blocks the escalation 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  73
  stronghold are swiftly thwarted by impromptu alliances.
  Other Chiders: If you’d like a few other versions of the 
  Chiding Ladies to keep yourself entertained, options include 
  a despoiler mage (13th Age core rulebook, page 213) and the 
  acolyte of Thanatar from the Chaos enemies section of 13th Age 
  Glorantha.
  The Chiding Ladies 
  Faction Abilities
  Use these when the Red Crag Castle Random Demon Abilities 
  table yields a faction ability.
  Faction ability 1—Consider Yourself Chided: Once per battle, 
  when a foe engaged with the Chiding Lady rolls a natural 1-5 
  on a d20, the roll becomes a natural 1 and results in a terrible 
  fumble of some sort.
  Faction ability 2—Favorite: Whoever slays the demon is struck by 
  a curse of vengeance, and gains a 1-point negative relationship 
  with the Diabolist. This relationship never provides benefits, 
  only story complications, and lasts until the adventurer levels 
  up twice or the demon has its revenge, whichever comes first.
  Rockgrub Demon
  Born of slime and sandstone, most Rockgrubs are blind and must 
  hunt by smell and fumbling touch.
  6th level mook [demon]
  Initiative: +8
  Blind fumble +11 vs. PD—5 damage, and the target is Found. 
  The target remains found as long as it remains engaged with 
  any Rockgrub demons. 
  Bash and smash +12 vs. AC (found enemies only)—20 damage
  Burrow: Rockgrubs can tunnel quickly through the ground. 
  Nastier Specials
  Marco Polo: Rockgrubs get a +4 attack bonus to blind fumble 
  attacks against any characters whose players spoke out loud 
  in this round. 
  AC 23
  PD 16 
   
  HP 23
  MD 20
  Mook: Kill one Rockgrub demon mook for every 23 damage you 
  deal to the mob.
  THE CHIDING 
  LADIES
  The Chiding Ladies are a band of scholarly demons who 
  wear masks of human flesh beneath their grey robes. 
  They control the castle’s chapel and—through a pact 
  with the Steel Brigade—the Library Tower. When the 
  Diabolist visits this hellhole, she resides with the Chiding 
  Ladies, and brings them pupils for their infernal school. 
  (Depending on your take on the Diabolist, these pupils 
  might be:
  • Spellcasters who willingly apprenticed themselves 
  to the Diabolist, sent to study grammar, infernal 
  theology, the heraldry and genealogy of the demon 
  lords and other worth subjects under the harsh 
  tutelage of the Chiding Ladies
  • Children—kidnapped or offered as tribute—being 
  raised as despoilers
  • Changeling demon shapeshifters, here to learn how 
  to disguise themselves as humans. In time, these 
  cuckoos will replace the sons and daughters of various 
  Imperial noble families, taking over the Empire from 
  within
  • Prisoners like captured adventurers, sent to be 
  brainwashed and converted into the service of the 
  Diabolist
  With the Diabolist’s effective backing, none of the 
  other factions dare to attack the Chiding Ladies directly, 
  but any attempts the Ladies make to move outside their 
  
  Book of Demons
  74
  THE REVELERS
  The most chaotic of the four factions are the Revelers, a band 
  of demons who control the feast-hall of the Lesser Keep. They 
  materialized in the middle of a Vocnort celebration, decided it 
  was rude to interrupt, and so are determined to keep the revels 
  going despite everything. The fact that a dozen years have passed 
  since the hellhole opened is of no concern. Dance, mortals! 
  Dance until your feet are worn away. Dance even if your heart 
  stops—death is no reason to take a break! Fun will continue until 
  the bitter end. The Revelers act without planning or direction, 
  but are still extremely dangerous, as they often capture demons 
  from other factions and compel them to join the celebrations. 
  The leader of the Revels is a flute-playing demon called the 
  Merrymangler. He’s not much tougher than the other Revelers, 
  but he always resurrects quickly and in control of his faculties, so 
  his endurance has put him on top. 
  The Revelers control the Lesser Keep near the entrance to 
  the castle.
  Join the party: To supplement the generic Reveler that 
  appears below, start with these potentially revel-friendly 
  creatures from other sources: 
  • Demon of the dice (page 69)
  • Jest bones (13th Age Bestiary, page 109)
  • Lunar assassin (13th Age Glorantha, Moon enemies section)
  The Revelers Faction 
  Abilities
  Use these when the Red Crag Castle Random Demon Powers 
  table yields a faction ability.
  Faction ability 1—Liquid strength: The demon carries a goblet 
  of infernal wine. Once per battle as a move action, it can quaff 
  it and gain 2d20 temporary hit points.
  Faction ability 2—Tricksy: Teleport 1d3 times each battle.
  Chiding Lady
  Not all torture involves whips or blades. The Chiding Ladies know 
  why you doubt yourself. Know why you are unworthy, or sinful, or 
  weak. They will take your self-hate and make of it a weapon. 
  7nd level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +13
  Wicked claw +12 vs. AC—25 damage
  C: Sense weakness +12 vs. MD (1d3 nearby targets)—16 
  psychic damage, and the target must confess one secret doubt 
  or fear that plagues them. That creature is then a valid target 
  for nightmarish whispers. 
  C: Nightmarish whispers +12 vs. MD (one nearby target)—35 
  damage, and the target is weakened (–4 to attacks and 
  defenses), hard save 16+ ends. 
  Limited Use: Only usable on targets previously hit by sense 
  weakness. If a creature saves against nightmarish whispers, 
  that creature can no longer be targeted by nightmarish 
  whispers again until it is stuck by another sense weakness 
  attack.
  Encouraging words: As a quick action, an ally of a creature 
  weakened by nightmarish whispers may attempt to rally 
  that creature with a DC30 Charisma check. If successful, 
  the creature automatically and immediately saves against 
  nightmarish whispers. If not successful, no further encouraging 
  words will help that PC. 
  Nastier Specials
  Your failures reflect your soul: If an attacker rolls a natural 
  1-5 when attacking a Chiding Lady, the Chiding Lady may 
  immediately make a nightmarish whispers attack on that 
  target, even if the target has not already been the target of a 
  sense weakness attack. 
  R: Web of nightmares +12 vs MD (one nearby or far away 
  target)—15 psychic damage, and 10 ongoing psychic damage 
  (hard save ends)
  Webbing: If a creature already suffering ongoing psychic 
  damage from web of nightmares is hit by a second web of 
  nightmares, do not increase the ongoing damage. Instead, 
  that creature becomes stuck (same save ends both).
  Thick webbing: If a creature already stuck in a web of nightmares 
  is hit by a third web of nightmares, that creature becomes 
  stunned as well as stuck (same save ends all three conditions).
  AC 22
  PD 17 
   
  HP 99
  MD 22
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  75
  The Golden Order encampment is in the ruins of the 
  old town that once existed around the base of the Crag. The 
  townsfolk fled when the hellhole opened, although most of the 
  town is now outside the boundaries of the hellhole and therefore 
  relatively safe. 
  THE VOCNORTS
  Three of the Vocnort family escaped the invasion of the castle, 
  and now fate has drawn all three back to Red Crag at the same 
  time as the adventurers.
  Vilya Vocnort is the eldest of the three. Her eyes were 
  gouged out by Baron Steel, and the torture drove her mad. She 
  wandered as a wild woman for years, until she was healed by 
  followers of the High Druid. She is still blind, so she travels with 
  an enchanted talking dog as her companion. She now lives as a 
  hermit in a cave near Red Crag, plotting her revenge. She knows 
  the castle better than either of the other survivors.
  Igun Vocnort is Vilya’s younger brother. He was away from 
  the castle when it was conquered, and so was able to claim the 
  title of Lord Vocnort when it was assumed that everyone with 
  a better claim had perished. Although the Vocnort estates are 
  in the hands of demons, Igun was able to make a new fortune 
  for himself by leveraging the future profits from the once-fertile 
  fields; he is now a rich man, but owes a staggering fortune to 
  merchants and guilds from Glitterhaegen, and those debts are 
  now due. In desperation, Igun has turned to the study of demon-
  summoning, and secretly hopes to make a deal with the Diabolist, 
  trading the security of the hellhole for the money he needs to 
  escape his merciless creditors. 
  The youngest surviving Vocnort is the niece of the other 
  two. Servants carried young Silana Vocnort out of the wreck of 
  the castle. Orphaned, she was given into the care of the Golden 
  Order, and now aspires to be a paladin. Her recollections of the 
  castle are hazy, but she remembers being shown secret passages 
  that wend up through the Crag to the dungeons of the keep. Sir 
  Andoni intends to use these passages in his second assault on the 
  demons’ lair. Her father was August Vocnort, the former head of 
  the family and Lord of Red Crag. 
  LOCATIONS IN 
  THE CASTLE
  This wonderful illustration of Red Crag Castle represents the 
  Golden Order’s fondest dream, in which powers of the overworld 
  join the Golden Order in an all-out assault on the hellhole! 
  Perhaps the art prophesies the next step if the PCs help the Host 
  of the Overworld overthrow the Hellgout (see page 83)! 
  In most campaigns, however, the demons who control Red 
  Crag Castle will only be under such duress if the PCs can put 
  them there!
  Reveler Demon
  Eat drink and be merry, for today, like yesterday and the day 
  before, you will die!
  7nd level wrecker [demon]
  Initiative: +14
  Drunken claw +10 vs. AC—4d12 damage
  (once per battle) Demon’s dance +12 vs. PD—10 damage, and 
  the drinking demon drags its victim on a madcap dance around 
  the battlefield. Both drinking demon and its target pop free 
  from any engagements other than each other. 1d3 other Reveler 
  demons get to make a free drunken claw opportunity attack on 
  the target of the demon’s dance. Afterwards, the demon leaves 
  its target anywhere on the battlefield and pops free.
  R: Vomit wine +12 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies in a group, or 
  one far-away enemy)—21 damage
  Natural 18+: Target is hampered (easy save ends).
  Drunken stagger: Once per battle, when an attack hits the Reveler 
  with a natural odd attack roll while the Reveler demon is 
  already staggered, halve the damage inflicted by the attack. 
  AC 22
  PD 21 
   
  HP 100
  MD 17
  THE GOLDEN 
  ORDER
  Paladins of the Golden Order, sworn to the service of the Great 
  Gold Wyrm, laid siege to Red Crag Castle five years ago. At first, 
  the attack went as planned, and they forced their way through 
  the main gate and nearly reached the Great Keep. They were 
  repulsed by a surprise counter-attack by the Chiding Ladies 
  and Revelers, and the paladins now suspect that the Diabolist 
  herself was present behind the scenes. Driven back, the paladins 
  retreated and the siege was lifted.
  Now, the commander of that ill-fated siege, Sir Andoni, 
  has returned to Red Crag Castle. He has learned that forces of 
  the Crusader are on the march, and that they intend to storm 
  the hellhole and add it to the Crusader’s list of conquests. 
  Andoni mistrusts the Crusader’s intentions, and fears that if the 
  Crusader succeeds where the Golden Order failed, the paladins 
  will lose more prestige and influence to the followers of the Dark 
  Gods. The Light demands that Red Crag Castle fall before the 
  Crusader’s armies arrive. 
  This time, Andoni has an advantage—he has recruited one 
  of the surviving Vocnorts as a squire. All he needs now are a few 
  brave adventurers to assist him in breaking the hellhole before 
  it’s too late.
  
