The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

The session began with a recap of the party’s arrival in a brutal new region of the seventh layer of hell. After defeating wraith-like enemies that turned into statues, the group found two blue portals and had to choose a path. Arcane and religious probing suggested one portal carried an aura of eternal suffering, so the party took it and emerged into a place of searing heat, ash, and environmental danger. In the center stood a massive devil speaking to what first seemed like himself, but was actually an invisible presence. The party tried to play it casual, but the devil was not amused and battle broke out almost immediately.

The fight quickly turned ugly. The enemy leader slammed his weapon into the ground and summoned two winged rider creatures. Zarnak charged in with attitude, got knocked prone, and had the devil plant a foot on his head. The riders came in hard, Krovuur responded by knocking enemies prone, and the whole group started taking damage from both the enemies and the environment. The heat itself was becoming a serious threat, and the party realized they were in over their heads.

With the fight spiraling, Nucky called for parlay under infernal custom. That move worked. A powerful figure appeared in a violent surge of fire and authority, and Rae and Nucky recognized him as Vladyn. He accepted the parlay, forced the enemies to kneel, and made it very clear that he controlled the seventh layer. Vladyn then explained the situation: he had recently seized control of the layer in a coup, but several archdevils still remained loyal to the old powers and refused to accept his rule.

Vladyn offered the party a deal they could not realistically refuse. He wanted them to deal with three loyalist archdevils in the most public and humiliating way possible, either by killing them or converting them to his side. The three named targets were Mutasafin, Nolknith, and Karanda. The goal was not just to remove them, but to destroy their credibility so thoroughly that no one would want to follow them afterward.

To survive the layer long enough to do the job, Vladyn subjected each party member to a horrible transformation. Each one was briefly overwhelmed by infernal fire, half-died for a moment, and came back with improved resistance to the oppressive environment. It was unpleasant, but it made continued travel in the region possible. He also armed the group with support for the mission, including access to level-appropriate gear, cold-based items to help fight hellish enemies, fire resistance options, and a bizarre hell-centipede vehicle.

The party also handed Vladyn the shard they had been carrying. Something changed when he took it. There was a flash of searing light and an obvious exchange of power between Vladyn and the shard. Krovuur, in particular, sensed that the shard was no longer the same. Some of its oppressive nature had changed, but now it held a new kind of hate, vengeance, and darkness that seemed likely to become a problem later.

Once the practical prep was done, the session shifted into a long planning phase focused on Mutasafin, who was identified as the first target. The party learned he was hiding in a remote desert retreat with many followers and enough protection to make a straightforward attack a bad idea. Because the kill had to be public and humiliating, the group started brainstorming a more layered scheme based on the seven deadly sins. Each player tied their character to a specific sin and worked out how that theme might be used to expose Mutasafin’s weakness, provoke him into a bad decision, or tempt him into betraying his current loyalty.

The strongest idea that emerged was to manipulate Mutasafin through pride and ambition. The party discussed making him believe he was greater than he really was, powerful enough to overreach, or undervalued by the lord he currently served. They talked through ways to push him toward wrath, lust for power, envy, and greed all at once by feeding his ego, insulting his status, and suggesting he could become something more under Vladyn than he ever could as a servant of Beelzebub. The overall strategy became less about brute force and more about setting up a social, political, and psychological trap.

By the end of the session, the party had not launched the plan yet, but they had finished building the shape of it. The group left the session with a stronger understanding of hell’s politics, a grim alliance with Vladyn, new infernal protections and gear, and a dangerous but promising idea for how to bring down Mutasafin in a way that would echo across the seventh layer.

Quick Recap

• The party chose the portal that radiated greater suffering and entered a brutally hot region of the seventh layer of hell.
• They encountered a massive devil and two summoned winged riders, and the fight quickly turned against them.
• The environment itself was dangerous, dealing oppressive heat damage and adding pressure to the battle.
• Nucky successfully called for parlay, which brought Vladyn into the scene.
• Vladyn revealed he had taken control of the seventh layer in a coup and wanted the party to handle three loyalist archdevils.
• The three main targets named were Mutasafin, Nolknith, and Karanda.
• Vladyn temporarily killed and restored the party to grant them better resistance to the infernal environment.
• The party received mission support, including gear options, cold-based help, fire resistance choices, and a hell-centipede vehicle.
• Vladyn absorbed something from the shard, and Krovuur sensed that the shard now contained a different and more dangerous darkness.
• The group chose Mutasafin as the first target and spent the rest of the session building a plan around manipulating him through the seven deadly sins.
• The main strategy focused on exploiting Mutasafin’s pride, ambition, and desire for greater power so he would overreach and become vulnerable.