I pause the review of the changes in 5E24/ToV/A5E to bring you a post inspired by my play.
For my D&D 5E campaign, I have had to work out how to summon demons. Well, obviously one method is “Summon Fiend” or “Summon Greater Demon”, but I need an approach which can be used by normal people and doesn’t require a high-level spellcaster.
I am sure you have realised, but for the avoidance of doubt, I am talking about inventing mechanics in a game of D&D which create portals to the demonic planes, allowing demons through. This is purely imaginary as part of a game of pretend. I am not trying to summon demons in real life.
So my current campaign involves someone, possibly the shadowy figure who goes by the name of “the Gyrfalcon”, arranging for people in the city of Akorros to open portals, allowing demons through.
These portals have been allowing larger and larger demons through – initially dretches and a nerfed version of the plaresh from Kobold Press which I called plaresh spawn, but most recently barlguras, rattoks and shadow demons (as well as still dretches).
What I didn’t think about when I started the campaign was that the PCs would be interacting with these portals, trying to close them, so I would need to work out the mechanics of closing a portal. I didn’t want it to be trivial, but also it needed to be achievable.
And then the players started asking how the portals were created, and how they worked, and what ingredients are involved in creating a portal, and how they vary, and how to close other types of portal, and…
And I felt completely unprepared.
So in case you find yourself in the same boat, here are some suggestions I have used.
Portal 1: Dretches and Plaresh Spawn
This was the first portal they encountered. It was constructed by drawing an arcane symbol on the floor with a mixture which contained chicken blood and sand. Possibly other things as well – the party didn’t see the construction, just the aftermath – but those were the two ingredients which were obvious from what was nearby.
This portal allowed dretches and plaresh spawn through. Although it couldn’t just be swept away, it was sufficient to chip away the pattern with a spade.
They found a set of instructions in a demonic script, along with a diagram of the pattern to draw, and a gloss written between the lines transliterating the pronunciation into Common (clearly the summoners couldn’t read the demonic themselves).
At this point, the players weren’t asking any particular questions other than whether the character who spoke demonic could make out any particular words.
Portal 2: Blazing Bones Skeleton
This portal was in the dark in a cave filled with smoke by an ever-smoking bottle, and had a trigger point about 20 feet away which glowed. When one of the characters walked over the trigger point, the portal suddenly opened, setting a skeleton on fire, turning it into a Blazing Bones Skeleton.
The party were already fighting some cackling skeletons and dretches when the portal was opened, and the portal sucked out all the smoke from the cavern on opening it.
This portal required sprinkling with holy water to close it.
Closing portals
One character researched ways to close portals, and came up with this list:
- A portal can be removed with holy water
- A portal can be removed with the blood used to create it
- A portal can be removed with fire
- A portal can be removed by freezing it
- A portal can be closed by attacking it with force
- A portal can be removed with a solution of ophio spores dissolved in Guindametlla
- A portal can be removed by washing it with Guindametlla
- A portal can be removed by chipping it off with a cold chisel
- A portal can be removed by sprinkling it with sand
- A portal can be washed away with water
- A portal can be removed with urine
- A portal can be removed with a silver knife blessed at the full moon
- A portal can be removed by smashing it with a holy hammer blessed by an elven priest
- A portal can be removed by scraping with a magical weapon
- A portal can be closed by an elemental force
I suspect not all of these would work, and certainly each type of portal needs a different way of closing.
Guindametlla is a sour-cherry brandy which is a speciality of Akorros
Ophio spores come from the Ophio Fungus (see Tome of Beasts II by Kobold Press) which infests the caverns and sewer system beneath Akorros. Harvesting them is dangerous because the spores can infect the creature, attacking its brain and eventually leaving the victim under the control of the fungus. However, people in Akorros have discovered how to turn these spores into a drug which gives a powerful high and sells for a premium, so despite the danger, people still go and harvest it.
Portal 3: Dretches, Plaresh and Horde Demons
They were passed by a man rushing away from a warehouse in the docks, and then heard screaming and the noise of fighting. When they went in, they found Dretches and full-grown Plaresh, and an open portal which more demons were coming through, including Horde Demons from Level Up A5E.
This was a different portal which didn’t respond to scraping, but they discovered they could close it by bashing it or subjecting it to force damage; it took several hits to do sufficient damage to force it to close (over 20hp of damage in total). While they were trying to close it, more demons kept coming through, raising the urgency. When it had been destroyed, they were left with a fine red powder on the floor.
They also found some scraps of reddened leather on the floor of the warehouse, and one of the surviving docks workers reported seeing something come flying into the warehouse just before the portal opened.
This was the first usage of a “portal bomb”.
Portal Bombs
They have become rather familiar with these portal bombs since then. They have been around when several of them have been deployed, dealing with the resulting demons and portals.
They recently destroyed the portal bomb manufactory, where they found instructions for creating the portal bombs. You need warthog hide, which gets soaked and stained in a mixture of red dye and rhino blood, with arcane diagrams inscribed in a black ink on them. You need Glantri redstone sand mixed with powdered ivory to pack the ball with, with veins of silver wire running through from the skin on the outside to a blue gemstone in the centre in a particular web-like pattern. The blue gemstone must be attached to a silver ring, which is held in place in the centre with manticore spines. And the blue gemstone and the redstone sand surrounding it need to be soaked in the blood of a freshly killed creature – they had poison arrow frogs, scorpions and wasps in jars in a nearby storage room, along with piles of hides, barrels of blood, small barrels of powdered ivory and rhino horn and barrels of bear paws.
It has also been established more generally in the campaign that there needs to be some sort of blood sacrifice as part of the ritual to create a portal.
Next steps
Now that the portal bomb manufactory has been destroyed, the campaign needs to move up a gear. A strange sphere, burning black, erupted out of the roof of a building in Silver Dragon Square, and shot high in the air heading north and triggering a massive snowstorm which has brought in several weeks of frosty winter weather (it is the equivalent of November there, so not completely unexpected, but unusually sudden). Is that related?
Also, reports have been coming in to town of a village further north which has been attacked. The city authorities are trying to get together a task force to go and investigate and deal with any problem there. Is that related to the fiery black sphere? Did it land there and trigger something? Is there another portal which has been created in a different way? I think the party will find out soon…
A cautionary tale
So next time you have a great idea for a campaign…be prepared for the fact you will need to come up with mechanics to explain and support it…
If you’re planning on creating portals, here are some ideas you can use as a starting point.
Do you have any more suggestions of ways different portals might be created? How would they be closed again?