  Book of Demons
  76
  Location 1: Great 
  Fanged Gate
  The obvious way into the castle is to climb the narrow zig-
  zagging path that runs up the Red Crag and then force open the 
  Great Fanged Gate. Before the hellhole struck, it was just the 
  Great Gate—the fangs, and the whole carnivorous aspect, are a 
  new addition. The Great Fanged Gate can be placated with a big 
  enough meal, but driving a herd of goats up the slope rather gives 
  away any chance of a surprise attack. 
  Trying to sneak or dodge past the Great Fanged Gate risks 
  attack (DC30 to sneak past; Gate attack +20 vs. AC, 3d20 damage 
  if you fail to sneak past; GM’s option whether one character 
  taking the hit can let the rest slip through!).
  Location 2: Outer 
  Courtyard
  Horns and flapping banners herald another battle on the red-
  sodden field of the Outer Courtyard. Here, minions from Baron 
  Steel’s Brigade fight against the Rockgrubs that crawl out of 
  the cracks in the ground. The Steel Brigade have discipline and 
  better weapons; the Rockgrubs have tenacity and the weight of 
  numbers. Always, the result is inconclusive, as the battles are 
  fought for the cruel amusement of their respective masters and 
  haven’t actually changed the balance of power in the castle for 
  Inside the walls: Dimensions are variable within the castle. 
  Sometimes, a corridor might be a narrow passageway only a 
  few feet wide. Next day, it looks just the same, but somehow it 
  takes an hour’s hard marching to cross it. The battlefields of the 
  Courtyards are equally variable, sometimes swelling up to stretch 
  for miles across the crag. 
  The various locations within the castle have a few features 
  in common: 
  • Grisly decorations made from the remains (not necessarily 
  dead remains) of those caught in the castle when the hellhole 
  opened. 
  • Tapestries of flayed skin, lamps made of hollowed-out heads, 
  merry bunting of greater intestines, and imaginative use of 
  dismembered limbs. 
  • Scabby stalactites hang from the ceilings, hinting at slaughter 
  on the levels above. 
  • Demonic magic so thick it hang in the air as clouds of glowing 
  red and green clouds of toxic smoke without a discernable 
  source, and as occult runes and glyphs floating through the 
  air, branding themselves onto whatever surface (or flesh) 
  they touch.
  Other features of the areas appear in the write-ups below. 
  Many areas have tables of random situations, roll as the PCs 
  enter the area.
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  77
  2: Shelf upon shelf of glass jars filled with a clear goop. Some of the 
  jars contain heads, organs, and other biological samples; others 
  contain tiny humanoids floating in the liquid. These homunculi 
  are unconscious, and bear a striking resemblance to members of 
  the Vocnort family.
  3: A junkroom, mostly empty. A large crack in the floor leads down 
  to the Crackways (p. 79).
  4: Formerly a stables. The horses were eaten by the demons long 
  ago. Instead, there are a few dretches (13th Age p. 210) stabled 
  here, wearing ill-fitting saddles and bridles. Dretches make 
  extremely poor mounts, but there’s nowhere to ride to in this 
  hellhole anyway, so they’re kept here purely for the amusement 
  of their betters. (Be sure to include a demon riding a dretch later 
  in the adventure.)
  5: An old forge. The demons of Rock Crag Castle import their 
  weapons from the Abyss, so the forge is no longer in use, 
  apart from its furnace—it’s enchanted to burst into full heat 
  on command. Demons who can resist fire enjoy bathing in the 
  flames and molten metal.
  6: Another storeroom, containing barrels of salted . . . pork. Yeah, 
  pork. Because pigs wear wedding rings.
  7: A weaver’s workshop. All empty and silent. A close examination 
  of the loom notes that the demons have added hundreds of 
  fishhooks to the shuttle—it’s a loom for weaving skin . . .
  8: Apparently empty, but when the adventurers cross the floor, it 
  collapses, dumping them into the Crackways (DC 25 to spot the 
  trap; DC 30 to escape it if already falling). 
  Location 5: Chapel of 
  Tumbling Wisdom 
  The screech of chalk on slate, the shuffling of papers and the 
  occasional stifled cough are the only sounds permitted here. The 
  Chiding Ladies never speak as they glide from pupil to pupil, and 
  never speak as they viciously correct any pupil who has failed 
  to correctly copy down the incomprehensible diagrams on the 
  chalkboard. 
  The education offered by the Chiding Ladies is subliminal 
  and esoteric. The mind is a frail, easily changeable thing, so their 
  methods focus on engraving knowledge into the very soul. 
  Tumbling Wisdom refers to the moment of revelation when 
  a pupil attains a new level of understanding. Suddenly, those alien 
  diagrams and scrawled notes make impossible sense, and wisdom 
  strikes like a thunderbolt. Until that moment of understanding, 
  though, the Ladies must chide and discipline their charges. Only 
  once you have suffered, only once your very sense of self has been 
  eroded and broken, can you open your soul to their teachings. 
  The Diabolist’s Chambers: When the Diabolist visits Red 
  Crag, she brings her apartments with her. There’s a door in the 
  Chapel that usually leads out to the courtyard, but sometimes 
  opens onto a room in the Citadel of the Diabolist (p. 100). 
  Maybe this is how she is able to travel from hellhole to hellhole, 
  or perhaps it’s a quirk unique to Red Crag. The door is unlocked, 
  unguarded, and un-covered-in-sigils-of-warding-that-would-
  turn-your-bones-to-molten-lead-and-set-your-soul-on-fire. The 
  Diabolist’s bodyguards are more subtle than that.
  quite some time. Weather and wine permitting, the Revelers 
  sometimes issue forth from the Lesser Keep to cheer or even join 
  in the fray. 
  In the Outer Courtyard . . . (roll 2d6)
  2–4: The aftermath of another inconclusive skirmish. Hacked-up 
  demon bits litter the ground. There’s an eerie silence over the 
  battlefield, broken only by faint discordant singing from the 
  Lesser Keep.
  5–7: The courtyard is empty at first, but as the player characters 
  cross it, the ground breaks open and a swarm of Rockgrubs boil 
  out of the earth to attack. When the escalation die reaches 3, 
  Baron Steel’s troops counterattack.
  8–9: Battle is in full swing when the player characters arrive.
  10–11: The Revelers have decided to attend this particular battle; 
  after taking strong drink, they join the fray, resulting in a three-
  way battle (or four-way, if the player characters get involved).
  12: Chiding Ladies glide over the empty battlefield, gathering 
  dismembered body parts for their experiments. 
  Location 3: Lesser Keep
  The feast is always in full swing in the Lesser Keep. Adventurers 
  may move freely through this part of the hellhole as long as 
  they have a cup of wine in hand and make sure to sample the 
  hors-d’oeuvres (it’s been a dozen years since Red Crag got any 
  deliveries—don’t ask any questions about what you’re eating)! 
  Beware, for the wine of demons is intoxicating. Adventurers who 
  partake must make a Constitution check (DC25); those who fail 
  should roll relationship dice for a clue about what unfortunate 
  performance they undertake while drunk (reveal plans/
  blaspheme against an icon/swear an ill-considered oath against 
  an enemy icon). 
  More ambitious adventurers can join the dancing demons, 
  who offer favors to particularly enthusiastic and resilient dancing 
  partners. Dancing with the demons successfully requires a 
  Dexterity check at DC35. Pass, and you may ask one favor from 
  the Revelers. Fail with a result of 25-34, and you merely lose 
  1d3 recoveries. Fail with a total of less than 24, and you’re stuck 
  dancing. You still lose 1d3 Recoveries, but must make another 
  check again next round. 
  Location 4: Warrens
  The demons refer to the maze of outbuildings and smaller 
  structures around the courtyard as the warrens. It’s neutral 
  territory, which means that any intruders here are fair game for 
  any demon faction who happens upon them. The warrens are 
  also home to a few independent demons who do not belong to 
  any faction, including the crazed and dangerous Splattersprite 
  (something like a teleporting hezrou, 13th Age core rulebook page 
  212) and the duplicitous despoiler Harigin the Rhymer. 
  Room Contents (roll 1d8 as you enter each room)
  1: Broken furniture in great profusion. It appears that some junior 
  demons were practicing their torture techniques on the wood, 
  judging from all the broken table legs, chairs with their arms 
  tied behind their backs, and books with broken spines. If you 
  listen very carefully, you can hear the wood screaming.
  
  Book of Demons
  78
  Location 8: Library 
  Tower
  The library tower was built by a long-dead scholar of the Vocnort 
  family, who nearly bankrupted the estate in gathering one of the 
  finest libraries outside of Horizon. There are three entrances to 
  the tower: one on ground level, one via a bridge from the Red 
  Keep, and a secret access tunnel leading to the dungeons. The 
  ground-level entrance has been claimed by a wild demon, an 
  insane thing called Eater of Eyes, so everyone avoids that route 
  (the Diabolist, for her own inscrutable reasons, blessed the 
  Eater of Eyes and gave it a rune of protection, making it an even 
  tougher foe). When the Chiding Ladies visit the library, they go 
  through the Red Keep.
  The tower covers one subject on each of its seven levels, 
  from natural history and practical crafts on the ground floor 
  to theology and philosophy at the top; the reader thus retraces 
  the path from basic mundane existence and necessities to the 
  liberation of the soul as he or she climbs through the endless 
  spiral of books and scrolls.
  Magic is on the sixth level. The Chiding Ladies bring their 
  pupils from the Chapel here for instruction in the art of demon-
  summoning. 
  The Ladies have another reason for visiting the library. They 
  are rewriting the books, one at a time. Sometimes, they rewrite 
  the text so it reflects the truth of Hell. A book on gardening, for 
  example, once said “these trees grow best in damp soil”, but now 
  reads “the trees of woe grow best in the corpses of your foes”. 
  In other books, they only change a few key words, or leave the 
  whole book unchanged but somehow pervert the meaning of 
  the text. A biography of the previous Archmage, for instance, 
  has not had a single word changed, but those reading it come 
  away thinking she was an arrogant fool, where previously most 
  readers saw her as farsighted and courageous. The Ladies have 
  completely rewritten the lowest four levels, and are now working 
  on books from the fifth and sixth. Who knows what will come to 
  pass when they rewrite the topmost section of the tower?
  Location 9: Dungeons
  The dungeon beneath Red Crag offers some refreshingly demon-
  free ways for adventurers to perish. Of the demon factions, 
  only the Rockgrubs know about the small dungeon that extends 
  beneath the Library Tower, and then only because their gnawed 
  tunnels intersect with it in places. There are a few independent 
  demons lurking down here, but there are also the various 
  monsters collected by eccentric Vocnorts before the hellhole 
  erupted. (There’s also been some fraternization between the 
  denizens, leading to half-demon owlbears and flaming gelatinous 
  cubes). 
  Ostensibly, the Vocnorts stocked their dungeon to protect 
  the old family tomb, since many generations of Vocnorts are 
  entombed within the Crag. As is traditional in this part of the 
  world, they were buried with level-appropriate treasure piles 
  and easily lootable magic items. (Vengeful ghosts, roused by 
  the thought of their ancestral halls being taken over by demons? 
  Sinister specters, awoken by the Lich King? Shades of the 
  Location 6: Inner 
  Courtyard
  The inner courtyard is claimed by Baron Steel. To mark his 
  territory, he’s impaled a number of demonic intruders on iron 
  stakes. Most of the intruders are Rockgrubs, with a few hungover 
  and cranky Revelers in the mix. There’s also a line of ostentatiously 
  empty spikes along the path leading from the Chapel of Tumbling 
  Wisdom to the Library Tower, just to remind the Ladies of the 
  terms of their alliance with Steel.
  Iron stakes aren’t enough to kill a demon. All the miserable 
  prisoners here are still alive, although some are more loudly 
  vocal about the situation than others. Every one of them begs 
  to be rescued if the opportunity arises, and every one promises 
  more extravagant rewards in exchange for freedom. Pulling a 
  demon off a spike doesn’t require a check, but takes 1d4 minutes 
  (the spikes are barbed) and there’s a one-in-three chance every 
  minute that a patrol happens by. 
  Location 7: Great Red 
  Keep
  Baron Steel wants to runs his fortress with military discipline. 
  Demons are capable of working together when there’s the 
  prospect of carnage and destruction, but stalemates and garrison 
  duty don’t sit well with them. Steel’s attempts to enforce order 
  on creatures of chaos through increasingly baroque punishments 
  have met with little success. What he needs, he’s decided, is a 
  few mortal slaves as guards and sentries. Mortals are not innately 
  things of chaos. Mortals can feel true pain, true fear; they can 
  shaped and taught to serve. He’s captured a few slaves—ex-
  adventurers, unlucky treasure seekers, really unlucky shepherds, 
  Golden Order scouts—and intends to torture them until they 
  break, or else fuse them with demons in order to make the 
  disciplined fighting force he needs. Once his fortress is secure, 
  Steel can turn his full attention to destroying the Rockgrubs who 
  gnaw at it from beneath and keep breaking in through his cellars.
  All that is testament to Steel’s paranoia and delusions of 
  tactical genius. The Red Keep reflects the madness of its master—
  it’s full of traps and puzzles, of spiked pits and mirrored rooms. 
  He believes that everyone is plotting against him, and it’s only 
  through cunning stratagems and by thinking ten moves ahead 
  that he can survive. His mistrust extends to his own demons—
  their indolence and chaotic whims might mask a more sinister 
  purpose! The only way to be sure is to suspect everyone, all the 
  time, and bombard them with ever more intricate double-bluffs 
  and loyalty tests. 
  Steel’s own chambers—his real chambers, not the four 
  decoys he’s built on various levels of the keep—contain the stolen 
  treasure of the Vocnort family. The gold has soaked in the malice 
  of the hellhole, and is now cursed. Anything purchased with it will 
  come to ruin or bring disaster in some form. Closing the hellhole 
  might cleanse the gold, or it might require the intercession of the 
  Priestess.
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
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  HELLGOUT
  Location: Anywhere in the Empire
  Level Range: 8-10
  The Hellgout is more of an ongoing disaster than a place. It began 
  as an exceptionally large and violent hellhole. The ground quaked 
  and split, the fires of the Abyss exploded onto the surface, and 
  demons walked the land, torturing and killing everyone they 
  found. Then, in a second cataclysmic blast, the hellhole erupted 
  again, vomiting a pillar of hellfire into the overworld. This 
  spear of flame became entangled in the overworld, creating 
  a link between above and below. Celestial magic mingled with 
  the worst devilries of the Abyss. Chunks of the mortal world, 
  suddenly ruled by the natural laws of three very different realms 
  instead of one, ripped themselves from the ground and flew into 
  the air, catching hellfire as they flew. Burning spirits and angels 
  rain down like blazing comets. 
  The Hellgout is getting worse. The overworld and the Abyss 
  are tied together here, and those two realms are the antithesis of 
  one another. They’re pulling at each other, and ripping up more 
  and more of the Dragon Empire in the process.
  Seen from a distance—a very long distance, to be safe—the 
  Hellgout looks like a pillar of fire rising from a huge crater in 
  the round, stretching all the way into the overworld. Nine huge 
  floating islands orbit around the pillar; the sixth island is half-
  engulfed in the pillar of flame. At the top of the pillar is a ring 
  of smaller burning rocks that flare with bursts of pure light, 
  crackling lightning, and blasts of hellfire as the forces of the 
  overworld and Underworld clash at the gates of the heavens. 
  The Crusader suspects the gate to the Abyss that fuels the 
  hellhole is actually on that sixth island. 
  PERILS
  So many perils, so few PCs. More for everyone! 
  Falling Realms
  You know those flying realms that flit like fast-moving stars 
  across the night sky. You like those? Come to the hellgout. We’ve 
  got lots of them! Nine semi-stable ones, orbiting like jagged steps 
  around the pillar of fire, and lots more unstable ones. The magic 
  of the overworld makes them fly, and the magic of the Abyss 
  makes them catch fire, crash and explode. Or explode, crash, 
  and catch fire. Or explode, fly, and then catch fire. Or catch fire, 
  explode, and then fly. Or shoot off like a rocket across the sky, 
  and then explode and crash. You never know!
  In game terms, getting close to the hellgout means dodging 
  a lot of flying rocks while praying that the ground you’re standing 
  on doesn’t spontaneously take flight, or explode. The flying 
  stones seem to have murderous intent behind them—they’re not 
  entirely random projectiles. (See also Skyquakes, p. 81.)
  Roll a d6 when the adventurers get near the Hellgout. Roll 
  again when you feel like it.
  damned who crawled out of Hell to reclaim their dusty bones? 
  Try opening a coffin and find out!)
  The dungeons also connect to a secret passage that exits at 
  the base of the Crag, and the even more secret Secret Laboratory. 
  Location 10: 
  Crackways
  The Crackways are the network of narrow, lightless borings that 
  riddle the upper Crag. The Rockgrub demons gnaw these paths 
  through the stone, undermining the buildings above. Most of the 
  Crackways are exceedingly narrow (Small adventurers may fight 
  normally, but larger folk must make a normal save at the start of 
  each turn or be hampered by the cramped conditions), except 
  where they open up into larger caverns—and when they open 
  up into larger caverns, that’s because there’s a much much larger 
  Rockgrub lurking there.
  The Rockgrubs eat rock. Their Grandmother, though, 
  has a taste for fresh liver. Their standing tactic, therefore, is to 
  grab intruders, pulverize them a bit, then drag them down to 
  Grandmother’s larder so she can snack on them later. 
  The Pit Prepared: The Rockgrubs have gnawed away almost 
  all the foundations of one of the surface locations, and are nearly 
  ready to collapse it from below. An unexpected force salvo or 
  other act of player character may collapse it prematurely. Roll a 
  d8 to see which of the surface structures is doomed. 
  Location 11: Secret 
  Laboratory
  This chamber, hidden deep within the earth, is where August 
  Vocnort accidentally opened the hellhole that consumed Red 
  Crag. He’s still caught in the mouth of the portal. Just as the 
  Great Gold Wyrm blocks the Abyss, so does August hold the gate 
  open with his own flesh. Killing him might seal the hellhole, and 
  rescuing him might tear it open much, much wider.
  The sight of an eternally screaming wizard transfixed in the 
  air hovering over a glowing portal straight into hell may draw the 
  initial attention of visitors to this concealed room, but it’s not the 
  only feature of interest. This is an excellent magical laboratory, 
  with any number of useful items or treasures, but the real prize 
  is Vocnort’s diary. He was on the verge of discovering how the 
  Crusader is able to conquer hellholes, and his diary contains 
  clues on how to accomplish such a feat (as well as how to undo 
  it). The Crusader would kill to secure that diary—but what would 
  the Diabolist pay for it? Is a sense that the diary exists why she 
  visits Red Crag Castle so often? If so, why has she dilly-dallied 
  while the laboratory has remained a secret? Is the diary actually 
  a fake, one of her tricks, destined to lead to fates like Vocnort’s?
  
  80
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  81
  weird denizens of the overworld also suffer when the Hellgout 
  catches them, and get thrown down to earth in horribly burnt or 
  truncated forms. This mass slaughter of spirits causes all sorts 
  of weirdness in the lands around the Hellgout (alien dreams, 
  spontaneous magical outbursts, possession by vengeful spirits, 
  icon dice getting swapped around, certain types of magic not 
  working, and so on).
  Earthquakes. . . 
  The ground around the Hellgout’s tormented and broken. 
  Massive earth tremors, castle-swallowing cracks, landslides, 
  quakes… all sorts of fun, but they’re the least of the dangers here. 
  . . . and Skyquakes
  Skyquakes are titanic semi-magical rips in the fabric of the air. 
  On a mundane level, they manifest as bursts of force in the sky 
  that deal 4d20 damage to any flying creatures or objects. On a 
  magical level, they also disrupt any fly spells or effects. When a 
  skyquake hits, nothing stays flying. 
  Skyquakes are most common around the edges of the 
  hellhole, preventing anyone from just flying into the middle of 
  the hellhole. The only way to reach the heart of the hellhole is 
  to approach from below (walk across the tormented ground, and 
  then start climbing) or above (enter via the overworld).
  . . . and Spellquakes
  Wizard magic in the hellhole is extremely unstable. The good 
  news is that the whole Hellgout region counts as the overworld 
  for the purposes of abilities like the wizard’s overworld Advantage 
  class feature. The downside is that if you roll a 1 when trying to 
  recharge a daily spell, that spell… breaks. If you’re lucky, that’s just 
  an explosion of magical energy (3d10 force damage to everyone 
  nearby). If you’re unlucky, then the spell might stop working for 
  everyone in the Empire, at least as long as the Hellgout exists, or 
  the spell might get burnt onto your consciousness so you can’t 
  get rid of it even if you want to prepare something else, or the 
  exploding spell breaks off a piece of your soul, and you’ve now 
  got a doppelganger running around imbued with a super-charged 
  version of the errant spell. 
  AGAINST THE 
  DEMONS
  As a known epic-tier threat , the Hellgout has attracted attention 
  from many of the icons and from other power groups who 
  oppose demons, or at least oppose demons destroying their 
  section of the world. Use the following groups as potential allies 
  and story-drivers as the PCs mount their own operations against 
  the hellhole. 
  1: Incoming! Pick a random adventurer to make a DC30 
  Dexterity check to dodge or take 2d20 regular damage and 
  1d20 fire damage.
  2: Rain of Fire! +20 vs. PD targeting all player characters; 4d10 
  fire damage on a hit
  3: Meteor Swarm! 1d4 incoming meteors, each one targeting a 
  different player character. +20 vs. PD; on a hit, 1d20 regular 
  damage and 1d20 fire damage
  4: I Can Fly! The rock beneath one of the PCs wrenches free 
  and rockets into the sky. Jump off before it launches with a 
  DC25 Dexterity check, or stay on it and surf through the sky 
  (counts as flying), but make a DC20 Dexterity check every 
  round to avoid falling. Fail, and you fall a very long way and 
  go splat (probably 4d10 damage unless you hit something 
  soft). Oh, and if you roll a 1 on your Dexterity check, the rock 
  explodes for 4d10 damage and then you fall. An especially 
  cruel Gamemaster might say that the threshold for rock-
  explosion rises by 1 for every check you make (so, roll a 1 or 2 
  on your second check, and boom; roll 3 or less on your third, 
  boom, and so on). And to be honest, if you’re in an epic-level 
  hellhole, you’re asking for cruelty with more cruelty on top. 
  Gamemasters, go get ‘em.
  5: We All Can Fly! As above, but it’s 1d4+1 members of the 
  party who end up on the same flying chunk of rock. It’s a 
  bigger, more stable surface, so the DC to stay on is a trivial 
  DC15 (unless you’re doing extravagant flying maneuvers, in 
  which case, see above re: cruelty). The downside is when this 
  island goes boom, it’s a bigger (6d10) boom. 
  6: (In Some Other Universe) This is How The Dinosaurs 
  Got TPKed: A gigantic chunk of burning rock falls out of 
  the heavens, aimed straight towards the player characters. 
  Rocks fall, everybody dies unless they come up with a semi-
  plausible way of escaping the impact zone in the next 1d4+1 
  rounds. (Teleport, flying steeds, swashbuckling, really great 
  skill checks).
  Burning Cloud Castles
  The Hellgout acts like a vortex of fire, drawing in the lighter 
  elements of the overworld and dragging them down to earth 
  while lighting them on fire. The most common (visible) casualties 
  of this cataclysm are the cloud castles of the giants. While these 
  castles can tack with the wind like immense sailing ships, the 
  drag from the hellgout is too strong for many of them to resist. 
  Worse, when the cloud castle leaves the overworld and enters 
  the mortal realm, it loses its magical solidity and becomes an 
  ordinary cloud (so add “falling, burning, angry giants” to the list 
  of hazards)—well, ordinary except for the bit where it burns like 
  aerial pitch. Burning cloud castles are sticky and incredibly hot, 
  and coat huge areas when they splatter on impact. (+20 vs. PD, 
  3d10 fire damage plus 15 ongoing fire damage). 
  Crazed Celestials
  The cloud castles are the most visible casualties from the 
  overworld, but they’re not the only things caught and burnt 
  up in the Hellgout. Spirits, couatls, living spells and other 
  
  Book of Demons
  82
  The Golden Order
  The Crusader has thousands of soldiers and hundreds of 
  siege engines, war golems, bound demons and other monsters 
  besieging the Hellgout. The Great Gold Wyrm’s forces here are 
  more modest. Three of his servants watch over this hellhole. 
  Chief of them is Emeste the Scholar, an archaeologist and 
  historian. She was blinded by agents of the Three, so now she’s 
  guided and aided by two halflings, Merk and Mirk (multi-classed 
  monk/paladin and monk/demonologist respectively). 
  Emeste’s area of expertise is the Abyss and the history of 
  the Great Gold Wyrm. The Hellgout terrifies her beyond all 
  else, because of the alarming resemblance it bears to certain 
  fragmentary descriptions of the events that led to the opening 
  of the great rift of the Abyss, the demonic invasion of the surface 
  world, and the ensuing sacrifice of the Wyrm. Few records of that 
  time survive—the Red Dragon’s incineration of the demon army 
  in what later became the Red Wastes ensured that. Emeste isn’t 
  certain that the Hellgout is a precursor to a much, much, much 
  bigger hellhole or world-ending cataclysm, but she worries that 
  the Crusader’s plans to crash a flying realm into the hellhole will 
  make things much worse.
  The Crusader’s Army
  The Hellgout is larger and more dangerous than any of the 
  other hellholes yet conquered by the Crusader’s forces—but the 
  Crusader has never lacked in ambition or audacity. A garrison 
  of the Crusader’s troops watches over the edges of the hellhole, 
  under the command of Cremain Moor, a veteran of the war 
  against the demons. Cremain’s served the Crusader for many 
  years; he’s old and so very tired, but the infernal hordes won’t 
  relent and so he cannot yet rest. Secretly, he still worships the 
  gods of light as well as dark, but if his old friend and master 
  knows of Cremain’s secret faith, the Crusader has yet to act on 
  this knowledge. Cremain’s main army maintains a siege on the 
  hellhole; a smaller force has captured a ruined town referred to as 
  ‘First Step’ (see page 89) within the hellhole itself.
  The Hellgout is so dangerous that few mortal troops can 
  survive in there for long, even with protective magic. Cremain 
  has therefore brought up reinforcements from First Triumph—
  bound demons, enslaved by the Crusader’s magic. Pitting demon 
  against demon is the only way to keep control of First Step, 
  but the local forces (see below) now mistrust Cremain and the 
  Crusader.
  Even with demonic allies, the Crusader’s army has no 
  chance of capturing the hellhole through conventional assault. 
  Cremain’s orders are to contain the enemy while the Crusader or 
  his followers capture another flying realm (possibly Battle Barge, 
  see 13th Age p. 267) to use as an assault platform. 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  83
  THE DEMONIC 
  FACTIONS
  On the other side, you’ve got three factions of demons, each 
  defined by its mighty leader. They’ve each had visits from the 
  Diabolist as well. 
  Agzarrak, Breaker of Worlds is a destiny-master, a balor 
  general who knows no peer. That’s him on the cover of this Book 
  of Demons, wielding his star sword. He leads the World Breakers.
  The Queen of Smoke is a shadowy monarch as subtle as 
  Agazarrak is strong. She leads the Smoke.
  Gulmagul All-Eat-All will devour the cosmos, if the 
  Hellgout gives him the chance. No one bothers with a name for 
  his faction. It’s all about his bloatiness. 
  The groups led by these fiends would usually fight amongst 
  themselves, but with so many juicy external foes to fight, and 
  even the PCs, they don’t need to kill each other for sport.
  Faction mechanics: As we did with the demonic factions 
  in Red Crag Castle, we’re presenting a general random demon 
  powers table for the Hellgout with several entries that correspond 
  to faction abilities explained in the full write-ups below. 
  Random Hellgout Demon Abilities (d6 
  for lesser demons, d8 for bigger ones)
  1: Resist fire 18+ 
  2: Entropic warp—When an enemy deals miss damage to the 
  demon, that enemy also takes half that amount of damage.
  3: Faction ability 1 
  4: Fear aura
  5: Faction ability 2
  6: Teleport 1d3 times per battle
  7: Demonic speed
  8: Faction ability 3
  WORLD BREAKERS
  Azgarrak is the biggest and nastiest demon in the hellhole. He’s a 
  balor of prodigious size and strength, made even more powerful 
  by a sword he forged from a star (not a fallen star, mind you—he 
  tore that one out of the sky as a prize when the Hellgout first 
  broke through into the overworld). His old title was Azgarrak, 
  Despoiler of Cities, and his new sobriquet reflects how ambitious 
  he’s become. His forces are mostly concentrated on the upper 
  levels of the hellhole. 
  The Host of the 
  Overworld
  The cryptic and aloof entities of the celestial realm rarely deign 
  to interact with those from below. Cloud giants don’t just look 
  down their nose at you, they look down their entire lanky bodies, 
  and every inch of them manages to sneer. Rainsong nagas only 
  talk to wizards. Sphinxes communicate only in riddles or through 
  oblique references to constellations. Silver dragons are bit more 
  approachable, but their constant well-meaning advice and holier-
  than-thou attitude is wearing. 
  It was unheard of in this Age (outside Santa Cora, of course, 
  where things are different) for the celestial denizens to gather 
  in an army and make war, but that is what the Hellgout has 
  achieved. Demons cannot easily leave a hellhole and march into 
  the Dragon Empire, but the overworld is a different matter—
  demons can thrive there. (Heaven’s just a Hell that’s not on fire 
  yet.) To prevent a full-scale invasion of the overworld, a loose 
  alliance of powerful celestial entities has been gathered by 
  General Hatshephut, a sphinx. 
  Hatshephut is a compromise candidate—the storm giants 
  are the most militant of the local forces in the overworld, but 
  everyone else considers the giants to be brash and dangerous 
  and would not follow a storm giant leader. Emissaries from 
  the Archmage advise Hatshephut—relations between the 
  Empire and the overworld are usually mediated through the Sky 
  Embassy in Horizon, under the Archmage’s aegis. 
  The Local Defenders
  Depending on where you’ve put Hellgout in your campaign, 
  there’s going to be another army nearby. Our default assumption 
  is that it’s an Imperial army, but it might be an unofficial militia, 
  elves from the Queen’s Wood, dwarves, or even orcs or animated 
  trees or something weirder. In any case, the local interest need 
  the Crusader’s forces to keep the demons in check, but aren’t 
  happy about the Crusader bringing yet more demons to these 
  lands.
  Wait: The Diabolist?
  Unless it’s entirely out of character for the Diabolist of your 
  campaign, we think that she has visited each of the factions that 
  are fighting against the Hellgout, covertly teaching methods 
  of warding off demonic possession, and surprisingly effective 
  rituals that help contain the hellhole. 
  She has walked in disguise in the Crusader’s camp. She 
  haunts the dreams of Cremain Moor. Her agents have been seen in 
  Horizon visiting the Sky Embassy. Just where did Mirk the 
  Halfling get those supposedly-lost texts about the opening of the 
  Abyss? How did these orcs and animated trees acquire the wards 
  to stand against hellfire? 
  She plays long games, and a hellhole that threatens the 
  overworld may not be in her plans. 
  Your campaign may or may not populate the 
  overworld with angels. Gareth’s campaign 
  clearly does, and we’ve left the references to a war 
  between angels and demons intact. If you are more in 
  tune with the Host of the Overworld, reinterpret some 
  of what follows as a war of storm giants & sphinxes & 
  couatl & overworld wizards vs. demons.
  Angels & Demons
  
  Book of Demons
  84
  Azgarrak Breaker of 
  Worlds
  This is how the world ends—the overworld, first, and then the 
  lands below, when Azgarrak crashes the sky down upon the earth. 
  Large 14th level wrecker [demon]
  Initiative: +21
  Starry blade +19 vs. AC—180 damage
  Natural even hit: Azgarrak deals +1d20 lightning damage 
  to the target and to one other nearby enemy of the balor’s 
  choice. For every point on the escalation die, Azgarrak may 
  then either strike another nearby enemy with 1d20 lightning 
  damage, or else send a creature struck by lightning flying. 
  Creatures sent flying pop free and are knocked back.
  Miss: 90 damage
  C: Destiny-cutting whirlwind +19 vs. PD (up to three nearby 
  enemies)—160 damage, and the target may no longer add 
  the escalation die to their attacks. Victims of this attack may 
  regain the use of the escalation die by doing something suitably 
  heroic and dramatic, or by spending a standard action to 
  recombobulate themselves. 
  R: Starry spear +19 vs. AC (one nearby or far away enemy)—150 
  damage, and the target is stuck (hard save ends). The target 
  may take another 75 damage to end the stuck effect. 
  Miss: 100 damage
  Fear aura: Foes with 192 hit points or fewer lose access to the 
  escalation die and are dazed (–4 to attacks) when engaged with 
  Azgarrak.
  Glorious escalator: If more than half the player characters lose the use 
  of the escalation die (because of fear or destiny-cutting whirlwind), 
  then Azgarrak adds the escalation die to his attack rolls.
  Fiery aura: At the start of Azgarrak’s turn, each enemy engaged 
  with it takes 4d12 fire damage; any die result of 10+ is kept and 
  the die rerolled.
  Flight: Azgarrak can fly.
  Shadow, flame, and destiny: Azgarrak gains a +5 bonus to all 
  defenses against attacks by far away enemies. He also gains a 
  +5 bonus to saves. 
  Nastier Specials
  Destiny-breaking blade: If Azgarrak scores a crit with his starry 
  blade or destiny-cutting whirlwind, then the target takes triple 
  damage. The target may drop this down to regular double damage 
  if the target gives up the uniqueness of their One Unique Thing. 
  AC 30
  PD 28 
   
  HP 1160
  MD 26
  Azgarrak’s sword lets him shape destiny when he strikes, 
  making him an impossibly successful general. Victory is inevitably 
  yours if you’ve literally cut defeat as an option.
  Death incarnate: Can your PCs stand up to Azgarrak? 
  Maybe the campaign is all about stacking up blessings and 
  advantages that allow a fight with Azgarrak to be something 
  other than a TPK. 
  The angel-eating demons in Azgarrak’s employ are nasty 
  10th level creatures. Other servants include mariliths, balors, and 
  most any epic tier demon that knows well enough to work for the 
  toughest leader. 
  World Breaker 
  Faction Abilities 
  These abilities are mainly for Azgarrak’s followers. But Azgarrak? 
  He probably has one or two of them. 
  Faction ability 1—Resist Force 14+
  Faction ability 2—Gate in 1d3 allied demons, 1 or 2 levels lower.
  Faction ability 3—Call in a firestrike: The demon may spend a 
  standard action praying for the gunners at the Fortress of the 
  Balor to retarget their massive gun. Roll a 20; on an 11+, the 
  request is granted. 1d3 rounds later, anyone near the demon 
  is hit for 300 fire damage. This power cannot be used in the 
  Fortress of the Balor. 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  85
  The Smoke Faction 
  Abilities
  These abilities are mainly for the demons who follow the Queen 
  of Smoke. 
  But free to give the Queen of Smoke any or all of these 
  abilities, as nasty specials, just because.
  Faction ability 1—Pain in flame: Any creature engaged with this 
  demon at the start of its turn takes 2d10 fire damage. Retain 
  and reroll 10s.
  Faction ability 2—Refuge in fire: Resist fire 18+, and the first 
  time the demon resists damage from a fire attack, it gains a +1 
  bonus to all its defenses until the end of the battle.
  Faction ability 3—Strength in smoke: Once per battle as a 
  standard action, gate in 1d3 strangler demons.
  Queen of Smoke
  There’s no smoke without ire. 
  Double-strength 12th level spoiler [demon]
  Initiative: +20
  Vulnerability: force
  Smoke claws +17 vs. PD (2 attacks)—75 damage
  Natural 18+: The target begins to melt into smoke. Start 
  making last gasp saves. If the target dies, it becomes a smoke 
  shade (see below).
  Miss: 30 damage
  C: Smoke bolts +17 vs. PD (1d4+1 nearby or far away 
  creatures)—50 fire damage
  Hit or miss: Summon/create a smoke shade engaged with the 
  target. It takes its turn immediately after the Queen.
  Natural 16+: Summon/create another smoke shade engaged 
  with the target.
  Limited use: Usable only when the escalation die is 0 or even.
  C: Choke +17 vs. PD (1 nearby creature)—20 damage, and the 
  target becomes hampered (save ends)
  Natural 16+: The save to end the hampered effect becomes 
  hard (16+).
  Special: The Queen of Smoke may use this attack as a quick 
  action
  Hard to hit: Any attack that hits the Queen of Smoke has a 50% 
  chance of striking a nearby smoke shade instead. 
  Lost in the smoke: As a move action, the Queen of Smoke may 
  teleport to swap places with any of her smoke shades.
  Flight: The Queen of Smoke flies with terrible speed and perfect 
  agility.
  Resist damage 16+: She has resist damage 16+ to all attacks 
  except force damage. 
  Angel-Eating Demon
  Azgarrak’s followers are fanatical, crazed by the taste of angel 
  meat and furiously eager to bring ruin to the overworld.
  10th level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +16
  Flesh-shredding claws +15 vs. AC (two attacks) —25 damage
  Special: If both flesh-shredding claws hit the same target, the 
  demon may also make a soul-devouring bite attack on that 
  target as a free action.
  Soul-devouring bite +15 vs. MD —30 psychic damage
  Natural 18+: The target is dazed (save ends). 
  R: Spit hellfire +15 vs MD (one nearby or far away enemy)—60 
  fire damage, and 15 ongoing fire damage
  Limited Use: 1/battle
  Frenzy: If an angel-eating demon’s natural attack roll is equal to 
  or less than the escalation, the demon enters a frenzy. When 
  frenzied, the demon gains an extra standard action each round, 
  but all its defenses drop by 2.
  Soul eater: Whenever the demon dazes a foe, it gains another use 
  of spit hellfire.
  AC 26
  PD 24 
   
  HP 216
  MD 20
  THE SMOKE
  Azgarrak’s great rival—and great ally—is the Queen of Smoke. 
  She might be a marilith, or an exceptionally talented despoiler, 
  or even the Diabolist herself. She wears masks and magical 
  disguises, and is everywhere and nowhere on the lower levels. 
  Her current objective is to drive the Crusader’s forces out of First 
  Step. After that, well, the Crusader’s spies have spotted smoke-
  shrouded demons performing arcane rituals around the base of 
  the pillar of fire. It’s clear that the Queen has some longer-term 
  plan, one that likely involves betraying Azgarrak once he has 
  broken open the overworld. 
  Strange allies: Given the Queen’s mysterious nature, why 
  not recruit devils as well as demons? See page 172 of 13 True 
  Ways for the original write-up of the smoke devil, especially 
  for its free-form cover ability—Insinuate. We’ve provided an 
  upgraded version of the smoke devil below that has either been 
  suborned into or volunteered for the Queen’s retinue. Note: 
  No random demon abilities for these devils unless you’re truly 
  enamored of the Queen. 
  
  Book of Demons
  86
  Strangler Demon
  In bright light, you can see that they look like wispy clouds of 
  smoke with very solid, very strong hands. In twilight, all you see is 
  darkness as those hands close around your neck. 
  11th level blocker [demon]
  Initiative: +20
  Grab +16 vs. PD—50 damage, and the demon grabs onto its 
  target. The grabbed foe cannot move except to teleport, pop 
  free, or attempt to disengage, and disengage attempts take a 
  –5 penalty unless the creature hit the demon with an attack 
  this turn. 
  Resist damage 16+: when not abducting a victim, strangler 
  demons have resist damage 16+ to all attacks except force 
  damage. 
  Abduction: If a demon has a grabbed target at the start of its turn, 
  both target and demon vanish from the battlefield and appear 
  in a demonic pocket extradimensional space. In this place, 
  the demon’s true form—that of an armored warrior wielding 
  a sword—becomes visible. The demon loses its resist damage 
  power in this pocket dimension, but gains the sword of sorrow 
  and time mastery attacks. Victim and demon are both ejected 
  from the pocket dimension when:
  • The victim dies
  • The demon becomes staggered or dies
  • The demon voluntarily releases its victim
  • The victim uses a standard action and succeeds at a DC30 
  check to escape (Strength to punch through the walls of 
  Nastier Specials
  Smoke in your face: If the Queen of Smoke moves or teleports 
  into engagement with a foe, she may make a free choke attack 
  on that enemy. 
  AC 28
  PD 22 
   
  HP 500
  MD 26
  Smoke Shade
  Are they her spies, or her eyes? Her guards, or her fists? 
  10th level troop [demon]
  Initiative: +20
  Smoky claws +15 vs. AC—50 damage
  Sneaky: If a melee attack on a smoke shade misses, the shade may 
  pop free.
  Resist damage 16+: Smoke shades have resist damage 16+ to all 
  attacks except force damage. 
  Summoned: Smoke shades have no independent existence—they 
  are created by the Queen of Smoke. If she is defeated, all smoke 
  shades disperse. (As more-or-less summoned creatures, they 
  might be vulnerable to banishing rituals, counter-magic and 
  similar weirdness, but good luck making time for a ritual.)
  AC 25
  PD 20 
   
  HP 54
  MD 20
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  87
  Resist fire 13+: When a fire attack targets this creature, the 
  attacker must roll a natural 13+ on the attack roll or it only 
  deals half damage.
  Nastier Specials
  Smokey retreat: A smoke devil can “take 12” on disengage checks, 
  taking a natural result of 12 instead of rolling (which normally 
  would allow it to disengage automatically from up to two 
  enemies).
  AC 25
  PD 25 
   
  HP 360
  MD 25
  GULMAGUL ALL-
  EAT-ALL
  The third ‘faction’ is led by the corpulent and floaty Gulmagul 
  All-Eat-All, who grows whenever he eats. He’s usually found 
  orbiting the pillar of fire as one of the flying rock islands, but 
  he sometimes descends to pick up reinforcements from the 
  Abyss and then carries them up to Azgarrak’s fortress in the sky. 
  When the hellhole’s under attack, he lumbers over to drop off 
  more demons there too, although so far First Step’s catapults and 
  demon-bane ballista bolts have kept him away from there. 
  Gulmagul’s ultimate desire is to eat a Koru behemoth and 
  become the largest predator in existence. He will break the world 
  by eating it. 
  I’m with the big guy: Gulmagul cares a lot less about having 
  followers than the other two Hellgout commanders, but he still 
  has plenty of them, all of whom applaud his all-consuming ways 
  and hope to learn the trick themselves. Any nasty demon will do. 
  Non-demons don’t last long around him. (Burp.)
  Some of Gulmagul’s followers kick around on the various 
  flying islands of Hellgout. More are found on his back! 
  Gulmagul All-Eat-All 
  Faction Abilities
  These abilities are not for Gulmagul itself! 
  Faction ability 1—Bloopblip: When the demon is first staggered, 
  it splits in two. These new demons each have ¼ the starting hit 
  points of the original demon.
  Faction ability 2—Gimme!: Staggered foes are vulnerable to the 
  demon.
  Faction ability 3—Feeding time: Once per battle when the 
  escalation die is 2+, the demon may teleport itself and any 
  engaged creatures to the back of Gulmagul.
  reality; Intelligence to improvise a magical ritual; Wisdom 
  to trick the demon; Charisma to escape through sheer 
  force of will). 
  Neither demon or victim can be targeted by outsiders while in 
  the pocket dimension. 
  Sword of sorrow +16 vs. MD—60 psychic damage, and the 
  victim sees visions of friends and allies in the real world dying 
  (either through the attacks of demons, or through sheer old 
  age).
  Natural attack roll exceeds target’s Wisdom: The target is also 
  dazed (save ends)
  C: Time mastery +16 vs. PD—80 damage, and the target ages by 
  1d10 years. Short-lived creatures (humans, half-orcs, tieflings) 
  lose 3 recoveries; long-lived races (dwarves, gnomes, halflings, 
  half-elves) lose 2 recoveries; immortal or thereabouts (elves, 
  forgeborn) lose 1 recovery. On the bright side, the victim may 
  roll to recharge magic items and spells. 
  AC 27
  PD 25 
   
  HP 250
  MD 21
  Queen-touched Smoke 
  Devil
  Most smoke devils specialize in getting where they’re not supposed 
  to be and murdering people who are supposed to be safe. No one 
  is safe in the Hellgout, and don’t these devilish allies of the Queen 
  know it. 
  11th level troop [devil]
  Initiative: +14
  Dire embrace +16 vs. PD—60 poison damage
  Full embrace: If the target is the only creature engaged with 
  the smoke devil, the attack deals 120 poison damage instead.
  Miss: 25 poison damage.
  Ember of hate: Each time the smoke devil hits an enemy, the 
  embers floating in the center of its body glow more brightly. 
  Once per battle as a free action during its turn, the devil can 
  make an ember burst attack. It also makes this attack as an 
  interrupt action when it drops to 0 hp.
  Ember burst +16 vs. PD (each enemy engaged with the 
  devil)—The target takes 20 fire damage for each creature 
  hit by the smoke devil earlier in the battle (max 60 damage; 
  remember to track this).
  Devil’s due (Formless): When you choose to add the escalation die 
  to an attack against a smoke devil, it gains resist damage 16+ 
  against the attack.
  Flight: Smoke devils drift and eddy as if blown by an evil wind.
  
  Book of Demons
  88
  LOCATIONS
  Getting from one flying island to the next is tricky. If you can 
  fly, you can try dodging skyquakes (p. 81) and flying demons. 
  Otherwise, the thing to do is wait until the next island’s orbit 
  brings it close to your current perch, and jump. Ride the thermals 
  from hell, and hope that they give you enough lift to reach across 
  the gap. 
  GULMAGUL
  ALL-EAT-ALL! ALL-EAT-ALL! ALL-EAT-ALL!
  Considerably bigger than huge 12nd level landmass [demon]
  Initiative: +11
  Massive jaws +17 vs. AC—300 damage
  Miss: 100 damage
  C: Gulmagul’s roar +16 vs. MD (all nearby enemies)—75 
  damage
  Natural 14+: The target is dazed until the end of their next turn
  R: Eyebeams +16 vs. PD (one or two nearby or far away 
  enemies)—200 fire damage, and 20 ongoing fire damage (save 
  ends)
  Insanely big: Gulmagul is up there with the tarrasque in terms 
  of sheer size. Characters can hop onto his back and move 
  across him—he’s a landmass as well as a monster. Gulmagul is 
  immune to opportunity attacks. Disengaging from Gulmagul is 
  easy (6+). Gulmagul cannot use his massive jaws or eyebeams 
  attacks against creatures clinging to him, but he can use the 
  two following attacks as free actions, one per round.
  Tentacles +16 vs. PD (1d3 attacks, each one targeting a 
  different creature on Gulmagul’s back)—50 damage, and 
  the target pops free and is sent flying through the air (opening 
  the target to an eyebeams or massive jaws attack now or next 
  round.)
  Secondary mouths +16 vs. AC (two or more attacks, each 
  one targeting a different creature on Gulmagul’s 
  back)—75 damage
  Flying realm: Gulmagul can fly, or at least drift 
  steadily.
  Teeth beneath: If a single attack inflicts 
  100 or more damage on Gulmagul, he 
  permanently gains an extra mouth, 
  increasing his number of secondary 
  mouth attacks by 1. 
  Nastier Specials
  I’m not sure those are mouths: When 
  Gulmagul is first staggered, summon 
  2d6 hooked demon mooks, +1 per 
  secondary mouth. 
  AC 28
  PD 26 
   
  HP 1111
  MD 22
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  89
  First Step
  First Step is the largest of the hellhole’s flying realms—it’s a huge 
  slab of bedrock that floats at an awkward angle around the pillar. 
  One edge of First Step often tilts low enough to scrape through 
  the rubble at the base of the pillar, cutting fresh scars into the 
  ruin on the ground. The topmost side of the slab still has some 
  scorched farmland clinging to it, along with the ruins of a small 
  town. 
  The town was formerly called Highmarket, but now it’s also 
  called First Step. The Crusader’s forces have conquered the town 
  and are dug in there, enduring attacks from the Queen of Smoke’s 
  forces below and from demons vomited out by Gulmagul above. 
  Bound vrocks and elemental sorcerers guard the walls of First 
  Step, brewing up winds to keep the town clear of smoke.
  The Pillar of Fire
  It’s a roaring, writhing, furious eruption of hellfire. It’s not 
  perfectly vertical—it whips this and that like the world’s biggest 
  candle-flame, scorching the orbiting flying realms when it gets 
  too close. Fire-resistant demons and elemental horrors climb up 
  the inside of the pillar, straining to reach the overworld.
  Anything thrown into the pillar is destroyed unless it’s got 
  astounding magical protection—these infernal fires could burn a 
  red dragon to ash. 
  The Base of the Pillar
  The circle of broken stones and ash around the pillar is home to 
  demons under the banner of the Queen of Smoke. Their queen 
  is everywhere here; the smoke from the burning lands is so thick 
  and acrid that it’s impossible to see more than a few feet. The 
  smoke is opportunistic—if a traveler takes a wrong turn, the 
  smoke thickens and twists to compound the error and lure the 
  unlucky soul into a crevasse or fiery pit. If an adventurer takes 
  a breath at the wrong time, the smoke invades the lungs and 
  congeals there as black tar. (Mechanically, any rolls of a 1-3 here 
  get exploited by the smoke in some way. A botched attack might 
  be redirected against an ally; a dismally failed save might leave 
  the PC dazed by a coughing fit).
  The caves and cairns here conceal hundreds of demons, 
  some of whom have the gift of truesight and can see through the 
  smoke. These seers lead and direct hunting packs of their fellows 
  to find any intruders who try crossing the Base of the Pillar.
  
  Book of Demons
  90
  The Sky Garden
  From a distance, the Sky Garden looks like a blessed oasis of calm 
  and growth compared to the fire-blasted madness of the rest of 
  the hellhole. It’s a verdant flying realm of green trees and little 
  lakes, girdled in starlight. The Sky Garden was a flying realm of 
  the overworld, dragged down into the hellhole when the attack 
  on the skies began. The island was home to various celestial 
  spirits and creatures who liked to rest here; some of these entities 
  are still trapped here, unable to escape the hellhole.
  Nalfeshnees and other demon horrors have taken up 
  residence in the Garden, and delight in wounding the trees and 
  defiling the little streams and lakes. Adventurers who slay these 
  demons may be rewarded with blessings from the hidden spirits.
  Sky Garden Blessings
  1: The ability to fly until the next full heal-up.
  2: Auspicious horoscope—roll 2d20 and take the best result 
  when making a d20 roll. Usable three times. 
  3: Overworld blessing—all your daily abilities become recharge 
  16+ until your next full heal-up.
  4: Divine secrets. Gain one daily or recharge spell of your level 
  or lower from the cleric class. You can cast this spell until 
  your next full heal-up.
  5: Truesight until your next full heal-up. 
  6: Celestial vigor. Until your next heal-up, whenever you use 
  a recovery, you shine with positive energy. All nearby allies 
  gain temporary hit points equal to your level.
  7: You can now permanently talk to birds.
  8: Celestial paramour. One of the spirits falls in love with you, 
  and—greatly daring—follows you out of the Sky Garden. 
  Gulmagul All-Eat-All
  This isn’t a flying realm—it’s a gigantic demon the size of a flying 
  realm. Gulmagul All-Eat-All’s hide swarms with lesser demons, 
  and he is usually content to let his parasites deal with intruders. 
  He only wakes up and fights 
  whenever a particular dangerous, 
  or particularly tasty foe shows up. 
  He keeps careful watch on the Edge 
  of the Abyss. 
  Gulmagul had a write-up as a 
  monster, as opposed to geography, 
  a couple pages above.
  The Broken Men
  The next highest flying realms are called the Broken Men. 
  This was once a single flying realm that broke in two, so now 
  it resembles two men wrestling in the air, surrounded by a halo 
  of smaller debris. The demons of this realm are fiercely hostile 
  towards everyone, even the demons of the other Broken Man, 
  and hurl barbed spears, poisonous darts and explosive eyeballs 
  at anyone who comes close. Their enmity animates the stones of 
  the Broken Men—the two flying islands snap and smash together 
  with murderous intent, deliberately crushing flying creatures and 
  ships between the rocks.
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  91
  Given the intensity of the flames, no-one knows if there are 
  two portals to the Abyss in there, or if there’s just one that runs 
  all the way through the realm. Either way, if the Crusader intends 
  to conquer this hellhole, then he’ll need to march his armies into 
  the fires that constantly blast and burn this floating island. 
  Occasionally, the flying realm tumbles or is buffeted by the 
  pillar of flame, and that triggers immense jets of fire, ash and 
  molten rock that shoot out for miles beyond the limits of the 
  hellhole, like an eruption from a flying volcano.
  The Edge of the Abyss
  The sixth flying island in the chain is almost completely lost 
  in the pillar of fire. Three-quarters of the realm is inside the 
  flames, leaving only a small ledge of stone on the edge of the 
  abyss. Adventurers hoping to move upwards need to cling to the 
  ledge and pray that the flying realm does not do any deeper into 
  the fires while they wait for Wrackspell’s orbit to bring it within 
  reach. 
  
  Book of Demons
  92
  you say? Can barbed wire be as effective as wand or staff?” So 
  far, signs point to yes. The despoiler mages of Wrackspell work 
  feverishly to take advantage of their unique opportunity, and 
  any captured wizards or scholars are put to work here. There 
  are demonic slave-drivers who are attuned to the subtleties of 
  abstruse calculations, and know to hold back the whip when the 
  wizard-slave is mentally calculating some arcane formula, and to 
  inflict pain the instant the slave’s thoughts slip to futile dreams 
  of escape. 
  Wrackspell
  Arcane magic draws from the overworld. Some wizards command 
  magical forces with shouted spells and emphatic gestures 
  with their mighty staffs. Others coax it down with whispered 
  incantations and subtle flick-of-the-wrist wand movements. 
  Demons rarely get to study the overworld up close. Think of 
  the Wrackspell as a despoiler mage research laboratory dedicated 
  to answering the question “what happens if instead commanding 
  or coaxing magical forces, you torture them until they do what 
  
  C h a p t e r  3 :  S i x  H e l l h o l e s
  93
  Star’s End
  The last of the hellhole’s flying realms was shattered by a test firing of Azgarrak’s death ray. Now, it’s a burning ring of smaller flying 
  rocks, where the scorched undead remains of celestials battle with both their surviving former compatriots, and the demonic hordes 
  from the Fortress of the Balor who press on towards the edge of the overworld.
  Fortress of 
  the Balor
  Azgarrak built his stronghold from broken 
  stars and hell-forged bronze plates. 
  Demonic 
  artificers 
  from 
  Wrackspell 
  have created a cunning mechanism, a 
  cannon made from mirrors and rune-
  scored binding rings, that can channel 
  and redirect the hellfire of the pillar of 
  flame into a weapon. The workings of this 
  siege cannon take up a third of the palace; 
  the rest is split between dungeons and 
  torture chambers for captured celestials, 
  and barracks and armories for Azgarrak’s 
  troops. 
  
  Book of Demons
  94
  Two icons make their homes in hellholes. A third, the Great Gold 
  Wyrm, probably doesn’t count because you wouldn’t refer to his 
  hellish battlefield as a home. 
  The Diabolist has resided in the fetid, treacherous swamps 
  of Hellmarsh since before the beginning of the current Age, 
  although in all that time only a few brave souls have returned 
  from visiting her eerie citadel. The Crusader came to prominence 
  only a few years ago when his forces conquered First Triumph, 
  but his terrifying fortress has drawn thousands of mercenaries 
  and warriors to his banner. 
  As First Triumph is much, much more accessible than the 
  Citadel of the Diabolist, let’s start there.
  FIRST TRIUMPH
  First Triumph is both fortress and city. To call it a ‘castle’ or 
  ‘citadel’ is to ignore the thousands of merchants and craftsmen 
  who live within it. There are markets and crafthalls, temples and 
  libraries, even mines and farms within the walls of First Triumph. 
  At the same time, calling it a walled city is a misnomer—every 
  building is built to be as strong as the strongest keep, and 
  whole districts of the city are indoors. Space is at an incredible 
  premium here; everything is cramped, or built on top or or under 
  something else. Not an inch of the castle is wasted space. It is 
  possible to spend years in First Triumph and never see the pallid 
  sun outside. The city is as self-sufficient as the Crusader could 
  make it. Magical gardens and vats grow food in the dungeons 
  below, and deep shafts reach down into the freshwater seas of 
  the Underworld. 
  The inevitable conclusion is that First Triumph was designed 
  to endure a siege of demons. If the Great Gold Wyrm fails and the 
  hordes come rushing out of the Abyss, they might conquer Axis 
  and Horizon, Santa Cora and even the Necropolis, but not First 
  Triumph. This fortress will outlast the rest of the Empire. 
  Lawful, and evil: Life within First Triumph is strictly 
  regimented. The whole city is under martial law, enforced by the 
  Crusader’s warriors. They are empowered to deliver summary 
  judgment on the spot to lawbreakers and troublemakers. 
  Criminals are customarily handed over to the temples of the Dark 
  Gods as slaves or sacrifices. If you behave in perfect accordance 
  with the Crusader’s will, then First Triumph is the safest and 
  most equitable city in all the world. Only deviates have anything 
  to fear from the inquisitors.
  Enslaved demons: Demons are everywhere in First Triumph. 
  The Iron Spike (page 98) keeps them bound to the Crusader, 
  reducing them from vicious warriors of chaos to wretched slaves 
  of law. The divine energies of the Crusader and the corrosive 
  power of the spike means that the demons only last a few years 
  before they waste away to nothingness, so the Crusader gets as 
  much work out of them as he can before they perish. Demons 
  don’t need to eat or sleep to survive, so food and rest is denied 
  them. Every unpleasant or rote job in the city is done by demon 
  slaves; the massive gates are pushed closed by demons, and the 
  forges and fires kept burning by demons. Monsters that once 
  struck terror into the souls of anyone who encountered them are 
  here made into beasts of burden. 
  As so much of the drudge work is done by demons, it frees 
  the mortal population of the city to attend to other matters, and 
  that usually means training. Officially, there are no civilians in 
  First Triumph, and everyone is expected to master some useful 
  combat style or talent to contribute to the war effort. (Like any 
  city, of course, First Triumph has its share of thieves, wastrels, 
  criminals and traitors, but they have to be circumspect in their 
  activities to avoid being arrested and punished). Military drills 
  and discipline are a constant in First Triumph. 
  The other hellholes under the Crusader’s control are not as 
  populous or as fortified as First Triumph, but if you listen to the 
  Crusader’s propaganda, it is only a matter of time before they too 
  are converted into similar sanctuaries, bastions for some future 
  apocalyptic war. Depending on your campaign, it might be more 
  interesting to play that First Triumph is somehow unique and the 
  other conquered hellholes are struggling to duplicate its success. 
  Like 
  the 
  visions 
  of 
  Axis, 
  Horizon, 
  Drakkenhall, and the Court of Stars in 13 
  True Ways, this vision of First Triumph is one 
  possible truth. We don’t treat our descriptions as 
  canonical the way other games tend to treat source 
  material. (Indeed, for demons, canonical truths 
  are just suggestions!) We know your campaigns 
  may have markedly different interpretations of the 
  icons. Read on for variants..
  Many True Ways
  CITADELS OF THE 
  ICONS
  CHAPTER 4
  
  C h a p t e r  4 :  C i t a d e l s  o f  t h e  I c o n s
  95
  C h a p t e r  4 :  C i t a d e l  o f  t h e  I c o n s
  95
  The Outer Barbican
  Visitors to First Triumph must pass through this outermost ring 
  of fortifications to enter the city proper. Although First Triumph 
  is surrounded on all sides by miles of blasted hellscape, there 
  is always a long line of people desperate to get in. Most come 
  from the lands north of First Triumph, and came fleeing the 
  Orc Lord’s armies and the threat of hellholes elsewhere in the 
  Empire. They fear that the end of the Age approaches, and that 
  only the Crusader has the strength and will to defend them and 
  keep them safe. 
  From other gates issue the armies of the Crusader, marching 
  off to conquer other hellholes or garrison the lands around First 
  Triumph, for the people of that region increasingly look to the 
  Crusader and not the Emperor as their ruler. 
  Even those loyal to the Crusader must submit to a lengthy 
  battery of tests to pass through the Barbican. Those who are 
  not part of the crusade face even more rigorous scrutiny—
  interrogations, customs inspections, magical examination, even 
  torture and bloodletting to ensure that a prospective visitor 
  is not a demon in disguise. Spellcasters and other powerful 
  individuals may be assigned a ‘guide’ while in First Triumph, 
  often a bound demon. This guide’s only purpose is to ensure that 
  the visitor does not interfere with the war effort, and is of no 
  use in navigating the city’s labyrinthine corridors and alleyways. 
  Bribery to hasten passage through the Barbican is 
  forbidden; volunteering for temporary service in the war effort 
  is acceptable. The master of the guards here is a dwarf woman 
  named Stamper; she is served by a swarm of magical moths that 
  spy on visitors and report to her in rustling whispers of their 
  wings. 
  On average, it takes a full day to get through the security 
  checks of the Barbican. If you’re unlucky. . . well, there are 
  prisons here crammed with those who are suspect in the eyes of 
  the Crusader. If they are not demons, then surely they will not 
  mind being held for months or years until the truth of their souls 
  can be ascertained.
  
  Book of Demons
  96
  knifed in some alleyway. No witnesses, somehow, even though 
  First Triumph is grotesquely overcrowded. 
  Wise visitors to First Triumph know to stay with friends, or 
  find a private room outside an inn. The inns here cater mostly to 
  merchants. Three of note: 
  • The Last Call is supposedly for those who have come to join 
  the Crusader’s army, but want one last night of freedom and 
  debauchery before submitting to martial discipline. The inn 
  has arrangements with certain temples in the Dark Temple, 
  so guests can participate in rites of unknown pleasures, or 
  in sacraments involving strange fumes and drugs. Of late, 
  most of the inn’s clientele are debased wealthy pleasure-
  seekers from Glitterhaegen who’ve grown jaded by the 
  entertainments offered even in Shadowport.
  • The Pot and Kettle is a more subdued establishment, catering 
  for merchants and diplomats from Axis, Glitterhaegen or 
  Forge. No demons are allowed on the premises, and the 
  doors are guarded by trustworthy dwarves. It’s a little island 
  of sanity in the middle of the Muster. There’s even a secret 
  temple to the gods of light in the attic.
  • The Inn of the Insult, also known as the Inn-Sult, is hard 
  to pin down. It moves around the Muster, materializing in 
  Muster 
  The Muster district is the most cosmopolitan part of First 
  Triumph—if you’re not part of the Crusader’s followers, then this 
  is usually as far as you go. It most resembles a crowded slum in 
  Axis or Drakkenhall, only with more enslaved demons and more 
  clerics openly proselytizing for the dark gods. The town’s main 
  market is in Muster; like the Floating Market, all sorts of strange 
  demonic tinctures and spell components can be bought here, but 
  certain items are strictly controlled by the Crusader’s guards. 
  Many of those who come to Muster have nowhere else to 
  go. There are alms-houses here where the starving and desperate 
  can get a bath, a square meal and a place to sleep, as long as they 
  swear to join the crusade when their strength returns. 
  Muster Inns
  Staying in an inn in Muster is a huge faux pas. It’s a public 
  declaration that you’re not part of the Crusader’s army, that 
  you’re a stinking parasite here to profit from the war effort, or an 
  effete coward who refuses to fight to save the world, or a follower 
  of those loathsome and deceptive gods of light. Or maybe you’re 
  a secret demon worshipper, and it’d be best for the world if you got 
  The Armies of the Crusade
  The Crusader commands an army the like of which the world 
  has not seen in many an Age. He has no compunction about 
  the use of any weapon or sorcery. Morality does not bind 
  him, nor does mercy hold him back. 
  The majority of his army are human, or mostly human, 
  with members of most every humanoid race as the exception. 
  A careful inspection might reveal that leadership positions 
  are disproportionately occupied by non-humans. That may 
  be because exceptional (in one way or another) members of 
  the non-human races are drawn to the Crusader’s service, 
  while desperation is the lowest common denominator 
  among human followers. 
  There are mercenaries and veteran soldiers drawn to his 
  banner by the prospect of plunder. There are refugees and 
  vengeance-seekers who lost everything they had to demons 
  or orcs, and now want to fight back. Then, there are those 
  saved by dark magic. Wounded warriors given new limbs 
  harvested from demons, broken people armed with twisted 
  implements of magic, the sick and the dying given a new, 
  abhorrent form of life. Experiments in magical augmentation 
  and cross-breeding that would not be countenanced in 
  Horizon or Santa Cora are common-place among the 
  Crusader’s troops. Anything is permissible. 
  Alongside these mortal warriors march the demon 
  slaves. Bound by iron spikes and rune-engraved chains, these 
  demons were taken from conquered hellholes. They fight 
  until their physical shells are ground to dust, and then their 
  demonic spirits are used as fuel for spells and burnt up rather 
  than allowed to return to Hell. Demon troops need no food 
  or rest, so the Crusader’s armies sometimes march faster 
  than mortal forces. Swollen demon-beasts serve as mounts, 
  as transports, even flying machines. 
  Now that the Crusader has a manufacturing base in 
  First Triumph, he has added war-golems and enchanted siege 
  engines to his arsenal. These monstrous constructs have the 
  double virtue of being both mindless and soulless, rendering 
  them immune to the worst hazards and deceptions of the 
  hellholes. In obtaining the rare magical metals needed for 
  mass construction of golems, the Crusader may come into 
  conflict with the Dwarf King.
  The Crusader does not turn away monsters, as long as 
  they are willing to submit to his discipline. There are a few 
  dragons—whites and blues, mostly—in the army. There 
  are orcs, trolls and ogres, few of whom understand the 
  Crusader’s ultimate goal, but willing to hang around as long 
  as there’s a prospect of booty and smashing. There are hosts 
  of undead, although these are entirely made from the fallen 
  bodies and souls of the Crusader’s existing soldiers, for the 
  Crusader fears that recruiting older, more powerful undead 
  would leave his forces open to subversion by the Lich King.
  Finally, the Crusader marches under the banner of the 
  dark gods, and their emissaries and emanations must be 
  counted among his troops. Invisible things lope along in the 
  train of the army, materializing in the mortal world when 
  enough blood is shed.
  And this army of horrors is perhaps five days’ march 
  from Axis. If the Crusader were not sworn to destroy all 
  demons, he could be a greater threat to the Empire’s capital 
  than the Orc Lord.
  
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  Wailing Yards
  Demons are kept in the Wailing Yards. Part slave pen, part occult 
  laboratory, part stockyard, and all nightmare. The worst are the 
  containment structures where ruined demons are stored, demons 
  who have lost all physical form and all psychic integrity, reduced 
  to nothing more than bodiless screaming malice. 
  Due to the population pressure in First Triumph, new 
  barracks and tenements have been built in close proximity to the 
  containment buildings. Who’d notice a few more madmen in this 
  hellish place?
  Truth
  Truth is a horribly overcrowded district of barracks, rookeries, 
  tenements and towers. Most of the city’s population live here. 
  In the middle of Truth is a large open square called the 
  Mercy Pits. These pits contain all manner of prisoners. Some are 
  demons; some are justly incarcerated prisoners. Others inmates 
  are wholly innocent—refugees, children, animals, even members 
  of the Crusader’s army. Their screams and pleas for help can be 
  heard throughout Truth.
  one doorway or another. Unless, of course, it’s in 
  Horizon today. It gets homesick, you see. It all 
  began when the Archmage paid an unexpected 
  visit to First Triumph. The Crusader offered 
  the Archmage the same sort of meager bedding 
  that any other beggar gets when they show up 
  at the Muster. Irritated, the Archmage snapped 
  his fingers and summoned a luxurious inn from 
  Horizon and spent the night there. The Crusader 
  hates this intrusion into his fortress, but has yet 
  to find a way to get rid of the Inn. The only way to 
  find the Inn-sult is to have the aid or favor of the 
  Archmage’s servants. 
  Dark Temple
  The Dark Temple isn’t a single building (yet—there 
  are ever-more bridges, walkways and shrines being 
  built as the army grows, so perhaps one day a Dark 
  Priestess will emerge, a consort to the Crusader, and 
  she will raise a towering cathedral of black basalt 
  mortared with demons’ blood and adorned with the 
  broken symbols of the gods of light, a sacrificial altar 
  reaching to the heavens where a thousand offerings 
  are made daily to the dreadful and sullen dark powers, 
  glorious and terrible beyond measure and . . . . . . . . ). 
  Sorry. Outbursts of religious mania often happen 
  in this district, even in parentheses. It’s not uncommon 
  to hear some worshipper chanting uncontrollably in a 
  forgotten and blasphemous tongue. The children of 
  the district gather to laugh at those caught up in the 
  rapture of the darkness, for there are many children 
  here. Orphans, mostly, taken in by the dark priests to 
  be trained as clerics, or by the monks to be trained 
  as assassins. Others were born here, conceived in the orgiastic 
  rites of certain temples. Not all the gods here are doleful and 
  hateful—there are pleasures here forbidden by the gods of light, 
  and blessings that cannot be obtained by Santa Cora. The Dark 
  Temple is also the pleasure-quarter of the fortress—gambling, 
  drinking, dancing and other diversions are forbidden in First 
  Triumph except when operated by a dark temple. 
  Other parts of the district are less welcoming. 
  Do not stray there. 
  Know them by their silence.
  Personalities: The two most important clerics are the 
  urbane dark elf Lady Sjanthis and Boark Godheaded. Lady 
  Sjanthis is also called the Soulless for she has deliberately severed 
  her connection with the Elf Queen. She claims that her soul is 
  now the Crusader, and she will live or die with him. 
  Boark’s devotion to the dark powers is even more dramatic. 
  He removed his own head as part of a cult ceremony, and now 
  carries it around under his arm. He’s not undead—he claims to be 
  sustained by constant healing spells from the gods. Sometimes, 
  the face of one dark god or another manifests above his bloody 
  neck-stump. 
  
  Book of Demons
  98
  Neversleep
  The industrial counterpart to the Harvester Deeps, Neversleep is 
  home to the castle’s forges, workshops, tanneries and alchemical 
  breweries. As the name suggests, the forges are never silent; 
  when one smith is exhausted, another takes her place, and the 
  demon servants never tire. Illumination is provided in both the 
  Harvester Deeps and Neversleep by harsh magical lights held 
  aloft by bound imps. 
  Imperial Compound
  The only garden in all of First Triumph is found here, in this 
  little walled compound. The Imperial Compound is the private 
  residence of the Emperor’s liaison with the Crusader, an old 
  gnomish diplomat called Demby Greenshoes. Demby has 
  the demeanor of a lovable, forgetful grandpa and rarely argues 
  with anyone. He’s not completely fluffy—he’s cynical about all 
  religions, light and dark, and he was an infamous spymaster in 
  Shadowport before the Emperor sent him here. 
  Demby knows that a direct confrontation with the Crusader 
  wouldn’t end well for him (or for the Empire), so he liaises with 
  a light touch, and relies on deniable adventurers to sort out 
  problems that might cause friction between the Crusader and the 
  rest of the Empire. Denby’s bodyguard, Cecilia, is a shapeshifting 
  bronze dragon. 
  The Spikes
  The Iron Spike is right in the heart of the fortress. It’s a single 
  huge chunk of metal driven right into the remains of the now-
  sealed portal to Hell. How the Crusader got a hundred-foot tall 
  metal spike into position is a mystery, as is the origin of the spike. 
  It’s covered in magical runes and wards. The spike seems to pulse 
  as magical energies flow though it—it may even be alive to some 
  degree, an artificial demon king that’s taken command of all the 
  demons in the hellhole. Removing the spike might cause the 
  hellhole to open up again. Chains run from rings on the spike 
  to other, smaller binding nodes and wards, keeping the more 
  powerful demons in check. 
  Demons cannot approach the spike. If they get too close, it 
  absorbs them. There are weird bumps and distorted metal stains 
  where a demon trespassed too near the spike. 
  The other spikes are made of wood and stone, not metal—
  they’re towers that rise alongside the Iron Spike, where the 
  Crusader’s sorcerers and wizards study the arcane arts. 
  Tower
  The main keep is called Tower. Not the tower, just Tower. 
  All of Tower is forbidden to outsiders, except the Crusader’s 
  audience room. It’s a simple, unadorned chamber with a large 
  round table and a few ordinary chairs. The Crusader has no 
  throne, no servants, no crown or title. He has his cause, and that 
  is enough. 
  Tower is wound around with potent defensive spells of all 
  kinds—divine blessings from the dark gods, arcane wards made 
  Next to each pit are the various mercies, like a flask of cold 
  water, some food, a key to open the grating or a rope ladder so the 
  prisoner can climb out. The Pits are unguarded, so it’s perfectly 
  possible for someone to go down and free a prisoner. 
  No-one ever does. The Crusader’s first lesson is that mercy 
  is a weakness, that love is madness. There is nothing that those 
  prisoners could ever do with their paltry lives that would be more 
  valuable, in the long run, than teaching this lesson to the people 
  of the city.
  Harvester Deeps
  The land outside First Triumph is poisonous, and nothing good 
  can ever grow there. The fortress relies on these artificial cave-
  farms to feed its inhabitants. Such techniques are common in 
  the dwarf-lands, but the Crusader doesn’t have time to cultivate 
  a mushroom cave for decades before it’s ready for the harvest. 
  Instead, he uses magic to hasten the growth of plants, and ground-
  up demon and bone meal as fertilizer. Animals are also farmed 
  here—they are given to the dark temples first for sacrifices, and 
  then their meat is collected and salted so it can supply armies 
  in the field. Such unnatural growth requires druidic magic, and 
  if the High Druid will not provide the blessings the Crusader 
  needs, then he attempts to take them by force. 
  Below the farm caves are mines that feed the fortress’ ever-
  growing hunger for ore. 
  If this take on First Triumph as a massively overcrowded 
  recruiting station/last ditch sanctuary/occult arcology 
  doesn’t fit with your conception of the Crusader, how 
  about these variants?
  The Empty Fortress: The Crusader’s giant 
  fortress in First Triumph is mostly empty. He’s got 
  space here to house thousands of followers. He’s got 
  armories full enough of weapons and armor to outfit 
  a dozen armies. He’s got stockpiles of supplies to 
  endure a siege for centuries. He’s only got a handful of 
  followers here, skulking amid the empty halls, but he’s 
  clearly planning for the long term.
  The Silent Fortress: The fortress is only for 
  the Crusader’s forces. There are no markets here, 
  no thronged districts full of non-combatants. This 
  fortress is more like a monastery, inhabited only by 
  disciplined warriors, quiet assassins, and whispering 
  dark spellcasters. Visitors aren’t welcome.
  The Forbidden Fortress: As above, but the 
  fortress is surrounded by a shanty town of refugees, 
  beggars and traders. Sometimes, the Crusaders’ 
  forces open the gates and let a few supplicants in, but 
  otherwise they ignore the sea of humanity that crowds 
  against their walls, seeking shelter from the terrors of 
  the hellhole. 
  Other Triumphs
  
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  5: The Crusader’s teachings burn mercy from our hearts. The 
  Crusader’s collecting the ashes of our pity, and from them 
  he’ll forge a new god, neither dark nor light, but divinely 
  human. Only someone stole half the ashes. No doubt it was 
  one of the Priestess’ self-righteous holy thieves. 
  6: The Prince of Shadows has his spies and agents down in the 
  Muster and Truth, fencing loot and stolen goods from lands 
  conquered by the Crusader. If you want a good price for 
  stolen goods, go down to the fourth sublevel and look for the 
  room with a green door. 
  7: There are temples down in the Dark Temple to dead gods, 
  ones that haven’t been worshipped in Ages. Who built them, 
  and why does the Crusader want them in his fortress? I’ll tell 
  you—the demons destroyed those gods and dragged ‘em off 
  to hell. One of these days, though, the Crusader’s expeditions 
  into the Abyss is going to find one of those dead gods. They’ll 
  drag its holy carcass back to First Triumph, and bring it back 
  to life with all those stored demon essences! Can you imagine 
  what the Crusader will do with a god that owes him a life 
  debt?
  8: First Triumph and the other hellholes held by the Crusader 
  are on the western side of the Empire, west of Axis. Everyone 
  thinks that the Crusader’s going to march north to Hellmarsh 
  next, but he’s really looking to the east. Once he has a seaport 
  and a navy, he’ll be able to battle demons anywhere in the 
  Empire. He’s looking to Glitterhaegen… and if there’s no 
  hellhole there to give him an excuse to conquer the city and 
  its port, why, he can make one!
  9: Don’t listen to her! The Crusader wants to build a navy so he 
  can sail east, out through the Koru Straits and into the Iron 
  Sea. Those behemoths that keep crawling out of the ocean 
  and attacking the Empire—they’re demons. There’s a hellhole 
  out there that makes the Abyss look like a kobold’s nostril. 
  Conquer that, and the Diabolist will be quaking in her evil 
  slippers. 
  10:  The other cities—Axis, Horizon, Glitterhaegen, New Port, 
  even Concord—they’ve been quietly getting rid of all their 
  beggars, lunatics, criminals and other undesirables by 
  shipping them off to First Triumph. Ever wonder why the new 
  recruits start off crazy, instead of going mad while they’re 
  here like we all did? 
  11: There isn’t any Crusader. It’s just a suit of armor, an idea. 
  It’s really the Archmage and the Emperor running the show. 
  They know how bad things are going to get, but don’t want 
  to panic people. So, they’ve conjured up this puppet, this 
  caricature of the bad knight, to do all the dirty things that 
  need to be done. 
  12: So, the Great Gold Wyrm, the great enemy of the demons, 
  falls into the Abyss—and suddenly, out of nowhere, there 
  arises this invincible demon-hating warrior with incredible 
  charisma and awesome magical powers? Do I have to draw 
  you a diagram?
  13: The end is coming! The end is coming! The end is coming!
  by the best wizards, demonic power siphoned from the spike, and 
  even forbidden magics from previous Ages. From the summit of 
  the Tower, the Crusader can see anywhere in the Dragon Empire, 
  and can direct his armies from afar. 
  Thirteen Rumors of 
  First Triumph
  1: The road between Axis and Forge is now so beset by demons, 
  bandits and orcs that the Emperor must take action soon. 
  Everyone knows that the Crusader is the only force strong 
  enough to protect the Empire’s western flank. Soon, the road 
  will be under our control.
  2: The Crusader isn’t the fist of the dark gods—they’re his 
  weapon. When the demons are destroyed, he’ll turn on the 
  dark gods and destroy them too. Step by step, campaign by 
  campaign, he’ll purge evil from the world and usher in the 
  Age of Mortals. Every god, light and dark, will perish. 
  3: The Crusader is the true heir to the Empire—blessed by the 
  Lich King, not the Emperor! The Lich King was the Wizard 
  King of old, and one of his accomplishments was driving 
  back the demons and building the first wards. Where did you 
  think the Crusader’s secret magic came from? No, one day 
  the Crusader will be Prince of the Living, second only to the 
  King of the Dead. Just ask the ghouls down in the Harvester 
  Deeps, and they’ll tell you the truth. 
  4: Burnt-out demon spirits get rehoused in the shells of war-
  golems. That’s why they’re so good at fighting—they don’t 
  know it, but they’re really demons on the inside. If you talk to 
  them for long enough, you might wake them up. 
  The spikes are part of whatever secret technique the 
  Crusader uses to seal hellholes. The spike not only 
  ‘caps’ the portal to hell, closing the hellhole, it also 
  works as a giant binding spell, seizing control of the 
  remaining demons that came through that portal. 
  These demons are utterly bound to the spike, and are 
  incapable of breaking free or refusing the commands 
  of the Crusader’s servants.
  This binding has limitations. It doesn’t work on 
  newly-summoned demons, only those that were in 
  the hellhole when it got ‘spiked’. It blasts the demons’ 
  minds, rendering them feeble-minded and confused 
  for the most part. And it’s magically destructive—
  spiking a hellhole causes tremendous arcane feedback 
  that threatens to overload the Archmage’s wards and 
  disrupt other spells. 
  If the Crusader’s plan is to use the same technique 
  on the dozens of hellholes in Hellmarsh, the ensuing 
  magical feedback may do more damage than any 
  scheme of the Diabolist.
  The Crusader’s 
  Secret Weapon
  
  Book of Demons
  100
  The Archmage has concluded that the title 
  of Diabolist comes with so many obligations 
  and debts to the powers of Hell that anyone 
  who claims it is trapped, like a spider caught 
  in a web. He suspects that the Diabolist’s 
  occasional acts of mercy are all a good-
  hearted sorceress can manage. 
  According to rumors spread by the Prince 
  of Shadows, the Diabolist was a human 
  woman who, through sheer magical power, 
  can will her own reincarnation. When slain, 
  she is reborn somewhere in the Empire, and 
  when she comes of age she returns to the 
  Hell Marsh to reclaim her memories of her past lives and her 
  mantle of power. Anyone, he whispers, could be the Diabolist 
  in waiting. According to these tales, one of the main functions 
  of the Diabolist’s cult is to find and protect her when she is a 
  young and vulnerable child. 
  CITADEL OF THE 
  DIABOLIST
  If the Diabolist wants you, her citadel will find you.
  Like Archmage, High Druid, and Emperor, Diabolist is a title. 
  There have been other Diabolists in the past; they perished of old 
  age or violence or occult cataclysm, and in time a new Diabolist 
  rose to claim the title. It’s unclear, however, if one Diabolist 
  significantly differs from the next. 
  The Crusader claims that the Diabolist is 
  actually an evil spirit or demon that possesses 
  the bodies of innocent women. Slay her, and she 
  moves to another host that she then mutates 
  into her preferred likeness. 
  Perhaps cryptic etchings in the archives of the 
  Dwarf King suggest that the Diabolist is in 
  thrall to her magical items! Certainly, she has a 
  wealth of immensely potent items. How much 
  of the Diabolist’s behavior can be attributed to 
  the war of spirits within her soul, as crown and 
  staff and eye and ring pull her one way or the other? 
  
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  Eight Views of an 
  Icon’s Stronghold
  If the Diabolist isn’t the queen of lies, it’s not for lack of trying. 
  She guards the truth in an avalanche of secrets. Her place of 
  power in the Hell Marsh is no exception. Accounts of the fortress 
  vary wildly in both appearance and location. Tales frequently 
  put it somewhere in the center of the Hell Marsh, but it’s been 
  sighted as far east as the edge of the Queen’s Wood, and as far 
  south as the Kneedeep. 
  The only thing you can count on is that following Hell Marsh 
  cultists (Bestiary 2, page 134), or listening to their stories, won’t 
  help you find it! Cultists relish helping to misdirect, and it seems 
  to be a tenet of faith that no one should know where the Diabolist 
  really is at any given time, unless she’s right there in front of you. 
  As to what the ‘citadel’ is . . . 
  “On the twenty-seventh day, we found the lair of 
  the fiend. It was a rotten finger of bone rising from 
  the muck of the swamp, bathed in this hellish light. 
  Demons of all kinds flocked around it, and laughed as 
  the swamp vomited out blasts of burning gas. There 
  were people there, too, hundreds of them, staggering 
  blindly around in the mud. They were mad, all of 
  them. I saw them shoveling mud and worms into 
  their mouths and calling it a feast, drinking stagnant 
  green water and thinking it wine, or shoving their 
  faces into a patch of nettles and shouting that they’d 
  learned occult secrets beyond imagining. Obviously, 
  we ignored them and marched into the tower. It was 
  full of traps and monsters, but our hearts were pure 
  and our swords bright. We fought our way into the 
  Diabolist’s throne-room and killed her. She’s dead. I 
  killed her! Why are you looking at me like that? Why 
  don’t you believe me?” 
  —nameless human beggar, arrested in  
  New Port for vagrancy
  “The boat took us from the Floating Market to a 
  clearing deep in the swamp. There was a spiral 
  staircase there, made of some reddish stone, warm 
  to the touch, and it went down and down under 
  the water. There was a labyrinth down there, with 
  thousands of cells. Demons roamed the halls, and we 
  were warned not to step outside our rooms. I didn’t 
  understand at first, but they brought me to one such 
  cell. It was smaller than this one, with nothing there 
  but a bed and a table and a chair, like a monk’s room. 
  There was a candle on the table.
  Every morning, there’d be a knock on the door, 
  and outside I’d find a tray with the day’s food on 
  it, and a fresh candle. Every day, I’d light that 
  candle and stare into the flame, and I’d dream… or 
  imagine… that she was talking to me, whispering 
  secrets into my mind. 
  Nine years. Nine years I studied that candle. 
  Nine years of secrets. That is why this cell holds 
  no fear for me. I have transcended the needs of 
  mortals… wait! Don’t go! Don’t leave me in the dark! 
  Anything but the dark!” 
  —testimony of a demon cultist  
  arrested in Forge
  “Her citadel is a rose bush rooted in Hell, so large 
  that its topmost blossoms are lost in the clouds. 
  Through her magic, she has made delicate palaces 
  of rosewater and crystal amid the thorns, and 
  filled them with every imaginable delight. There 
  are demons there, but you wouldn’t know it—
  because they’re not twisted and warped by having to 
  compromise with base matter, they appear as they 
  really are. They’re beautiful, shining creatures, and 
  so very kind. They taught me so much.” 
  —Tengrian the Despoiler, awaiting execution  
  by the Crusader’s forces for murder  
  and demon-worship
  
  Book of Demons
  102
  “My scrying spells have confirmed that the Diabolist 
  has no citadel or home fortress, at least not in this 
  incarnation. Instead, she has a roaming court or 
  caravan of acolytes and demons that travel from 
  hellhole to hellhole. In each hellhole, she maintains 
  a tower or other small fortress, or demands shelter 
  from a local demon lord. She never stays in one place 
  for more than a few days. 
  Records from the end of the Twelfth Age are 
  scarce—the Diabolist’s plague threw the whole 
  Empire into chaos. Stories of a ‘tumult of the earth’ 
  and the ‘breaking of the icons’, coupled with the 
  recent discovery of the dungeon nicknamed the 
  ‘Devil’s Grave’ beyond Cairnwood, suggest to me 
  that the previous Diabolist was slain by another 
  icon, perhaps the vanished Swordmaiden, and her 
  old fortress was overthrown in the process. When a 
  new Diabolist arose, she chose not to repeat the same 
  mistakes as her predecessor and so keeps moving to 
  stay ahead of her enemies—such as the Crusader.
  In summation, more scrying and research is 
  required to develop a reliable method of tracking 
  and observing the Diabolist. Please find bound to 
  this parchment a miser-sprite educated in all the 
  costs and expenses of such research program…” 
  —from a grant proposal to the School of 
  Divination in Horizon
  “It was like a tongue of flame, only it was also a tower. 
  Like it was made from dancing flames, and inside 
  it was all gold and velvet and white marble, like a 
  palace of dreams, but still on fire. I wasn’t burned. 
  I could walk across the floors of fire, and dance in 
  halls of flame. I wasn’t burned, until I defied her.” 
  —Estran, the Burned
  “Aye, I know the Old Woman’s house. I won’t take 
  you there, not for any price. It ain’t that it’s too 
  dangerous—I know how to get around the snakes and 
  the beasties—but she doesn’t want you there, and 
  I won’t anger her. I’ve seen her castle. It’s half-sunk 
  into the swamp—what did she expect, building a big 
  stone pile like that in this muck? Every year, it sinks 
  down more. I heard tell that in my grandfather’s day, 
  she summoned up some really big demons and had 
  them pull it out of the mire, but now it’s sinking back 
  down again. The place looks half-rotten, but there 
  are lights in the upper towers, and great big demons 
  like toads and bats hopping around outside. And 
  there are all the folk hanging from the trees? 
  What, you didn’t know about those? I don’t 
  know who they are—strangers from out the swamp, 
  most of ‘em. They come to the castle, and fall asleep, 
  and she has her demons hang ‘em from the trees, 
  and the wasps build nests around ‘em. Don’t know if 
  they’s sleeping or dead, or something else.
  There are live folk there too. Elves, mostly, or 
  what look like elves. She takes a few of our children as 
  servants every year. Some of them even come back.” 
  —Gorm Bluetooth, swampfolk hunter
  
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  There is a little jetty where a black boat is 
  moored. Step into this boat, and it’ll sail you 
  faster than the wind down a stream of night, 
  and bring you to Shadowport—if you count the 
  Prince of Shadows as a friend, that is. 
  There is, against all reason and logic, an apiary 
  filled with tiny winged people instead of bees. 
  Every hive has its own ruling icon, and they 
  conduct little wars and intrigues against the hive 
  across the aisle, military campaigns spanning 
  nearly twenty feet of hard flying.
  There are torture chambers where crusaders and 
  assassins who tried to destroy the Diabolist suffer 
  eternally. Some of her demons are remarkably 
  welcoming towards assassins, guiding them 
  through the fortress and offering helpful tips 
  about where to stab and what precautions to 
  take. As no assassin has succeeded in slaying the Diabolist in this 
  age of the world, either this is a tactic to throw intruders off-
  balance or an amusing diversion. 
  There are demons, of course. If the Diabolist’s 
  citadel is not actually in the Abyss, it is right 
  on the threshold, and so all manner of demons 
  dwell there. Unlike the Floating Market (p. 64), 
  there are no universal rules or wards that protect 
  visitors from the demons—if you’re here, then 
  either the Diabolist wants you here, or you’re lunch. 
  WHIMS OF THE 
  DIABOLIST 
  If you don’t already have a scheme or three rolling yourself by 
  the time the PCs reach the Diabolist’s home turf, roll a d12 to see 
  what she has decreed in her citadel today. If the players deserve 
  it, roll a 13. 
  1: Revelry of Masks. Everyone must wear masks. Each mask 
  is unique, and reveals something of the wearer’s true 
  personality and intent. The masks also place illusions around 
  the wearers, dulling and hiding other physical attributes. It’s 
  not so much that you don’t see that the woman in the mirror-
  mask is nine feet tall and bat-winged, it’s just that didn’t seem 
  so important at the time.
  2: War Eternal! Everyone in the citadel must kill someone else. 
  You’re safe once you’ve got blood on your hands. 
  3: She Walks Among You. The Diabolist has disguised herself 
  as someone unremarkable—a serving girl, a cultist, a prisoner 
  in the dungeons. If you find her and treat her kindly, she 
  might be well disposed to you. If you scorn her, she will not 
  be amused.
  4: A Demon’s Gift. Each demon is obliged to offer one gift or 
  promise of service to a mortal in exchange for a token price. 
  The mortal may suggest the price; the demon may refuse if 
  Best Guesses
  Consistency, it is said, is the hobgoblin of little minds. Still, it’s 
  better to stuff your skull with as many hobgoblins as you can fit 
  rather than try to make sense of the Diabolist’s fortress. Can it 
  be assumed that there are a few elements that are present in all 
  the tower’s incarnations? Perhaps we should speak of elements 
  “present in each of the Diabolist’s many fortresses”, or “things 
  which appear to the majority of unlucky visitors.” 
  There is, for example, a library containing a great 
  many books, staffed by eerily helpful imps. 
  There is an audience chamber for visiting 
  dignitaries from the Abyss, where the most 
  potent and terrible demon lords can manifest in 
  a binding circle capable of restraining a deity. 
  There are shrines and temples where the 
  Diabolist’s half-mad cultists worship her. The 
  Diabolist appears to consider most of these 
  cults a little embarrassing, like over-enthusiastic 
  puppies who can’t help but love her, and 
  occasionally have accidents on the floor. (A little 
  pee, a little uncontrolled demon summoning…) There are other 
  cults in which she takes a more direct role, but she hides them 
  among the host of sycophants and lunatics who attend her.
  There’s a complex apparatus, a thing of bubbling 
  green liquids, glowing gemstones, and screaming 
  skulls that is some sort of monitoring device. 
  Does it tell the Diabolist when the infernal 
  pressures are growing too great, and warn her 
  to open a new hellhole as a sort of occult vent, 
  relieving the threat to reality? Or does it tell her where the wall 
  between the worlds grows thin, so she can punch through and 
  spill more of Hell into the mortal world?
  There is a garden where strange flowers bloom, 
  bigger than redwood trees, attended by demonic 
  insects the size of elephants.
  There is a chess game played with living pieces, 
  but half the tyrants and mad wizards in the 
  world have one of those. What distinguishes the 
  Diabolist’s game is that she cheats with merry 
  abandon, changing the rules at her whim and 
  turning pawns into knights and demons.
  
  Book of Demons
  104
  10: Hearing of Petitions. The Diabolist is willing to hear 
  petitions this day. Her audience hall is crowded with 
  diplomats, messengers and supplicants of all kinds, from the 
  Empire and the mortal world. All requests will be given a 
  hearing, at the very least; dull ones get fed to the giant vipers.
  11: Whispering Secrets. Everyone in the Citadel hears 
  whispering voices. Some plead for release or oblivion, others 
  offer weird occult secrets and forbidden lore. At least one 
  player character learns a secret he or she would prefer not 
  to know.
  12: Mourning Day. The Diabolist decrees that everyone in the 
  Citadel must dress in mourning attire and accompany her on 
  a pilgrimage to the tomb of one of the previous Diabolists, 
  most of which are hidden in the choking depths of the 
  Cairnwood. 
  13: Tithed To Hell. Even the Diabolist has debts to pay—and 
  souls are the coin she must acquire. Every mortal in the 
  Citadel is about to get hurled into the Abyss . . . .
  it thinks the pay is too low, but the price may not exceed 10 
  gold pieces.
  5: Only Worship Will Do. Everyone within the citadel knows 
  that the Diabolist desires to be adored and worshipped, and 
  fall over one another to be the most obsequious and servile. 
  Those who show too much pride risk offending the icon.
  6: Time Shift. Time in the Citadel flows very differently today. 
  (Roll a d6—1: backwards, 2-3 too slow, 4-5 too fast 6 not at 
  all). 
  7: Forbidden Fruit. Players may freely exchange up to one 
  relationship die each for a positive relationship with the 
  Diabolist. 
  8: Merry-Go-Around. The Citadel moves from one hellhole to 
  another while the player characters are inside.
  9: Feast of Children. There are far more children running 
  around the Diabolist’s halls than one might expect. Has 
  she stolen them? Adopted them? Are they half-demons or 
  changelings? Or are they some sort of tithe, offered by the 
  fearful villages on the edge of the Hellmarsh to ward off the 
  Diabolist’s cruelty?
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/13th Age/Core/13th Age - Book of Demons.pdf